Lane Kiffin Admits He Doesn't Control the Defense, Warren Sapp Finds it All Funny

Going back to training camp and the preseason, I've made more than a few (bad) jokes about how Lane Kiffin is just a puppet on the sidelines, while owner Al Davis is controlling him from his lair high on top of Mt. Davis. Well, apparently, based on Kiffin's comments on Wednesday afternoon, that's pretty much true. At least as far as the Raiders' defense is concerned.

"I'm not going to get really get into if I was the defensive coordinator what I would do because that doesn't really matter," coach Lane Kiffin said Wednesday. "I'm the head coach. I oversee everything and I control what I can control. Do I have the exact belief we do on defense? No, but it's hard to have the exact belief that we do. So, it is what it is."

That sounds like a young man just brimming with confidence in his defense. According to the article, the Raiders blitzed only four times on Monday night, while there's also that odd mention of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan being in constant contact with the owner - who, apparently, dislikes blitzing defenses. Is it normal for a defensive coordinator and an owner to always be in contact? I don't think it is.

Meanwhile, as the Raiders prepare for Kansas City in week two, former defensive tackle Warren Sapp had some less than flattering things to say about DeAngelo Hall, Tommy Kelly's new deal, and, well, the Raiders in general. Pretty much that they're going to suck.

"That was the experience I had in the four years I was there. They asked people to do stuff they were physically impossible of doing.
"They asked a guy who hadn't coached for 12 years to coach," he said of former offensive coordinator Tom Walsh.

"They're going to suck."

Actually, that may have been the nicest thing he had to say. Sapp then directed his rage to the calm, cool and always collected DeAngelo Hall, who, as Mike Ditka said on the Monday Night broadcast was, "turned into a yo-yo" by rookie Eddie Royal.

"DeAngelo Hall has been getting burnt since he was in Atlanta," Sapp said. "This is nothing new. DeAngelo Hall is the flashiest, burnt-up corner in the history of the game. He gets burnt more than anyone else, and he all of a sudden is this great Pro Bowl cover corner. I never saw that in DeAngelo Hall. He would gamble and do everything unsound on the corner."

In the history of the game! I just wish Warren wouldn't have held back and told us what he really thinks of the Raiders.