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Old 11-30-2005, 11:32 PM   #42
Blade
College Prospect
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
It was the first time I had been in the Mackey-Soft Tower before. Because I was with the team for their three game road trip, I took a flight after the Cincinnati game to Los Angeles, where the Mackey-Soft Tower was located. After checking in with John Mackey’s receptionist, I sat in a plush chair and scanned through an old issue of Sports Illustrated as I waited to be called in to Mack’s office. The issue was a few months old, and was the NFL Season Preview edition. I had read it previously and saw that we were expected to finish last in the division, so I didn’t re-read any of the previews.

After a few minutes, Mack’s receptionist told me to head in. As I walked to the door of his office, Mack was shaking hands with someone. He looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t place him at the time.

“Thanks for stopping by Jarred,” Mack was saying. “The numbers look good, so I will talk to you again next month.”

The man nodded. “You bet, John. I will see you later.”

He walked by me and nodded slightly. Mack waved me in.

“Hey, Bear. That was just my accountant, Jarred Klusky. Status report, and all of that.”

The name seemed familiar to me as well, but I just could not remember where I had heard it, or seen this man before. “Have I met him before? He seems familiar.”

“Uh, you might have. Anyway, it is not important. C’mon in.” Mack led me into his office. It was quite a large office, with some beautiful furniture. He had more than a few football knick-knacks, including his helmet from his college days at Michigan State University, and a game ball from one of our Raider games last season.

“Nice digs,” I said as I sat down in a chair at a small conference table he had in his office.

“Thanks. They are not bad, though I am not here often. So, 2 and 2 so far. Not a fantastic start, but not a horrible one either.”

I opened the portfolio I had brought with me and pulled out some sheets. “Yah, not what I was hoping for. We should be at least 3 and 1, but I don’t know what the Hell happened in that game against Tennessee. Marlin made some strange calls that I was questioning along with the media.”

“You were pretty high on the guy when you signed him in the off-season, Bear.”

“I know, and I still think he is the right guy for this team right now. If anything, I hope that he learned something. I can understand his reasoning for not running the ball late in that game, but with the way Collins has looked so far, and the talent we have at running back, it wasn’t the decision I would have made. That said, he has done some good things for this team, as our defence is in the top half of the league in every team category, which was one of the reasons I hired him and our new DC Mel Porter.”

Mack leaned back in his chair. “Yes, our defence has looked better. But our offence has not looked overly good.”

I nodded. “Yah, our running game has not been as effective as last year so far, but we haven’t been running the ball as much as we did last year. Jordan is sixth in the league in yardage, but we need to get him the ball more. I will talk to Marlin about that. Our passing yards are still good, as we are third in the league even without Moss, but Collins has been having issues. He is eighteenth in the league in quarterback rating with a 75.8, and that is a concern. That said, he has looked better over the last few games.”

“So the trading of Moss isn’t killing us all that much?”

I sighed. “I can’t say that exactly. That may be one of the reasons Collins has struggled this year. Also, it is receiving by committee right now. Curry is leading the team, but he is no where close to the league leaders. Also, our rookie Distel is second on the team in receiving yards, and he has less than 200. Nice to see him doing alright, but that is not saying much for the starting receivers. Still, I would not want Moss back.”

Mack laughed. “We are in agreement there.”

“Defensively, Burgess is playing well, as he is tied for the league lead in sacks with five. However, I guess him and Andra Davis don’t like each other, and have had to be separated in practice at times. It seems that Burgess can get on the nerves of a few players, and we may have to watch that. As far as I am concerned, it is the same as the Moss thing. I don’t care how well you play, if you are not a part of the team in the locker room, we don’t need you. I will keep my eye on him, and see if it gets any better.”

Mack rolled his eyes. “There are always problems, aren’t there.”

“I guess. Another issue we have is that our leading player in interceptions is Sam Williams, who we just lost for at least a year, maybe two, maybe forever. We don’t know yet, but he is gone for this year. I signed Keith Adams, who should be a decent fill-in, but Sam was a big playmaker for us so far, and he is not going to be easy to replace. Also, we have a couple of players who are upset with their lack of playing time right now. Ted Washington and Barry Sims have been complaining that they are not getting enough time to justify their abilities. Both guys are getting big salaries, and they are definitely not starting material on this team any longer. I would like to cut them both, but the cap hit would be too much for us right now. As far as I am concerned, they are good depth players, and we have the cap room to keep them on the team. They are going to hate us by the end of the year, but I will want them elsewhere anyway.”

Mack sat up. “What is that going to do to our locker room, with them complaining louder and louder as the season goes on?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea, and we will have to keep an eye on the situation, but I just cannot see a way to have them start without a drop off in talent.”

“Alright. Keep and eye on it and work with Marlin to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand. Thoughts on how things are looking now?”

“Well, regardless of what I said before the season started about getting a high draft pick and screwing Oakland over with a bad team, I want to win. This team is ours now, and in Oakland or not this year, I want to win. I feel we can win, we just need things to come together. We are still very inconsistent, though, and I am not sure if that is a product of all of the changes or not. If so, I am hoping that the three game road trip brought the team together. The next few games should be very telling for us.”

Mack stood. “Sounds good. I am starting to get a short list of cities for us to move to, and it will be a lot easier if we can present a winning team to the prospective city. Do whatever you need to do, Bear. I want to have a Super Bowl ring in the first few years in the new city, so we need to make sure the pieces are in place.”

“I understand, Mack. I will make sure it happens.” I shook his hand and walked out of his office. Despite what I said, I knew we were a long way from a Super Bowl championship, and I had a lot of work to do.
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