Oakland Raiders Will be Much Better After Bye

Sep 30, 2014; Alameda, CA, USA; Tony Sparano is introduced as Oakland Raiders interim coach during a press conference at the Raiders practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Identity and Philosophy

The reason why former head coach Dennis Allen couldn’t win is because he never gave his team an identity. And the reason why there was no identity is because he had no philosophy as he experimented with things here and there. The things that he always wanted to try never seemed to match the personnel he had at that.

Interim head coach Tony Sparano has an identity that came from his days in Miami and that is one of toughness. His teams were always very physical and opponents knew the difference in playing against Sparano’s Dolphins vs any given team. As we know, every team takes on the identity of the head coach so expect the Raiders to be a tough team when they come out of the bye.

Sparano’s teams are tough and physical to match his philosophy on offense and that is to beat you up with the running game. And off of the running game comes play action and throwing the ball deep down the field behind safeties cheating up. That’s how the Raiders were always built but Allen decided to try to turn deep threats into short pass catchers among other things.

Meanwhile, Sparano’s philosophy will not only give the Raiders an identity but it will match the personnel.