Tag Archives: Hue Jackson
Raiders Fire Hue Jackson: Is Tebow to Blame?
The Oakland Raiders have fired head coach Hue Jackson. This didn’t come as a surprise as it was said that Jackson was on the hot seat prior to the regular season. The firing was the first major decision of new Raiders’ general manager Reggie McKenzie, formerly of the Green Bay Packers. It’s possible that Jackson’s controversial decision to trade away some of Oakland’s future for Carson Palmer back in October led to his dismissal. When you make a move like that, it’s like going all-in in a high-stakes poker game. Not making the playoffs has apparently forced McKenzie to call Jackson’s bluff and send him packing after one short year. Would Jackson’s fate have been different if Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos didn’t win the AFC West? Probably so, and here’s why.
Like the Raiders, the Broncos had a roller coaster year at quarterback. After starting the season 1-4 with Kyle Orton, the Broncos made a switch to the unknown with Tebow. An adjustment here and wrinkle there, the Broncos finished the season at 8-8 and managed to sneak into the postseason. Ironically, one week before Tebow was scheduled to make his first start, the Raiders made a quarterback change of their own as Jason Campbell’s season ended with a broken collarbone. He was replaced by Kyle Boller.
At the time, longtime Raiders owner Al Davis had recently passed away. This left Jackson with the freedom to deal with most of the personnel movements and his first major decision came after the Campbell injury. Jackson traded away two future first round draft picks to the Cincinnati Bengals to acquire the services of the semi-retired Carson Palmer. The Raiders went 4-6 with Palmer on the roster to close out the regular and missed their final opportunity to win the division and make the playoffs in a Week 17 loss to the San Diego Chargers. Meanwhile the Bengals made the playoffs and have two additional first round picks to work with in the future.
Now it’s debatable as to whether or not this decision ultimately costed Jackson his job. But when you look at what the Broncos were able to do with Tebow and the fact that the Bengals made the playoffs without the aforementioned Palmer, it would have made sense for Jackson to ride it out with Boller and tweak his offense accordingly, rather than trading the franchises future away. Sure it’s all in hindsight and I get the fact that the NFL has become a league where winning is everything, but when a team loses their starting quarterback some sort of pass has to be given on the season. No, it’s not okay to go 2-14 as the Indianapolis Colts did without Peyton Manning but let’s face it, a starting quarterback is the starting quarterback for one reason; he’s better than the next guy. So all the blame can’t be placed on the head coach when a backup doesn’t succeed. By bringing in Palmer, Jackson took responsibility for the Raiders future. He played the game with house money and when the anticipated Ace turned out to be a Jack, he lost. A better move would have been to fold and live to see another round, or in this case, another season.
If the Broncos hadn’t succeeded with Tim Tebow in the lineup and the Raiders had gone on to win the AFC West it is more likely that Jackson would have kept his job. But when you lose the division with a guy you sold the farm for, to a guy who started the regular season somewhere between second and third string, your eventual firing becomes inevitable. So yes, Tim Tebow’s success can be said to have indirectly led to Hue Jackson’s firing.
Aaron Moon is the CEO and a Featured Journalist for The Penalty Flag. An active duty Navy Chief and avid writer, Aaron is a lifelong Bears’ fan who writes about his team from a critics’ point of view. You can contact Aaron on facebook or follow him on Twitter @DA_Bear_Truth. Contact Aaron directly by emailing him at amoon@thepenaltyflagblog.com.
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