Oakland Raiders Need to Make Some Changes

Oct 19, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; General view of the line of scrimmage as Oakland Raiders center Stefen Wisniewski (61) snaps the ball against the Arizona Cardinals at O.co Coliseum. The Cardinals defeated the Raiders 24-13. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Oakland Raiders interim head coach Tony Sparano once talked about wanting to know what he can expect from each player. The reason why is because he wants to be able to game-plan around what he knows each one of his players will do. And when a player is great one game or series and horrible the next, the coach can only hope instead of plan and you know the difference.

Yet his starting lineup has some guys that are just like that and even worse, he has guys out there that he can expect to be horrible. I’ll give Sparano credit for instilling toughness and a keep-fighting attitude but the Raiders need more than that. There really is enough talent on the team to where they could have at least won the last two games that they’ve played in.

But instead of using that talent, they’re playing players that the coaching staff is determined to turn into something they can’t be. Some of them are veterans that should be replaced no matter how much money they make because they’re not playing well. Others are youngsters that never did anything but have a few good moments here and there while playing horribly most of the time.

Then you have Raiders that need a role on the team that allows them to do what they are good at, instead of the opposite. After two games as head coach, Sparano should have identified who’s who by now and needs to make changes based on it. There should be no more relying on the biased opinions of his position coaches and coordinators to make his decisions.

Turn the page to see what I’m talking about.