Le refuge ^_^

[zhangzk]

Mack trade rumors A few days ago I posted an article lambasting the sports journalism world for what I felt were sensational and erroneous reports indicating it was inevitable that the Raiders would trade star defensive end Khalil Mack. There was no way that would happen Lee Smith Jersey , I thought. This is all bogus and reporters are using clickbait to pump up the hopes of various fanbases and make money. The article got a lot of attention.And then the Raiders traded Khalil Mack. And it wouldn’t have mattered if he hadn’t been traded. I was still wrong to say the things I said about people who didn’t deserve it.Like all of you, I was floored. And then I got a few hundred messages on Twitter ranging from “lol u” to “this didn’t age well” to “sometimes the high horse bucks you to the ground” to “delete your account”. Yesterday was the worst day of my career. I considered becoming a monk.I deserve every message I got. The things I wrote were as inflammatory and extreme as any of the articles I attacked. And they were all right, and I was completely wrong and out of line. I let my emotions cloud my judgement, and that isn’t how the news works. If I’d been concerned with facts, I’d have noticed that there was a lot of smoke, and I’d convinced myself there was no fire.I called out Eric Galko for no reason, for reporting that teams were asking about Mack. Well of course they were, he’s the best defensive player in football. We now know over half the league inquired about Mack. Why wouldn’t they? Denial is a hell of a drug.A lot about how journalism works these days is screwy. But none of that should affect how I treat anyone else, or how I separate truth from fiction. Today I have to take my medicine and eat my crow, and apologize to those whom I offended with my hasty words. I was wrong.From now on I’ll stick to reporting the truth instead of acting like an arrogant jerk, and I won’t judge those who do the same. With great power comes great responsibility and the media has a lot of power to shape the views of the public. I take responsibility for what I said, and I am hardly the arbiter of facts and truth. I’ll keep doing my job here, and I’ll be back on Friday morning with the first Friday Foretelling of the 2018 season. And I’ll leave the predicting of the future to the Great Beyond. He’s much better at it than I am. Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther is not a coach accustomed to losing. A Mike Zimmer acolyte, his Bengals defenses were typically in the top half of the league. Last year was an..." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesSilver And Black Pride homepageHorizontal - WhiteSilver And Black Pridean Oakland Raiders communityFollow Silver And Black Pride online:Follow Silver And Black Pride on TwitterFollow Silver And Black Pride on FacebookLog in or sign upLog InSign UpSite searchSearchSearchSilver And Black Pride main menuFanpostsFanshotsRaidersOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 321 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Raiders StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Raiders NewsYahoo Raiders Team PageYahoo Raiders ReportYahoo Raiders Depth ChartYahoo Raiders TransactionsYahoo Raiders PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ✕Paul Guenther says 2018 was his ‘hardest year of coaching’New,40commentsPDTRaiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther is not a coach accustomed to losing. A Mike Zimmer acolyte, his Bengals defenses were typically in the top half of the league. Last year was an aberration for him, leading a Raiders defense which was putrid and contributed heavily to Oakland’s 4-12 record.“By far my hardest year in coaching. I just felt like the kind of players we were looking for, we’ve added a lot of those guys throughout the draft and free agency. Guys that kind of fit what we’re doing. Right now in the NFL everyone [is saying,] ‘Oh, we’re going to surprise everybody.’ And all these great predictions. Right now everybody feels great about their team. I’m just trying to get them better every day Vontaze Burfict Jersey ,” said Guenther after Monday’s OTA practices.The Raiders defense last year was a patchwork one, made up of cheap veterans who were supposed to provide some leadership to the Raiders’ young talent. However, there were far too few talented young players who were healthy enough to play, and with the trade of Khalil Mack the defense faltered until late in the season. The unit looked improved in the last few weeks of the season against Pittsburgh and Denver, and Guenther himself learned plenty from last year’s debacle. “Well it starts with me on the defensive side, so I have to make sure when I come in this building I was in the right frame of mind. Going through a year like that and understanding, hey, this is what it was like, only helped me as a coach. It’s something that you don’t always want to go through, having a rough year like we did, but obviously you start to learn how to build these things. How to build your lineup card and what it should look like and how you envisioned it. That was the positive for me. I always tell the players, if you don’t learn from failure, you’re making a mistake. You have to learn from what we did good and what we did bad and build off of that in the future,” said Guenther.Gone now are those short-term stopgap veterans, and in their place are some quality free agents such as Lamarcus Joyner and several promising rookies. Can Guenther put the defensive unit in a position to succeed? There was certainly more than enough failure last season to learn lessons from, but Guenther does have a track record of success and now has more players who fit what he wants to do. Perhaps last year’s circumstances were just too much to overcome. We are pretty sure the Raider offense will be more explosive this year, but if the Guenther-led defense can be even league average, the Raiders will be a force to be reckoned with. Guenther took his lumps last season, but there’s plenty in Oakland to build on defensively.