Kirby Lee- USA TODAY Sports
I must commend the Oakland Raiders for finding a way to stay irrelevant during what has already been a busy off-season for many teams not in the playoffs. Considering seven teams fired head coaches and five fired general managers, there has been as much talk about those teams which didn’t make the playoffs as those that did. Which makes it all the more impressive that the Raiders have been able to fly under the radar
Oakland did fire four coaches on the Monday after the season ended including its offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, but that barely made a blip on the radar. The search for Oakland’s new coordinator has also not been a highly talked about subject. However, the quiet this off-season is a good thing for Oakland, which does not need any more publicity after its terrible season. If the Raiders can slowly build their team up without grabbing too many headlines it will help come the 2013 season. By that point the pressure will be off them and they can just play.
In many ways the Raiders came in with too much publicity this season. Many pundits thought they could sneak into the playoffs as a wild card team and the pressure seemed to get to them. If Dennis Allen has a full off-season without the media spotlight in which he can bring in more of his players and craft the team in his image, it will do wonders for this organization. For many years under the late Al Davis, Oakland would steal the headlines for something outrageous the owner said, but this year seems to be different. No one is talking about the Silver and Black and I don’t think anyone in Oakland minds one bit.
