Last weekend I went to the Giant/Raider game at Giant Stadium. As many of you may know, the Giants completely manhandled the Raiders 44-7. The score should have been 35-0 at half if it weren't for an officiating error where a fumble was overturned due to the play being called dead way before it should have been. Eli was taken out of the game in the middle of the second quarter, and David Carr did a fine job sealing the victory for the men in blue. If it weren't for coach Tom Coughlin's conservative coaching style, they probably had a legitimate chance to win 90-0.

This game was the perfect game for any new fan of the sport, not because of the warm weather and a holiday weekend, but because it showed two teams which are so far from each other on the organization spectrum. While Giants' owner Tim Mara has been able to build a solid organization built on trust and responsibility, Oakland Raiders' owner Al Davis has been unable to change his approach to football, which may have won him Super Bowls in the 1970's, but are obsolete in the evolved game of football.

Both teams have different values on and off the field. While the Giants may not have the best players in the league, the coaching staff has been able to instill a sense of unity in the players, who all understand the responsibility of their roles and what it means to the team if their roles are unfulfilled. No football analyst will describe the Giants as being the most athletic team in football, but I'm sure they would rank the Giants high in intelligence.

This is much different than the Raiders. The Raiders have been known to draft the rawest of talents in the college game, and sign past stars who are unable to build any dynamic with the players. Currently, the Raiders are building around JaMarcus Russell, a young overweight quarterback that clearly has a small amount of football instincts. The reason why the Raiders have confidence in him: He can throw the ball 70 yards on his knees, which would make his arm the strongest in the NFL. He is also 6 foot 6 and is bigger than most of his linemen. So even though his raw talents are hardly argued, he still does not know how to be a winner. Another example of a player like this is rookie Darrius Heyward-Bay, who the Raiders took instead of future all pro talent/ best college wide receiver I have ever seen in Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree. The reason: He ran a 4.3 40 at the combine, making him one of the fastest players in the league. It doesn't take a football executive to realize this was clearly the wrong decision, as Heyward-Bay has caught less passes this season than the amount of words in Darrius's name (2 receptions through week 5).
The fact is, while the Giants are flying high due to solid management and smart players, the Raiders have become a perennial awful team in the NFL due to poor management (Head Coach Tom Cable's run in with the law after beating up one of coaches working on his staff does not help set a good example for a team lacking leadership) and players who have been unable to develop.

Since Al Davis has become such a poor owner, here are some ideas on how he can fix this organization


1)Figure out a way to hire Lawrence Taylor or Bill Romanowski as head coach.

These two players are two of the most feared players of their generations. I'm not totally sure whether these guys are even looking for head coaching jobs (it was reported that Bill Romanowski wanted to coach the Broncos while the job was available earlier this year), but these guys would be able to command the respect of every single player in that locker room. They had great work ethics, and know what it takes to win. I could see them having a Mike Singletary effect on a team like this.

2)Fire Tom Cable

Not only can this guy not coach, he cannot come close to gaining the respect of his players. Now with a possible arrest coming after punching a coach on his staff, the last thing this team needs is more negative press.

Even though they are one of the worst teams in the league, they still have talent, they just have horrible leadership. Once they are able to solve the leadership issue in management, they can start to seriously evaluate JaMarcus Russell and Darren McFadden as talents with the potential to improve.

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