The problems that have plagued the Las Vegas Raiders for two-plus decades now are wide-ranging, and they never seem to totally go away. The common denominator for blame is owner Mark Davis, who doesn't seem to possess as much of the charisma or football knowledge that his father did.
He also can't seem to get key hires right, no matter what he does, which fosters constant turnover and the inability of anyone in those roles to implement a philosophy that will stick for more than a year or two.
Amy Trask, the Princess of Darkness, worked in the Raiders' organization for a long time, mostly as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) when Al Davis was the owner. Now she works for CBS Sports, and though not in an overwhelming way, her loyalty to the elder Mr. Davis often comes through.
Amy Trask points finger at weird behind the scenes issue with the Raiders
In light of the Raiders' struggles this season, Trask offered her perspective during an appearance on CBS Sports HQ. Keep in mind that this was said two days before Sunday's loss to the Cleveland Browns, which surely brought things to a different level.
"There are, of course, on-field problems, but there are also a lot of problems off the field behind the scenes,” Trask said.
“Many people assume when I say ‘behind the scenes’ that I’m referring to Tom Brady, but I’m not. The individual who orchestrated Tom’s purchase in the Raiders of the limited partnership interest in the Raiders, Jim Gray, has been working to orchestrate the purchase of an interest in the Raiders since Al [Davis] was alive, and we were in the process of selling a minority interest in the team.
"Well, he finally orchestrated the purchase, and now he is involved in every aspect, or almost every aspect, of the organization. This is having an impact on the organization, not only off the field, but on the field. Pete Carroll is a very good head coach, but the problems we’re seeing on the field are related to the problems that are rampant throughout the organization. They’ve got to fix the off-field behind-the-scenes issues in order to give Pete a chance to be his best.”
Gray is a well-known, past Emmy-award-winning sports broadcaster, and he's known to be close with Brady. The original iteration of the Let's Go podcast, which currently features Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby as a co-host, had Brady and Gray as co-hosts.
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Former Raiders employee Tom Ybarra backed up Trask's sentiment about Gray, simply stating that Trask's assertions were correct.
A broadcaster being involved in any capacity with the operation of a football organization, while maintaining his current job, is odd. It's more specifically hard to believe that Brady would act as Gray's conduit in any way, without his own thoughts and evaluation of things as an overriding factor.
Brady's dual role as the Raiders' minority owner and FOX's No. 1 game analyst has it's own unique issues that have to be navigated. But Gray being added to the equation as an influencer in the organization is an entirely different thing.
Trask has the utmost credibility within the fan base, so what she says has real weight. Only the Raiders would have a broadcaster, let alone one whose general relevance has faded as much as Gray's has, somehow pulling strings behind the scenes.