Oakland Raiders Have ‘Commitment to Mediocrity’ Per Rich Gannon

In Rich Gannon‘s eyes, the Oakland Raiders should be embarrassed and ashamed of themselves.

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Gannon, a former Raiders quarterback, ripped the team during his show on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Oct. 1. According to ESPN’s Bill Williamson, Gannon went so far as to say the 0-4 Raiders have a “commitment to mediocrity” and their personnel are “stealing” checks from owner Mark Davis:

“One of the last great Oakland Raiders players has taken aim at the woebegone franchise again. 

“Former quarterback Rich Gannon — who won the 2002 NFL MVP award as a Raider and whom the team tried to ban from its facility five years ago because of his critical takes — accused Raiders personnel of ‘stealing’ their checks from owner Mark Davis on his SiriusXM radio show. 

“The Raiders are 0-4 and have lost an NFL-high 10 straight games dating back to last November. They fired coach Dennis Allen on Monday night. Interim coach Tony Sparano is the eighth Oakland coach since 2002.

“‘People out in Oakland, in that building, players, coaches, front office, people in business, accounting — stealing,’ Gannon said. ‘They ought to give the check back…When you lose like that, how can you go to the bank and cash the check? Should be embarrassed…They’re stealing. That’s a problem.’

“Gannon said the problem has been building for the Raiders, who haven’t had a winning record since 2002. Gannon last played for the Raiders in 2004.

“‘They have a sign in front their building that says, ‘Commitment to Excellence.’ They ought to take it down. It’s false advertising; (it should say) ‘Commitment to Mediocrity,’ Gannon said. ‘It’s a culture and environment that has existed for years…You let things slide, don’t pay attention to detail…and don’t have a high degree of professionalism and account in that building, that’s a problem.’ 

“Gannon’s rant Wednesday lasted more than five minutes. And it’s not the first time he has sounded off on the Raiders. His criticism led the Raiders to attempt to keep him from their building when he was a CBS analyst in 2009. However, the relationship had been repaired in recent years. 

“Gannon said he feels for long-suffering Oakland fans. 

“‘Raiders fans have to be sick to their stomach,’ Gannon said. ‘I have them calling me, ‘Hey, we’re going to win 12 games and beat Denver.’ Yeah, right. They aren’t going to beat anybody until they find guys in the locker room who demand perfection.'”

Rich Gannon blasts Raiders for ‘commitment to mediocrity’ http://t.co/p2Mb2doHaD pic.twitter.com/p9i71MKhkM

— theScore NFL (@theScoreNFL) October 3, 2014

Gannon went on to say during the show that the Raiders have grown accustomed to a losing culture so they need to change that by hiring people who know the organization from inside out, notes The Bay Area News Group’s Steve Corkran (via The San Jose Mercury News): 

“You need to bring in some people that are capable of rooting out the issues. And it takes people that know the history of why they have not won. You need to bring in some people that have been there and done it. Then maybe things will change. 

“But it’s not going to change when you keep replacing coaches, keep replacing quarterbacks and keep running different veteran free agents through the building. That’s not how you rebuild an organization. And the thing that drives me crazy is that they spend millions and millions and millions of dollars on the payroll.

“…You’re not winning because your players and coaches and people in the building that have become comfortable with the process of losing. It’s OK to lose out there. It’s OK. It’s not a big deal.

“In other places, it’s simply not tolerated. And when it gets to the point when they don’t tolerate it anymore, it’s unacceptable, and we run people out of the building who haven’t figured that out, and then bring in players who care, players who work and players who aren’t going to tolerate that, then you’ll get the results you so long desire. But they don’t know how to do it and it drives me crazy.'”

The 48-year-old Gannon threw for 28,743 yards, 180 touchdowns and 104 interceptions on an 84.7 passer rating in 157 career regular-season games with the Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders from 1987-2004, per Pro-Football-Reference.com. 

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