The Las Vegas Raiders have won the start of the offseason. I'm not sure what qualifies as a win, really, but the Raiders did exactly everything they wanted to do.. from the start. You may be thinking, 'Well, they missed on Ben Johnson,' who just accepted the Chicago Bears head coach job. But, they didn't.
Owner Mark Davis claims they never even put in an offer to Johnson, yet they did for Carroll, obviously. They got exactly what they wanted there. They never really interviewed any other defensive coordinator but Rob Leonard, who is the defensive line coach. They knew they wanted Patrick Graham back, but had to wait and see how his interview with the Jacksonville Jaguars would go.
And, of course, Tom Brady got the general manager he wanted, a guy he played with in college. So, yeah, they have won the offseason so far. Now, it's about assembling the roster that they want to be competitive with. Can they do that? I think so.
Pete Carroll knows they can.
"I'm so fired up that we're doing this together. It's going to be unique, and they're going to be surprised what comes," Pete Carroll said at his introductory press conference Maxx [Crosby], send that message man. We are coming for guys."
Carroll has won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks, where he beat the Denver Broncos. He went to another Super Bowl but unfortunately lost to the New England Patriots. Do you remember who the Seattle Seahawks were before Carroll was there? Let me tell you.
The two years before Carroll got there, the Seahawks were 5-11 in 2009, and 4-12 in 2008. His first year there he took the Seahawks to the playoffs. Now, granted, he had a losing 7-9 record, but they made the playoffs regardless.
Carroll would go on to win the Super Bowl in just his fourth year with the Seahawks, and only missed the playoffs four times in 14 years. So, honestly I believe every word he says.
