Now
this has the potential to be
extremely entertaining.
Reported on various sources, quoting below from PFT with emphasis on a major point:
Quote:
SAPP SLAMS RAIDERS
Former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp, who was never known to hold his tongue during the years that he played football, has added his characteristically loud mouth to that anti-Raiders din that currently is playing out in the media.
"Nobody tells you how bad it is," Sapp said on Showtime's Inside the NFL. "[A]ny person that calls me on the telephone, [I tell them] do not go anywhere near Oakland.
"[Owner Al Davis] is the common equation," Sapp added. "You take him out, put him at home watching film or whatever he is doing — you have a functioning football organization. But once he comes over the top, he goes and starts moving it around.
"Al Davis knows football — it’s just '60s and '70s football. That's what it is. He's thinking that Cliff Branch is outside and [Jim] Plunkett is dropping back and you can throw it 80 yards down the field — deep ball, deep ball, deep ball."
Sapp also said that Davis had a hand in the coaching process, phoning play suggestions to the sidelines and adjusting the game plan on defense.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen, who was called a "professional liar" by Davis during the Tuesday press conference, points out that Sapp's claims regarding the involvement of the owner in the defensive strategy contradicts statements from both Davis and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan that Davis has no hand in the defensive play-calling.
But though it's obvious that, as we recently pointed out, the game has changed but Davis hasn't, Sapp is the same guy that he always was. So if he isn’t afraid now to crow about how bad things were, why didn't he pop off while he was in Oakland?
And please don’t give us the old "players can get into trouble if they do that" crap. Randy Moss wasn't bashful about speaking his mind in 2006; in multiple radio interviews that year, Moss stirred the pot.
We’re not saying that Sapp isn't onto something. All we’re saying is that, if it was really as bad as he’s now portraying it to be, we would have heard something from Sapp at some point during his four years with the organization.
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Sapp was quoted elsewhere as saying that during a game another player had told him (paraphrasing) "Watch. We're going deep on this play." When Sapp asked how he knew that, the player replied "The phone just rang"
I disagree with Florio's take at the end. I think that it probably is just as bad as people think in Oakland, maybe even worse. For whatever you think of Sapp, and I'm far from his biggest fan, I think what he's saying here is very believable.
And for Oakland fans...sad.
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Warren Sapp vs Al Davis
