The Oakland Raiders have fired head coach Hue Jackson, according to ESPN.com.

Seriously?

The Raiders have hired a new GM in Reggie McKenzie and they plan to introduce him today. There had been previous reports floating about that Jackson wanted more power in the organization and that he did not approve of the hire of McKenzie.

Pretty shocking news. I thought Jackson was a pretty good coach and that he did a nice job considering all the injuries Oakland had this season.

Now that Jackson is out of a job, the Chiefs might want to consider bringing him in as offensive coordinator. He already knows the AFC West and its players well. That and you have to believe he’ll want to stick it to the Raiders for years to come.

What do you think, Addicts? Would you want to see Hue on the sideline in KC?

If you’ve been a Big Matt reader for long, you probably know I think Todd Haley’s “quarter of the season” concept is, for lack of a better word, dumb.   It’s not that I think it’s doing any harm, but I still cringe every time I hear him reference it.  I had thought this was something he’d talk about in his first year, and then grow out of.  I mean, breaking a season into quarters when the games come every week?  What is that supposed to accomplish?  It is, at best, a pointless exercise.

But hey, if Haley is going to bring this team back from the abyss, I’ll play along.  Because I don’t care that we’re playing awful teams here, three wins in a row is something I never thought I’d see from this team after those first two games.  And really, no matter how bad Kyle Boller is, going into Oakland and shutting them out is awesome.  Much-needed revenge, after last season.  So fine, we’re 2-0 in the second quarter of the season.  Or, the “4-game season” as Haley now likes to call it.  Bring on game 3.  I am now participating in this system.

The best part about this winning streak is that the players will be gaining confidence regardless of who the opponent was.  Do you think when Kendrick Lewis scampered into the end zone he was thinking, “Yeah, but this was against the worst quarterback in the NFL”?  No way!  He was feelin’ it, and rightfully so.  I would imagine the post-game celebration was jubilant, and I seriously doubt anyone was referencing how bad Oakland’s QB situation is right now.

“Justice is blind,” as the saying goes.  Well, I think confidence is blind as well.  Winning feels awesome, no matter whom you beat*.  These Chiefs have won three in a row, they’re fired up, and they’re heading back home with a chance to stake a claim on the division lead.  That’s what matters most about this winning streak, not who we played.

*I played in a gigantic rooftop washers tournament over the summer.  My partner and I, after an early loss, went on a crazy tear to win the thing (double elimination).  7 straight games, or some such.  Most of these were against people who hadn’t played nearly as much washers as I have.  Some were even against guy-girl teams (always doomed to struggle in competitive washers).  Did that matter to me?  Hell no.  I felt like a washers god out there.  Struttin’ around, mocking my opponents, bowing like a Japanese sensei every time I put one in the cup.  I was confident that whomever I played next, I would be able to beat.  That’s what a winning streak, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, can do for you.  And yes, this is the closest comp I could come up with from my own life.

Now we go home thinking we can beat a team that’s had a stranglehold on the division for a long time.  Maybe the Chargers are better than us.  But we’re at home, and we think we can beat them.  That alone gives us a fighting chance.  Such a quick turnaround.  De NFL be crazy, mon.

game notes after le jump (more…)

The Kansas City Chiefs just demolished the Oakland Raiders on their own field Sunday by a score of 28-0. It was a fun game to watch for Chiefs fans because the good guys had things pretty much well in hand from the start.

Let’s take a look at which players showed up on Sunday and earned their Arrowheads.

Matt Cassel

A glance at the box score will tell you that Cassel had a bad game, but if you were watching you know that really isn’t the case. Sure, Cassel wasn’t spectacular and he had a couple of mistakes but the fact of the matter is that Cassel played a big part in this win. He wasn’t great, but he didn’t have to be.

The Chiefs employed a game plan designed to back the Raiders off. Oakland has been having trouble getting pressure this season and so they start using different blitz looks a week ago against the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland couldn’t challenge the Raiders down field and as a result, Oakland was in Colt McCoy’s face all day.

The Chiefs knew they likely couldn’t out-muscle the Raiders up front early so they decided to open things up by taking shots down field right from the start. Even though the passes weren’t completed, it put the Raiders on notice that if they got too blitz-happy, they were going to get burned.

Part of the reason the Chiefs had trouble with the Raiders in 2010 was that KC had absolutely no way to throw the ball down field. The Raiders were able to take Dwayne Bowe out of the game and focus on stopping the run. The Chiefs had no other weapons.

This Chiefs team, however, is different. Defenses now have to worry about Bowe and Breaston. They have to pay attention to Dexter McCluster and now, Jonathan Baldwin.

Cassel did a really nice job getting the Chiefs a crucial first-quarter touchdown to give the team a two-score lead. He orchestrated a nine-play, 61-yard drive that ended in a TD to put the Chiefs up 14-0. The Chiefs took their lead to the locker room and Cassel came out in the third quarter and led his offense on an eight-play, 64-yard drive for another touchdown to put the Chiefs up 21-0.

The defense got KC started and they also put the game on ice but it was Cassel’s two touchdown drives that enabled Kansas City to dictate the pace of the game.

Cassel did what the Chiefs needed him to do and for that he gets his Arrowhead.

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The Kansas City Chiefs don’t seem to be in a hurry to hire an offensive coordinator but meanwhile, the Oakland Raiders have hired a former Chiefs coach in Al Saunders.

You may remember Saunders as the coordinator of the high flying KC offenses under then head coach Dick Vermeil. When Vermeil retired, many were hoping Saunders would take over as head coach, however, the Chiefs decided to hire Herm Edwards instead and Saunder went to the Washington Redskins to coordinate there.

Oops.

More after the jump.

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The Oakland Raiders have reportedly hired their 2010 offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to be the team’s new head coach, according to a report from ESPN.com.

The Raiders stirred up a bit of controversy when they fired head coach Tom Cable after the team returned to respectability in 2010 by finishing 8-8 after years of being one of the league’s doormats.

There are some who believe the Oakland turnaround was more due to Jackson’s coordinating than anything Cable was doing. Jackson received interest from the San Fransisco 49ers for their head coaching job. It is believe that Oakland owner Al Davis had his hand forced by the 49ers interview and so he hastily fired Cable in an effort to avoid losing Jackson.

I’m not sure how responsible Jackson is for Oakland’s offensive success this season. I tend to feel that Oakland’s offensive surge had more to do with the fact that they were no longer held down by the considerable weight of Jamarcus Russel than Jackson’s brilliant play calling but that is of course, just speculation.

More after the jump.

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Maybe when Davis traded his soul for eternal life, part of the deal was he had to keep running the Oakland Raiders into the ground.

The Oakland Raiders have fired head coach Tom Cable after he led the team to their first .500 season since 2002.

The move is being widely criticized, not just by the media, Raiders fans, and heck, even Chiefs fans but by the Oakland Raiders players as well.

I said late last night that this move could have serious consequences and it looks like I may have been right. Say what you will about Cable as a coach but he had his players playing hard and he had their loyalty.

I also pointed out that new coaches often like to implement their own systems and bring in their own kind of players. Oakland’s roster is loaded with talent. Darren McFadden, Shane Lechler, Richard Seymour, Robert Gallery, Michael Bush, Zach Miller, Jacoby Ford and Nnamdi Asomugha just off the top of my head are players that represent the core of an improving Raiders squad.

I am not saying that a new coach will come in and get rid of all of those guys but as Josh McDaniels taught us by getting rid of Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall, all bets are off when a new coach comes in.

More Oakland ridiculousness after the jump.

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