National Football League
The real reason Jackson's gone
National Football League

The real reason Jackson's gone

Published Jan. 12, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

It appears, based on things being written and said in Yahoo! NFL writer Mike Silver’s column, Hue-bris Jackson can’t quite figure out why the Raiders fired him.

On Tuesday, the day new Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie claimed responsibility for pink-slipping the man who made Cincinnati’s Mike Brown executive of the year, Hue-bris took to Silver’s column to pin blame for his dismissal on Raiders owner Mark Davis.

I read the column. You should, too. Hue-bris’ spin was interesting.

My takeaway was that Hue-bris was playing a high-stakes game of racial politics. You see, Reggie McKenzie and Hue-bris Jackson are both black. Mark Davis, Al’s son, is white. If McKenzie fired Hue-bris, it’s extremely difficult to argue that Hue-bris was a victim of some sort of racial injustice. But, if Mark Davis escorted Hue-bris out of the building after one mediocre, injury-riddled 8-8 season, then Hue-bris, in his mind, has every right to subtly fan the flames of racial injustice.

ADVERTISEMENT

Now, if you’ve followed my media career, you know I’m not opposed to fanned flames of any racial, ethnic or lifestyle variety, moving in any direction. “Just burn, baby” is my column motto. However, I prefer my fanned flames to be justified. And there appears to be virtually no justification for Hue-bris’ whining.

Perhaps sensing that, Silver, a terrific and credible NFL writer, readdressed the Hue-bris “controversy” in a follow-up column on Wednesday. This time, without quoting Hue-bris, Silver offered the theory that Mark Davis fired Hue-bris because Davis needs to remove any and everyone from the organization who witnessed Al Davis treat Mark Davis poorly.

You should read the column. It’s interesting.

My takeaway is that within the Raiders organization there are a lot of beaten-down, worthless Al Davis flunkies who are scared McKenzie has been given the autonomy to scrub the place clean of beaten-down, worthless Al Davis flunkies. The Al Davis-Oakland gravy train has run out of gravy and starving, beaten-down, worthless Al Davis flunkies are crying on the laptop of the media member Al Davis despised the most, Mike Silver.

Yep, Silver established his reputation as arguably the best NFL writer in the country (Silver is far superior to Peter the King) by repeatedly going toe-to-toe with Al Davis. It’s comical watching Hue-bris feign undying loyalty and respect for Al Davis while collaborating with Davis’ top media enemy on stories that paint Al’s son as inept.

Which leads me back to my main point: The city of Oakland should throw a parade for whoever — Mark Davis or Reggie McKenzie — was responsible for kicking Hue-bris Jackson to the curb.

Hue-bris’ arrogance is matched by his subversiveness and selfishness. Hue-bris is Rex Ryan (cocky), Richard Nixon (sneaky) and Marlo Stanfield (greedy) rolled into one loud-talking silver and black package.

The Carson Palmer trade — orchestrated by Hue-bris — could quite possibly be remembered as the dumbest, most-selfish act in the history of professional sports. Seriously. Capitalizing on the power vacuum created by the death of an NFL legend, a first-time head coach, in a desperate attempt to pad his resume and back into the playoffs with a flawed team with zero chance of winning the Super Bowl, compromised the future of his organization by handing Mike Brown a fortune for a washed-up quarterback.

When the stupidity and narcissism of the decision was laid bare during a season-ending loss to the hapless and directionless San Diego Chargers, Hue-bris responded by lashing out at his players and promising to fight for more control of the organization.

Firing Hue-bris was not remotely controversial. The controversy would’ve been in his retention. Whatever skills he has a play-caller and a leader are undermined by his delusion and arrogance.

The New York Jets are beginning to learn the same lesson about Rex Ryan. Untreated delusion doesn’t correct itself. Ryan thought he could bluster his way into the Super Bowl. It’s not working. The Jets are regressing and mimicking their blustery coach. When they’re not taking anonymous potshots at Mark Sanchez in the New York Post, their fourth-string QB is mouthing off about a corrupt culture and Santonio Holmes is quitting.

Mark Davis doesn’t want to build the New York Jets. He wants turn the Raiders into the Packers. That’s why he hired a former Raiders linebacker who learned the front-office side of football from the Packers to reinvent the Oakland Raiders.

And that’s why Davis allowed McKenzie to fire Hue-bris Jackson.

Hue-bris and his enablers need to come to grips with this reality, if they’d like to see Hue Jackson get another shot as an NFL head coach.

share


Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more