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On the Mark: Oakland better beware Goodell

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Mark Kriegel

Mark Kriegel is the national columnist for FOXSports.com. He is the author of two New York Times best sellers, Namath: A Biography and Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich, which Sports Illustrated called "the best sports biography of the year."

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Updated Oct 1, 2009 11:17 AM ET
     
 
Enraged by a hit that temporarily relieved Lynn Swann of his senses on the first Sunday of the 1976 season, Steelers coach Chuck Noll famously branded the Oakland Raiders secondary the NFL's "criminal element."




Still can't believe the Raiders tried to keep Rich Gannon from the team's practice facility.

I mean, if Al Davis really wants to bar a quarterback from the premises, then maybe he should think about JaMarcus Russell.

"Klitschko-Arreola?" asks the girlfriend. "That like foreign porn?"

Not really. Anyone who's seen Arreola knows those European girls aren't built like that.

— Get more On the Mark

In fact, the Raiders' defensive backfield — a unit whose members included The Assassin and Dr. Death — held richly deserved reputations for both skill and gusto in the practice of sanctioned violence. George Atkinson, the safety who altered Swann's state of consciousness, did so with his patented blow, aptly nicknamed The Hook, considered by the man who delivered it so routinely to be "the best intimidator in the business." "The Hook is simply flexing your biceps and trying to catch the receiver's head in the joint between the forearm and the upper arm," Jack Tatum would recall in the first volume of his autobiography, They Call Me Assassin. " ... The purpose of the Hook was to strip the receiver of the ball, his helmet, his head and his courage. Of course, you only use the hook in full-speed contact and usually from the blind side." Commissioner Pete Rozelle called the hit on Swann — this one delivered away from the ball — "as flagrant a foul as I have seen in sixteen years in this office," and fined Atkinson $1,500. That's not to say Noll spoke with impunity. In keeping with NFL policy, Rozelle fined him a thousand bucks for exercising his right to free speech. Then Al Davis bankrolled Atkinson's famous slander suit against Noll and Pittsburgh. During the trial, Rozelle testified that the hit was "calculated to disable." Raiders coach John Madden — who, then as now, identified the game's excesses with euphemisms — testified that Atkinson's hit was not "a premeditated cheap shot" but a "an instinctive reaction." An instinct acquired by years of practice and an ingrained intention to maim. The jury needed just four hours to clear Noll. Not that the verdict resolved the issue. Criminal element? "We loved it," Raiders running back Pete Banaszak told author Mark Ribowsky. Besides, by then, the Raiders had not only overcome their nemesis in Pittsburgh, but were reigning Super Bowl champions. In victory, there was virtue, even for a group maligned as a bunch of criminals. In fact, the Raiders were celebrated for meritorious maliciousness through the rest of rest of the millennium, and two years more, when they made their last Super Bowl appearance, a 48-21 loss to Tampa Bay. In seven seasons since, Al Davis' kingdom has grown fallow and less charming. The Raiders have won fewer games than the Lions in this stretch. Which brings me to Tom Cable, the head coach being investigated for allegedly breaking his assistant's jaw. I like Cable. He seems like a guy with whom you could enjoy a beer. But he's got a problem, a big one if police in Napa Valley arrest him for what the lawyer of his alleged victim — Randy Hanson, an assistant reputed to be one of Davis' spies — called "a textbook case of assault." The commissioner's office, for its part, dismissed the issue as "a law enforcement matter at this time" while declaring that "we are continuing to follow developments." Anyone who's been watching Roger Goodell knows he doesn't need an indictment as a pretext for disciplinary action. What's more, he knows he can't rely on the Raiders to police themselves. When it comes to intramural violence, consider the case of Panthers receiver Steve Smith. Last summer, he broke a teammate's nose during an on-field altercation. Even after apologizing profusely, Smith was suspended for two games by the team. The commissioner can't count on Al Davis to deliver this kind of message, even if the assistant was his stoolie. So Goodell finds himself all but obliged to impose sanctions Rozelle could only dream about. A coach being investigated for job-related criminal assault? The history of Raider Nation is a long and deliciously sordid one, but this is a first. What's more, Goodell is a gifted politician, a man preternaturally gifted in reading the current climate. The Raiders aren't coming off a Super Bowl. They're not bad boys; they're just bad, and have been for a long, long time. In defeat, the silver and black has lost its cachet. So now you wonder: how long before Goodell throws the Hook?

On the Mark

 Still can't believe the Raiders tried to keep Rich Gannon from the team's practice facility. I mean, if Al Davis really wants to bar a quarterback from the premises, then maybe he should think about JaMarcus Russell. "Klitschko-Arreola?" asks the girlfriend. "That like foreign porn?" Not really. Anyone who's seen Arreola knows those European girls aren't built like that. Couple weeks ago, everybody wanted to know if Floyd Mayweather could come back after a 21-month retirement. Klitschko was retired four years. Then again, why am I bothering to write about boxing? Mayweather-Marquez only did a million buys. Can't say I watch the various Kardashian reality TV shows. But I look forward to the inevitable episode when Lamar goes to Bruce Jenner for some fatherly advice. Ronald and Lamar could be the greatest pair of knuckleheads since Harold and Kumar. After watching the Buccaneers run for all of 28 yards against the Giants, I'm of the belief that Jon Gruden is the luckiest guy in football. Then there's Eric Mangini's Cleveland's squad. If the Browns were really so intent on hiring an ex-Jets coach, Rich Kotite might've been a better choice. Saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. say that NASCAR's 16th-ranked driver, David Reutimann, "ain't got enough talent." This from a guy who's running 22nd. No truth to the rumor that disgraced NBA ref Tim Donaghy has applied to be a scab on work-release. So here it is, Week 4 of the NFL season and Sunday's big game is the Jets and the Saints. Just like everybody predicted.
Tagged: Raiders, Jets, Browns, Buccaneers

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