Raiders made the right move in firing Dennis Allen; McKenzie should be next

Dear Raider Nation: you can finally celebrate something.

Dennis Allen’s firing from the Oakland Raiders late Monday night came to no surprise to anyone in any NFL circle.  But the move itself could be something that sparks a Raiders rally of some, or any (literally any) sort during the team’s bye week.

Allen was 8-28 as the head coach of the Raiders, including this season’s 0-4 nightmare start after a pair of 4-12 seasons.  The Raiders had lost 10 straight games after Sunday’s 38-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins in London with their last win coming in Week 11 of last year.

Allen was fired after four games in the same fashion that Al Davis fired both Mike Shanahan and Lane Kiffin after four games.  Guess it’s the Raider way? For those also wondering, Allen was fired over the phone by the Raiders.  Take that for what you will.

The Raiders have allowed 633 yards on the ground this season so far, allowed quarterbacks to compete over 70 percent of their passes, allowing receivers to average 10.4 yards per catch and have allowed opponents to convert half of their third down attempts through the four losses.

“He’s Reggie’s guy.  Reggie is my guy” Raiders owner Mark Davis told the San Francisco Chronicle back in February.  “The coaches, they’re all signed.  Dennis Allen has every coach that he wanted.”

Allen’s firing isn’t the move that will definitely turn the Raiders season around.  In fact, the Raiders could, technically, still go the epic 0-16 in 2014 – keep in mind, they’re already a quarter of the way there.  But Allen’s firing Monday night could be the spark that lights some kind of fuse within the organization, under the players, the remaining coaches on staff and general manager Reggie McKenzie.

(Hey Reggie, guess who’s next on the chopping block by the way.)

McKenzie is now on the hot seat with Allen gone due to his inability to fix the Raiders already God-awful roster he inherited, the inability to have a successful draft prior to 2014 and his mismanagement of the quarterback position before this year.  He could be gone after this year or could get one more year as the Raiders GM depending how this draft class performs (mainly Derek Carr, Khalil Mack and Gabe Jackson).

This was supposed to be the year that Oakland finally turned the corner.  They brought in guys like Justin Tuck, Lamarr Woodley, Carlos Rogers, Antonio Smith, Maurice Jones-Drew, James Jones and Matt Schaub.  How are they all doing after the first quarter of the season?

• Tuck: 14 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL
• Woodley: 3 tackles,
• Rogers: 22 tackles, 1 pass def., 1 FF
• Smith: 6 tackles, 2 TFL
• Jones-Drew: 11 carries, 12 yards (missed Weeks 2 and 3 with injury)
• Jones: 21 rec., 272 yards, 2 TDs
• Schaub: has yet to play, benched in favor of Derek Carr after preseason

All of that experience, four straight losses, two of which were blowouts. It still may not matter who takes over as the interim head coach, whether it’s Tony Sparano, Greg Olsen or Al Saunders, the team is still not going anywhere this season, let that part be known.

But Sparano and Saunders are both guys (mainly Sparano) who can get this team on the right track, let alone on a track coming out of their bye and into a key divisional matchup against San Diego in Week 6.

Al Davis once said: “The greatness of the Raiders is in its future.”  With Allen gone, this organization can finally see a future.  Sometime soon.  Eventually.  Hopefully in our lifetime.  Maybe in our children’s lifetime?

At least the easy-hard, failing part is out of the way.

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