Podcast: Enough is Enough, Time To Hire Kelly & Pierce Permanently
Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast discusses enough is enough, It's time to hire Champ Kelly and Antonio Pierce permanently.
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas
00:06 Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:08 It's great to be with you today.
00:10 I hope that you all had a great Christmas.
00:12 Looking forward to a great new year.
00:14 I've got a very important subject I want to talk about, but I have to show you something.
00:18 I thought this would make you laugh.
00:21 My in-laws gave me a present for Christmas.
00:24 Now you'd have to know my wife.
00:26 My wife can be in the middle of a 120 degree desert and she's going to be cold.
00:31 My wife is always cold.
00:33 That's the way my wife rolls.
00:35 She's tiny, she's little.
00:37 Five foot, 120 pounds, she wants, you know, she's always cold.
00:44 So my in-laws, and I mean I want this to show up, I hope it does.
00:50 I know that, ah, it's not showing up.
00:54 Darn it.
00:55 Alright, I'm trying.
00:56 Oh, there it goes.
00:57 Maybe that works.
00:59 It's called hot lips.
01:03 It's a thing you put on your face to warm your face and lips.
01:09 So they said when you try to kiss our daughter and she's cold, you got hot lips.
01:17 What are they going to come up with next?
01:19 Anyways, I thought you'd get a kick out of that and think that was pretty funny.
01:22 So again, happy new year to all of you, excited about the new year.
01:27 And I want to dig in on a very important subject today.
01:30 I have an article that we'll be publishing at 9am Pacific, 12 noon Eastern.
01:34 I don't know when you're watching this.
01:37 If it's before that, please make sure you go check it out at 9 Pacific, 12 noon at si.com/nfl/raiders.
01:49 Please go check it out.
01:50 If it's after, please make sure you go read it.
01:51 The article is called Enough is Enough.
01:54 Now obviously I'm going to leave some details out of this podcast because I want you to
01:58 go read the article.
01:59 I think it's very important that you read it.
02:02 But in my opinion, Antonio Pierce and Champ Kelly have done everything that they need
02:10 to do to show you that they are the guys for this job.
02:16 Period.
02:17 Enough's enough.
02:18 Now, before the game against the Chiefs, Antonio Pierce declared as Enough's enough.
02:23 He's tired of the Raiders losing to the Chiefs.
02:25 Goes on the road, Christmas day, and knocks one out of the water.
02:31 They upset the Chiefs.
02:33 Only the third team all season to be more than double digit dogs and to still go win
02:38 a game outright.
02:39 It was a great coaching job.
02:42 You saw AP when he needed to get on Marcus Peters and did.
02:46 You saw him get on Jack Jones a little bit, get him back over to the bench, keep him reeled
02:51 in.
02:52 Jack's a really good kid but needs a little bit of direction there.
02:56 AP gives it.
02:57 He's a guy that'll hug you and a guy that'll put a boot in your can.
03:02 But Enough's enough.
03:04 Now I have reported before, previously, I have talked, I'm not an NFL guy.
03:10 I don't work for the National Football League.
03:12 I cover the National Football League.
03:15 I have talked with an AFC and an NFC general manager who both told me that the Raiders
03:22 can hire Champ Kelly and Antonio Pierce without having to go through the lengthy Rooney Rule
03:29 interviews that require interviewing people outside your organization and minorities,
03:33 et cetera.
03:34 Now, I am a supporter of the Rooney Rule.
03:38 So I don't want anyone to hear it as me disrespecting the Rooney Rule.
03:43 But I've heard from two NFL general managers and I'm going to believe them.
03:48 They're in it.
03:50 That they can do it.
03:52 May have to make some adjustments to contracts, but it can be done.
03:58 For it.
04:00 But some other people have reported that they've heard that they can't do it.
04:05 Doesn't make those people bad if our reporting disagrees.
04:08 I'm telling you right up front.
04:09 I got two general managers.
04:12 They're wrong, they're wrong.
04:14 But I'm going to always side with general managers when I'm trying to get information
04:18 on the National Football League.
04:21 Because it's not coming from my opinion, it's coming from talking to people in it.
04:25 Either way, for the sake of this podcast and this argument, let's assume that Mark Davis
04:32 has to follow all those rules.
04:34 Let's assume it.
04:35 I don't believe it, but let's assume it for the sake of this argument.
04:38 Fine.
04:39 If you have issues with that, do it.
04:40 Let's go.
04:41 Let's ride.
04:42 Make it happen.
04:43 When have the Raiders ever followed the rules?
04:47 Well, minorities weren't getting opportunities.
04:52 The Raiders were given them because they didn't care.
04:57 They did what they thought was right.
05:00 It's the way the Raiders roll.
05:04 You don't need to see any more.
05:07 Enough is enough, to quote Antonio, of watching people come in here who are the next shiny
05:13 bright object.
05:14 And both of them were.
05:15 John Groot, come on.
05:18 That was lauded as a great hire.
05:20 You never got him to the playoffs.
05:27 Josh McTinney could have had a lot of NFL jobs.
05:33 Ray Pickett was lauded.
05:36 He didn't do anything.
05:39 In fact, with him, the team got worse.
05:43 Worse.
05:44 Then you got a guy who comes along who doesn't have to act like a Raider.
05:49 You know why?
05:50 He is.
05:56 He is.
06:00 You watch Antonio Pierce.
06:04 Everything about him is Raider.
06:08 Not going to get into all of the details of him because I'm going to respect his privacy
06:13 and I don't want people to bother him.
06:14 But from his car, which is so cool.
06:17 It is cool.
06:19 That man embodies cool.
06:22 I don't.
06:23 We all know that.
06:24 Okay.
06:25 To the way he handles himself, the way he tears up about this team, because he cares.
06:33 He's a Raider.
06:34 It matters to him.
06:37 His critics have said, "Oh, he's Ra-Ra."
06:39 Okay, he is.
06:41 But he's Ra-Ra.
06:42 Puts a boot in your can.
06:44 Man, nobody strapped my butt harder in my life than my dad.
06:49 And when I got married, the man was my best man.
06:55 He was Ra-Ra.
06:56 He could discipline.
06:57 And I deserved it.
06:58 And it molded me.
07:06 This man isn't putting on a Raider visor and putting on gray and black, hoping you buy
07:14 that he's a Raider.
07:15 I shared with you before, when AP got up and spoke, when Josh McDaniels was here before
07:22 the Detroit game.
07:23 He didn't call Josh out, but he inspired the team.
07:28 And a few days later, Josh lamented, "Why does everyone associate me with the Patriots?"
07:34 We wasn't mad at AP at all.
07:39 Why?
07:41 Because he was a Patriot.
07:43 And he could put on the Raider visor and the hoodie.
07:50 But everybody who saw Josh McDaniels knew he was a Patriot.
07:58 Nobody looks at Antonio Pearson and says, "Well, no, he kind of reminds me of the Jets."
08:08 You kidding me?
08:10 This man is a Raider.
08:12 This team is now looking like Raiders.
08:15 They are playing like Raiders.
08:18 They are operating like Raiders.
08:21 Is there anything more Raider than you go get Jack Jones, who wasn't wanted because
08:27 he had some issues, and you bring him in?
08:32 Yeah, he's one of the highest rated defensive backs.
08:36 Two weeks, two pick sixes, shutting everybody down.
08:44 What's more Raider than that?
08:47 Champ Kelly comes in after the trade deadline, but he was part of the total rebuild of the
08:58 Raiders scouting department.
09:00 The Raiders scouting department, according to multiple NFL people that I know, after
09:08 Mike Mayock left, was nowhere near modern level.
09:14 In fact, one person told me they were competing, like trying to play chess with checkers.
09:24 Champ Kelly was one of the big things that was able to restructure all of the scouting
09:30 department.
09:31 Proven evaluator of talent.
09:35 This man, it isn't a matter of will he get a general manager job, or if he will, he is
09:42 going to get it.
09:43 It's going to be where?
09:45 Champ Kelly?
09:48 There's nobody finer.
09:49 I mean, I wrote about him and said he should get the job before Dave Ziegler.
10:03 You get him coming in, doing his due diligence, talking with AP.
10:07 Can we bring in a Jack Jones?
10:08 Yeah, we have the locker room to make him fit.
10:12 Great, let's go do it.
10:15 Look at the additions that have been done.
10:18 Look at the work on the waiver wires.
10:20 Look at the work going, looking at guys who aren't playing, Jack.
10:24 Look at all that's going on.
10:27 Enough's enough.
10:29 Now, my buddy Tishon from The Athletic did an interview at the last owners meetings with
10:34 Mark Davis.
10:35 It was a terrific interview.
10:36 Tishon just knocked it out of the park.
10:38 Great guy.
10:39 Mark was very open, and this is one of the things I really respect about Mark Davis.
10:47 Very open.
10:48 I'm not my dad in my football ability.
10:49 And he alluded to a new position within the organization to kind of oversee everybody
10:54 with a football guy.
10:56 Mark, you don't have to sell yourself short.
10:59 You may not be the X's and O's man that your dad was.
11:04 You would know that better than anyone.
11:06 So if you say you're not, I'll believe you.
11:09 But you grew up around this team.
11:11 Some of the greatest Raiders of all time were some of your best friends.
11:15 It don't take a donkey brain at midnight in an old tin barn to figure out Antonio Pierce
11:22 is a Raider.
11:25 It don't take a donkey brain at midnight in an old tin barn to figure out they're playing
11:29 like Raiders.
11:31 It don't take a donkey brain at midnight in an old tin barn to say they look like Raiders.
11:37 You just walked into the home of the world champion Chiefs.
11:42 Arguably the best coach in the NFL in Andy Reid.
11:46 Arguably the best quarterback in Patrick Mahomes and the National Football League.
11:51 One of their best defenses ever.
11:55 One Christmas day with the nation watching and you smacked them in the face.
12:01 You beat them up.
12:04 They're still sitting in hot and cold tubs in Kansas City trying to get the pain out.
12:11 That's what playing the Raiders is.
12:14 On a national audience.
12:19 With your offense not even getting a completion after the first quarter.
12:26 Why do that Stogie?
12:29 I'm firing these guys.
12:35 For the sake of this, let's assume that the rules do make Mark go through all the process.
12:43 Let's just assume that.
12:44 Again, I don't believe it.
12:49 But people are wrong all the time.
12:52 So let's assume for this argument that they can't.
12:55 When have the Raiders ever just said to the NFL, all right, well, let's get along.
13:00 Kumbaya, Goodell, Kumbaya.
13:04 You tell them.
13:11 Raiders never needed a Rooney rule.
13:24 The kids would say facts.
13:29 The Rooney rule was because of the other teams.
13:32 Because that ain't the way the Raider nation rolls.
13:39 Those rules are there to ensure minorities get opportunity because they were ignored
13:43 for so long.
13:45 We're not using it this time, boys.
13:49 We got our guys.
13:50 They're the best ones.
13:52 We're not hiring them because of their skin color.
13:54 We're hiring them because they're the best.
13:56 But oh, by the way, their skin color is minority.
14:00 Take your Rooney rule.
14:02 We don't need it.
14:03 Slide up with Stogie, Mark, and make your announcement.
14:06 Enough's enough.
14:09 We ride with Pearson Kelly.
14:19 Facts.
14:21 Facts.
14:23 Just the reality of the situation.
14:29 You don't need to see any more.
14:30 Enough's enough.
14:33 There's nothing left to see.
14:37 The eyes don't lie.
14:40 The tape don't lie.
14:45 Facts are facts.
14:47 You got your coach.
14:48 Your players have bought in.
14:51 They are playing.
14:52 Listen, it's not, "Hey, we bought in.
14:54 Let's go get drunk with the coach and who cares if we lose on Saturday."
14:58 No, it's, "We bought in.
15:00 We're working harder, watching more film, and we're winning."
15:05 And they're winning without OTAs, mini camps, training camps, drafts, all of the time and
15:14 preparation.
15:16 Everything was against Antonio Pearson, Champ Kelly.
15:19 And what have they done?
15:21 In the words of Charlie Sheen, "Winning."
15:28 There's a lot of areas on this team that need improvement.
15:36 This is not a rebuild.
15:38 If I'm Raider fan and they're trying to sell me on a rebuild, I am so, "What have the last
15:45 40 years been?"
15:50 You're telling me that defense needs a rebuild?
15:57 They can use a couple more weapons, but they don't need a rebuild.
16:01 You're telling me an offense needs a rebuild?
16:06 Can they use some additions?
16:07 You bet.
16:08 You bet.
16:09 There ain't no rebuild.
16:13 You need a rebuild with AJ Cole and Daniel Carlson and Jacob Bobbenmoyer?
16:19 Come on now, that dog don't hunt.
16:21 Dirk needs to just tell the NFL.
16:29 Does anyone really seriously believe this?
16:32 Again, I think he can hire him.
16:35 May have to do some things with the contracts, but I think he can hire him.
16:38 But for the sake of this podcast, we're saying they can't.
16:42 Does anyone really believe the NFL's going after the Raiders for hiring Champ Kelly and
16:48 hiring Antonio Pearce?
16:50 Come on now.
16:51 He was born at night, but it wasn't last night and they're not going after him.
16:57 No.
17:00 Just end it.
17:01 These are our guys.
17:06 And I'm hearing people say, "Well, you can give it to AP if he agrees to do this."
17:09 No, no, no, no.
17:10 That's not how this works.
17:12 You treat AP the same way you treated Gruden and the same way that you treated Josh McDaniels.
17:20 You let him pick his staff.
17:22 If he's going to fail, then let him fail.
17:24 But if he's going to succeed, let him succeed.
17:30 No strings attached.
17:34 I was doing an interview on a podcast and I don't remember which one it was.
17:37 It may have been a national interview.
17:39 It wasn't a podcast.
17:40 I don't remember.
17:41 But somebody said, "Do you think AP should get the job if he does?"
17:44 And I looked around and said, "No, your opinion doesn't matter.
17:47 Mine doesn't either."
17:50 You don't hire the coach and then tell him what he has to do.
17:54 You set him up to fail.
17:59 Antonio Pearce has earned the right to do the job.
18:04 He may fail.
18:07 I don't think he will, but he might.
18:10 And if he does, then he deserves to walk out like Frank Sinatra saying, "I did it my way."
18:18 And by the way, I really like Antonio Pearce.
18:22 We have several mutual friends.
18:25 And I think I have a good relationship with him.
18:27 And I genuinely really like him as a human being as well.
18:35 That's the kind of guy you want leading your organization.
18:37 That guy cares.
18:38 He's all in.
18:39 I'll never forget one time we were out having dinner with a couple, my wife and I.
18:47 And every time the husband would say something, the wife would go, "Roll her eyes."
18:53 And we got in the car and my wife's like, "They're not going to be married long."
18:56 I'm like, "Why?"
19:00 She has no respect for him.
19:04 Sure enough, eight months later, we found out getting divorced.
19:12 Is there anybody rolling their eyes at Antonio Pearce?
19:15 There ain't nobody.
19:17 Well, but he's only a defensive guy.
19:20 All right.
19:21 All right.
19:22 Rick Gosling, who is considered by many the greatest NFL writer of all time, NFL Hall
19:28 of Famer, voter, all of it.
19:31 This guy is the gold standard.
19:33 He was the inventor of the mock draft.
19:38 Is my mentor and one of my best friends.
19:42 He is, in my opinion, one of the finest human beings walking planet earth.
19:52 I genuinely love that man.
19:53 I would do anything in the world for him.
19:55 In fact, all of my big articles.
19:58 The ones that you saw about Dave and Josh, all of them, he reads them, contributes, give
20:06 me some feedback before we publish them all.
20:09 Very involved in it.
20:10 He's a tremendous man, including the article I have coming today.
20:15 He has long said, "When you hire defensive guys, they don't know the rest of the team.
20:20 Offensive guys, they don't know the rest of the team."
20:22 But he goes, he's always said, "I can't believe more special teams guys don't get the chance
20:26 because they have their hand in both offense and defense."
20:30 I agree with him.
20:33 Is there anyone today who thinks it was a mistake to hire Josh McDaniels and not hire
20:41 Rich Versace?
20:43 Of course.
20:45 Of course it was a mistake.
20:47 A big one.
20:51 Now you have AP and Champ Kelly who have this team looking like Raiders.
20:56 Guess what?
20:57 I respect that Mark Davis says, "Listen, I'm not my dad."
21:01 I think that is honorable of Mark and I salute him.
21:06 But guess what?
21:07 When I go to the zoo, I don't need a veterinarian to say, "Mr. Carpenter, you're looking at
21:12 a zebra."
21:13 I know what a zebra looks like.
21:17 When I go to the zoo, I don't need them to say, "Now this is a hippopotamus."
21:21 Why?
21:22 I know what a hippo looks like.
21:25 I am a hippo.
21:26 I'm fat, but I ain't a hippo.
21:27 Lost 180 pounds, but still have fat.
21:33 But I'm not a hippo.
21:34 I don't need, even though I'm not a hippo, I don't need a vet to tell me it's a hippo.
21:41 Mark Davis and everyone is a Raider.
21:45 I'm not.
21:47 But I don't need you to tell me what a Raider looks like, because I got my eyes on AP.
21:55 That's a Raider.
21:56 Jam Kelly, that's a Raider.
21:57 Ain't no acting like it.
22:00 Again, Josh McDaniels, before the Detroit game, has this team meeting, asks AP to get
22:07 up and talk, because he respects AP and the fire and the passion of AP, talked about beating
22:12 New England when they were undefeated.
22:17 And everyone tried to make it sound like he was calling Josh out, which he was not doing
22:21 at all.
22:22 At all.
22:23 And a couple days later, though, or it wasn't immediately after, within a couple days, Josh
22:30 is bemoaning, "Look how everybody thinks of me as a Patriot."
22:34 Because he was a Patriot.
22:39 He looked like a Patriot.
22:41 He sounded like a Patriot.
22:42 He tried to make the Raiders into the Patriots.
22:44 Well, they ain't Patriots.
22:45 They're Raiders.
22:46 Listen, I love to ride horses.
22:51 Done it my whole life.
22:52 I know, it takes a big horse.
22:54 I ride a Belgian draft horse.
22:58 Sometimes a thoroughbred, but big horses is what I ride.
23:02 I love to ride horses.
23:04 If you've never ridden horses, go do it.
23:06 It's a blast.
23:07 It's just so relaxing.
23:11 And when I ride a horse and I walk up to a horse, I know it's a horse.
23:19 I've never looked at, and I've ridden an elephant before, and I've ridden a camel, but I've
23:24 never walked up and looked at an ostrich and thought it was the Swiss family.
23:28 I thought I was a member of the Swiss family Robinson and thought, "I'm going to go ride
23:31 me an ostrich."
23:32 No.
23:34 Ride horses.
23:36 Why?
23:38 Obvious.
23:40 This isn't a guy trying to be a Raider.
23:44 He is.
23:46 And everything he has done has improved this team.
23:51 You paid 10 million bucks a year for John Gruden, didn't get you to the playoffs.
23:55 Besides you did, you went away from him.
24:00 You paid $10 million a year.
24:04 That was for John Gruden.
24:05 You paid $10 million a year for Josh McDaniels, he didn't get you to the playoffs.
24:10 He has your team looking like trash.
24:14 And you got AP.
24:19 That's a football team now.
24:21 The Chiefs are still sitting in hot and cold tubs trying to get over their boo-boos.
24:25 Because they got walloped.
24:30 Man, if you go back and watch the film, I was talking to a buddy of mine that works
24:36 for another NFL team.
24:39 And on Christmas Day, he was watching the game with his kids.
24:43 And he said to me, "They were physical."
24:48 He goes, "Go back and watch that offensive line of the Raiders.
24:51 Man, they were just pounding people."
24:53 And they were.
24:56 That's this game.
24:58 That's the way this game rolls.
25:01 That's the way the Raiders are.
25:04 They're the bullies.
25:08 You're not going to win every game in the NFL.
25:11 But when you play the Raiders, you better feel it the next day.
25:15 They're the bullies.
25:18 Max Crosby wearing his diamond face mask.
25:25 We asked him after the game.
25:26 "Excuse me, Mr. Manifield, you going to get fined?"
25:33 Why?
25:34 That's the Raider way.
25:35 I'm going to tell you a story that you've never heard.
25:42 But I talked to him again last night on the phone, my dear friend Matt Mellon, just to
25:47 make sure he was all right with me telling the story.
25:49 Years ago, he's the general manager of the Lions.
25:53 And someone within the Lions organization above him, I'm not going to use a name, he
25:57 asked me not to, and I will always honor my friendship with Matt.
26:03 One of the finest human beings in all the world.
26:08 Love you, Matt.
26:14 But someone in the organization hired Steve Mariucci to be the Lions head coach.
26:21 Now you would think Matt as general manager would be the one that would have made that
26:24 decision, but oh no, someone else.
26:28 So the way the rules were, he had to interview minority candidates and then go through all
26:37 that process.
26:38 Well, Matt, first of all, is a devout Jesus follower, loves the Lord with his whole heart
26:45 more than anything in the whole world.
26:49 And he was not going to lie to candidates.
26:54 On top of it, he's a raider.
26:57 He cut his NFL teeth with Al Davis.
27:02 It's not the way that they run themselves.
27:05 And so he would call candidates and say, I would like to interview you for the head coaching
27:09 job, but I'm not going to falsely interview you.
27:12 I'm going to tell you right up front, someone other than me has already made the decision
27:16 on who to hire.
27:17 You're not going to get the job.
27:19 And I don't want you to come in here for an interview and feeling like you have a chance
27:26 that would be deceptive and I'm not doing it to you.
27:30 And so people would say, Matt, I would love to interview out of respect for you to help
27:34 get you out of this bind.
27:36 And if you ask me to, I will, but I would rather not if I don't have a chance.
27:40 And Matt would say that I won't interview you because you don't have a chance.
27:45 This is a story you haven't heard.
27:51 So Matt announces Mariucci with the job.
27:59 Gets called into Commissioner Tagliabue's office.
28:03 Gets fined 200 grand.
28:06 200 large.
28:09 Because he wouldn't lie.
28:13 He didn't care about what the Lions thought.
28:21 He was a raider.
28:24 He cut his teeth in an organization that doesn't see skin color.
28:30 They just see silver and black.
28:32 If you're the best for the job, you hire him.
28:39 I remember him talking about, to me privately, he wasn't going to lie.
28:44 As a Christian, he wasn't going to do it.
28:47 He wasn't going to do it because that's not the way the raiders do things.
28:51 And he got fined 200 large because he did the right thing.
29:01 If the numbers are accurate, Mark Davis is spending about $100 million for two coaches
29:11 that were let go.
29:16 They don't think the NFL is coming after them.
29:18 And I told you, an NFC and AFC general manager told me he can do it.
29:21 But let's assume that he can't.
29:26 If they're the right guys and you know it, isn't it the raider way to just tell the NFL,
29:32 "Kiss off.
29:33 We're hiring them.
29:34 You want to fine me?
29:35 Great.
29:36 You don't need to go interview.
29:40 These are my guys.
29:42 Enough's enough.
29:43 Get in that locker room, light up a Stogie, Mark, and let your team know we got our guys.
29:56 Enough's enough.
29:57 You give the job to Champ Kelly and Antonio Pierce.
30:03 There's nothing left to see.
30:05 I wish you all a very happy new year.
30:09 Please give me a follow on Twitter @HondoCarpenter, and on Instagram @HondoSR.
30:20 Please go check out that article today.
30:22 I hope that you enjoy it.
30:23 I appreciate all of you.
30:24 We'll see you back here tomorrow on the podcast.