Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast It's Timeto Light Your Stogie Mark Davis, and Hondo in a Hoodie
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00:00 Everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation, Las Vegas Raiders
00:07 Insider Podcast.
00:08 I am your Raider beat writer joined by my assistant beat writer, the one and only the
00:12 great Zeke Trezevant.
00:13 Zeke, as promised, as people know, I'm not a fan.
00:20 I have friends that work for every organization in the NFL.
00:25 I root for good people.
00:26 The Raiders are good people.
00:27 AP's good people.
00:29 And people have been telling me, you got to wear some Raider stuff.
00:33 I'm like, I'm not a fan.
00:34 I'm not wearing Raider stuff.
00:37 And then one of the members of the organization said to me, you got to wear something Raider.
00:43 I said, I'm not a fan.
00:45 That's not what I do.
00:46 And they go, yeah, but if something big happens, I said, no, I'm not going to do it.
00:53 So after the firing, an AP got hired.
00:59 They were riding me and I said, fine, if they beat the Chiefs either time or the Dolphins,
01:03 true or not?
01:04 Facts.
01:05 True.
01:06 Very true.
01:07 I said, I'll do it.
01:08 So the person went and got me this hoodie.
01:09 Man, I don't know where it went.
01:12 I was kind of zoomed out.
01:15 But listen, that's a clean hoodie though.
01:16 Of course it's clean.
01:17 You think I'd wear something dirty?
01:20 No, no, no.
01:22 I'm like, looks good.
01:24 I want to.
01:26 Yeah, it looks good.
01:28 Cool kid.
01:29 My daily pop culture lesson with Saint Trezevant.
01:31 All right.
01:32 So I went and got it.
01:33 Well, I didn't get it.
01:34 They gave it to me.
01:35 They go, we're doing that.
01:37 We're doing it.
01:38 Is it fine?
01:39 Now a couple others have bought me hoodies too.
01:42 Hey, listen, you got to include everybody.
01:44 You have to.
01:46 I'm not wearing another hoodie.
01:48 Unless.
01:49 Well, not unless, but when AP gets named coach, I'll wear a hoodie.
01:54 And when they win a playoff game, it'll be the next time.
01:56 Fair enough.
01:57 I think those are two big enough occasions to do that.
02:02 Geez.
02:03 But nothing's changed with me.
02:05 Zeke's the fan.
02:08 But I am?
02:09 Hondo?
02:10 In a hoodie.
02:11 In a hoodie.
02:12 Oh man, the fans crack me up.
02:18 All right.
02:19 And not just the fans, the people inside the building crack me up.
02:24 Laughing about this.
02:25 All right, my friend, we got a lot to cover today.
02:28 It's Friday.
02:29 We're coming into a big weekend in Indianapolis.
02:32 It's, what a weekend for the Raiders in Kansas City.
02:38 It was so funny, Zeke.
02:41 Aiden was there at the game with me and I'm sitting in the press room, which is down in
02:47 the bowels at Arrowhead, which is really a closet.
02:50 I mean, it's not even a press room.
02:52 It's a closet.
02:55 And I mean, it smelled like you were in a cigar bar.
03:00 It was thick.
03:01 And then you get in the locker room.
03:03 I mean, I'm telling you, the next team to play at Arrowhead is going to sell smell cigar
03:08 smoke.
03:09 They probably brought extra cigars for that game.
03:12 They probably brought extra.
03:14 What?
03:15 I said they probably brought extra cigars for the Chiefs game.
03:19 Yeah.
03:20 And just the atmosphere was lighthearted.
03:24 They were not surprised.
03:27 They expected to win.
03:28 As you know, I had predicted they were going to win.
03:31 I'm told that there's one other person who made the prediction also.
03:37 But this was, you know, the NFL may have been stunned and some fans may have been stunned.
03:42 The Raiders weren't stunned.
03:44 I don't think anybody close to the team was stunned.
03:48 What were your thoughts?
03:50 My thoughts were this is the team everyone has been waiting on for the last 16, 17 weeks
03:55 all the way around.
03:56 Now, obviously, the offense struggled.
03:57 Don't get me wrong.
03:58 But in terms of, hey, being able to battle through adversity, they just know that they
04:02 beat the Chiefs.
04:03 I can't get over the fact that they beat the Chiefs and did not complete a single pass
04:06 after the first quarter.
04:08 That is huge, right?
04:09 Like the team that started the season could not have done that, especially on the road.
04:14 So to your point, you know, spending last week in the locker room, it was very lighthearted
04:19 then too.
04:20 I said last week, it seemed like you wouldn't have been able to tell that they were playing
04:23 the Chiefs on the road on Christmas Day last week.
04:25 You wouldn't have been able to tell.
04:26 And they went out there and played just like everyone, like you said, close to them expected
04:31 them to play.
04:32 So refreshing.
04:33 I think that's the word I would use is like, OK, finally, like this is it.
04:36 This is the team they're looking for.
04:38 Now, looks a little different than what everyone thought they might have looked this season.
04:41 But they're getting the Ws.
04:42 They're showing heart.
04:43 They're showing personality.
04:44 They're showing character.
04:45 You couldn't really ask for much more.
04:47 Now, the wind was horrible.
04:52 There were times where the rain was going horizontal.
04:58 I mean, major it was now listen, you know me personally as a friend.
05:04 I was freezing.
05:05 Yeah, I so I'll tell you this.
05:08 I didn't I didn't realize that the wind was blowing like that.
05:11 You know, obviously, I didn't travel to Kansas City.
05:13 I was watching it on TV.
05:14 I didn't I knew it was raining, obviously, but I didn't know the wind was blowing quite
05:17 like that.
05:18 But that would explain a lot of what was happening on on Monday.
05:22 Walking in.
05:23 Now, remember, I had a coat.
05:24 You know me.
05:25 I'm a Michiganian.
05:26 I just I was freezing, freezing.
05:32 And I'm thinking, whoa, I mean, and it was bitter cold.
05:36 And so here's the thing, though, that really, in the words of the great prophet Peter Griffin
05:41 grinds my gears.
05:45 Everyone talks about, oh, Patrick Mahomes played bad.
05:50 No, no respect for the Raiders.
05:54 He played bad because the Raiders were in his suit.
05:57 I mean, they were they were all over him.
06:01 And let me tell you, it was you know, I've talked about it all year.
06:04 The holds on on Max Crosby.
06:09 There were.
06:10 I don't remember now, I think it was 15 or 18 plays in a row on defense where I just
06:15 watched him.
06:17 There was one play where a guy had his hands underneath them, holding them like a full
06:22 Nelson in wrestling.
06:24 Nothing called nothing.
06:26 And the Raiders.
06:27 Oh, no, I was just saying it was it was the holding was getting out of hand.
06:31 I'm biased because, again, I did play defensive end back in the day.
06:34 So that's the first thing I noticed.
06:37 But listen, yeah, those holes were just like, how do you miss so many holes?
06:41 You want to know why Patrick Mahomes is scrambling around the field for a thousand yards?
06:44 They will.
06:45 He's got free lanes all across the field.
06:47 I'm sorry.
06:48 Yes, the holes are bad.
06:49 The holes are awful.
06:50 I know every time you mentioned you played defensive end when you're 5'10 and 170 pounds,
06:56 I just.
06:57 I'm 200 pounds, I know you got to give me the extra 30.
07:02 You are not a 200 pounds.
07:04 If you're 200 pounds, I'm 120.
07:06 I'm 197.
07:09 And when I'm with you, I feed you.
07:13 I mean, listen, I need to eat a lot more.
07:15 But listen, that's a sore spot for me.
07:16 But yes, defensive end love the defensive line play and they were getting held by crazy
07:20 on Monday.
07:21 It was it was like, come on, you're playing the Chiefs.
07:23 What other advantages do they need?
07:25 Like you're going to let them get away with holding to it was out of control.
07:28 Yes.
07:29 And so then Aiden O'Connell comes in.
07:31 And after the game, AP said we did not want to get into a big points battle.
07:38 So the play calling changed after the first quarter because Bam Bam, two defensive touchdowns.
07:44 And with the rain and all of that, I'm not in any way implying Aiden was fantastic.
07:48 He was not.
07:49 But there were some drop passes also.
07:52 But it amazes me with.
07:55 Patrick, it's oh, he's not playing well.
07:59 And with Aiden, it's the narrative is he's trash.
08:02 That's ridiculous.
08:03 Listen, I'm not saying he's Kenny Stabler.
08:06 We don't know.
08:08 I'm not saying I wouldn't pick a quarterback.
08:10 I would and let him compete.
08:13 But this kid is not trash.
08:15 I don't buy into that at all.
08:17 And I just find it funny.
08:18 The two narratives nationally are Patrick's great.
08:21 He's just not playing well.
08:22 No respect to the Raiders D and Aiden's trash, but no respect to the Kansas City.
08:28 It's just pretty amazing, isn't it?
08:30 Yes, it's the word you use.
08:32 That was correct.
08:33 Was narrative right.
08:34 And there is aren't always accurate, especially for those of those people who are on Kansas
08:38 City's media side on our side, people who are close to both organizations.
08:41 They understood what was going on on Monday.
08:44 For Patrick Mahomes to have a bad game, he's not out there having a bad game for no reason.
08:48 He's not just having a bad game because it was Monday.
08:50 Somebody or some entity is forcing him to have a bad game.
08:53 And that was the Raiders defense.
08:54 You got to hand it to him.
08:56 There's a reason why Travis Kelsey was slamming his helmet down in the middle of the second
09:00 quarter.
09:01 Right.
09:02 Those guys were frustrated.
09:03 It was a bit.
09:04 It wasn't one of those.
09:05 It wasn't the same as a couple of weeks ago here in Las Vegas where all the Raiders are
09:07 up and the Chiefs knew, hey, we can figure out how to get back into this.
09:10 It was completely different.
09:11 It was almost as if the Chiefs knew they couldn't get back into it.
09:15 You can kind of see in terms of what was going on in terms of the defense for the Raiders,
09:19 forcing them into that bad game or forcing Pat into that bad game.
09:22 And then vice versa.
09:23 Ricky quarterback reigning game on the road against the defending champs.
09:26 Yeah.
09:27 Kansas City's defense played well as well, you know, too.
09:29 So you got to give both sides credit.
09:30 But like you said, narratives, you know, they can go either way.
09:35 So let's go to what I thought was interesting.
09:39 Patrick Graham, another masterpiece defensive game plan.
09:46 We're just going to start calling him the maestro.
09:49 Just the way he plays this defense.
09:51 You and I have talked about him all year.
09:56 Just a tremendous job.
09:58 The adjustments, the changes.
10:00 Just talk about Patrick Graham.
10:01 I mean, I'm going to tell you right now, if this guy does not get a head coaching job
10:06 and if you're the Raiders, you're going to throw a ton of money at him to get him to
10:10 stay with AP.
10:12 But if this guy doesn't get a head coaching job, I mean, that's ridiculous.
10:20 When you look at, you know, a 40 some million dollar offense, now that Chandler's gone.
10:26 40 some million dollar offense, I mean defense, and what he's done with it.
10:33 Plug and play, developing guys, moving Tyree inside, the emergence of a Malcolm Coons.
10:40 What you see with Jack Jones.
10:42 I mean, just all that Patrick Graham has done.
10:46 This guy's resume sticks out like muscles on Nyster Universe, doesn't it?
10:52 Listen, I completely agree with you.
10:55 You know my excitement has been there around Patrick Graham literally in the defense all
10:58 year.
10:59 Again, I love defense.
11:00 And what Patrick has been able to do has been nothing short of amazing.
11:04 And there's two sides of it, if you ask me, similar to AP.
11:07 There's the X's and O's in terms of what he's doing on the field.
11:10 And then you've got to look at everything else that he has to deal with around that.
11:13 So for Patrick Graham, you got to look at, yes, he's done great with the defense.
11:16 Yes, he's developed players.
11:17 But you also got to consider the fact that he's doing that with the offense that has
11:21 not done very much this whole season.
11:24 So imagine what he could do if he had one of the better offices in the league, right?
11:28 That would take so much of the load off the defense's hand.
11:31 Imagine how much better the defense would look if the defense or the offense wasn't
11:34 stalling out so many times every game.
11:36 It would be even better.
11:37 So for him to take everything that he's had given to him, you know, and make what he's
11:41 made out of that defense and still take on all the difficulties that he's had to deal
11:46 with as a defensive coordinator, that is why he should be in the running for a head coaching
11:50 position similar to AP, right?
11:53 He's done his X's and O's, and then there's everything else AP has had to deal with.
11:57 Being a first time head coach out of nowhere, right?
11:59 He wasn't expecting that, right?
12:00 Kind of having to rebuild this team in the middle of the season, right?
12:03 There's what they've done on the field, and then there's everything they've had to deal
12:06 with and they've dealt with successfully off the field.
12:08 So I think Pat and AP speak pretty highly to that.
12:13 - Champ Kelly gets the job after the trade deadline, has magnificently worked waiver
12:23 wires, who's a free agent to pick and play and put guys in positions on this football
12:30 team.
12:31 Does his due diligence now on Jack Jones, does his due diligence, talks with AP, trusts
12:41 AP, brings Jack Jones in.
12:44 I mean, again, he's brought in other guys.
12:47 We know what he did before he got here with the Broncos, with all of the Peyton Manning
12:53 and all the success in the Broncos.
12:55 We know what he did with the Bears, the trade for Kahlil Mack and all the things he had
13:00 his hands in with the Bears.
13:03 He's a guy that I wrote should have been a candidate and I wanted him to get the GM job
13:08 after Mike Mayock.
13:09 I still think he's done everything now, just like AP.
13:13 This guy's done a terrific job.
13:15 And I don't think you can separate what AP's done with what Champ Kelly's done.
13:20 They have been the quintessential team, and I think both of them have been outstanding
13:26 and have earned the permanent jobs.
13:28 Do you agree?
13:29 I think we all agree on that one.
13:32 Again, one thing I think in terms of Champ that I think is being underestimated, and
13:35 you've mentioned it, is him getting the job a day or two after the trade.
13:39 It wasn't that long after the trade deadline ended.
13:41 It was like less than a week.
13:42 The afternoon after.
13:43 Yeah, literally, like the day after.
13:46 So imagine being a new GM and the trade deadline just passed 24 hours.
13:49 What are you supposed to do?
13:51 He's taken an unfavorable situation and he's made the most of it.
13:56 And then specifically the Jacks Jones, right?
13:59 The previous regime brought in a lot of players that Josh McDaniels was familiar with or had
14:03 connections with.
14:05 Some worked out, some did not work out.
14:07 So for Champ and AP to be on the same page about Jack and it worked out this big, this
14:11 quickly, that's a sign right there, right?
14:15 These guys are on the same page.
14:16 They know talent when they see talent.
14:18 They know how to develop talent.
14:19 And again, that they're on the same page, right?
14:21 Whether that player gets brought in or does not get brought in, these guys are moving
14:24 in the same direction together.
14:25 So I think without a doubt, they have to be made permanent in terms of their positions,
14:30 for sure.
14:31 Now, let's turn to AP because as you know, I wrote the other day, enough's enough.
14:37 It's time to give him and Champ the job.
14:41 My point is someone said, well, you should wait because you don't want them to lose motivation
14:46 in the last two games.
14:47 If you think AP is going to lose motivation in the last two games and they don't know
14:52 AP, let's just leave it right there.
14:54 You haven't been paying attention.
14:55 Yeah.
14:56 But second of all, this guy's earned it.
14:58 And I talked about, there are some schools of thought, including the PFT report last
15:04 year with the Jeff Saturday and the Colts, that they can't hire him because of the Rooney
15:09 rule.
15:10 I've had an AFC and an NFC general manager tell me that they can, they'd have to work
15:14 with the contracts.
15:15 But I said, who cares?
15:17 Let's assume that they can't hire him because of the Rooney rule.
15:21 Mark Davis needs to be like his dad Al and tell the NFL, kiss off.
15:27 These are my guys.
15:29 I'm going to go hire them.
15:31 Done deal.
15:32 Come after me.
15:33 Now, yesterday, legendary NFL writer, the great Rick Gosling said on this podcast, the
15:42 NFL ain't going after them.
15:44 They're not going to touch them.
15:45 You just hired two minorities.
15:46 Now, they're not going to.
15:48 In fact, he said it may require the NFL to make an adjustment of the rules.
15:53 He doesn't think there's any chance the NFL comes after him.
15:56 Do you agree with me and Rick?
15:57 Go hire them now.
15:59 Make a statement.
16:00 Be Alish.
16:01 I agree with both sides of the NFL.
16:04 They're not going to touch that with a 10 foot pole.
16:07 Just because you've got to think like, if you're going to go after the Raiders for quote
16:10 unquote, not abiding by the Rooney rule, and then they have a minority head coach, well,
16:14 isn't that the point of the Rooney rule?
16:16 So at that point, I feel like the NFL will be chasing, kind of chasing his tail on that
16:19 one.
16:20 But in terms of what Mark should do, come on, you're making this transition back to
16:24 the Raider way, right?
16:25 Why not make that move?
16:27 Right.
16:28 That would fully just, that is the Raider move to make if you ask me.
16:30 So I think when it comes to what he should do, yeah, be like your dad.
16:34 Say this is what we're doing.
16:35 Even if the NFL were to come after you, what are they going to do?
16:38 They're going to, they're going to, you know, fine you some money.
16:40 They're going to maybe dock a late round draft pick.
16:42 You're already paying your last two head coaches, what, $40 million, $80 million between the
16:47 two of them.
16:48 What's another couple, about a hundred thousand or a million dollars to make the move you
16:52 want to make.
16:53 So I think, you know, what they're about to do is going to be very interesting, but I
16:56 think it's clear what they should do.
16:59 Make the move.
17:01 To me, this is a no brainer.
17:04 Do you know what Raider Nation would do if he just walks into a press room, says, "Hey
17:12 Roger, kiss my butt.
17:16 These are my guys."
17:17 And lights up a Stogie.
17:20 That would, listen, that would be so fitting, especially for a fan base that has been, that
17:24 feels like they're at odds with the NFL.
17:26 Sometimes I have felt that way over the years.
17:28 That would only, that would only get, you know, Raider Nation and get the team even
17:32 more motivated, even more excited for the future.
17:34 All right.
17:35 I got to ask you, cause you are a fan.
17:38 I'm not.
17:40 What would you feel like sitting in that press room, Mark Davis walks in with both men, "Hey
17:46 Roger, kiss my butt.
17:47 I'm hiring these two."
17:48 And he just lit up a big Cuban.
17:51 What would you think?
17:52 You would have to, you would have to remove me from the room because I would have this
17:55 dumb smile on my face from ear to ear that would probably ruin any press conference that
18:00 was going on.
18:01 So that would, that would be a sight to behold.
18:04 There we go.
18:07 All right.
18:09 That would be interesting, wouldn't it Zeke?
18:12 Yes, sir.
18:14 All right.
18:16 Everybody has predicted a win this week.
18:18 We finally come to you.
18:20 I'm predicting Raiders 27-13.
18:25 What are you picking?
18:27 So I'm picking a double digit win.
18:31 And I have it as a 20 to 10.
18:34 Now the defense I'm not worried about.
18:36 I'm worried about the offense, you know, getting those points on the board.
18:38 But I definitely have a...
18:40 Listen, it's going to be indoors.
18:42 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:44 And Indianapolis does not have the defense that the Chiefs had or...
18:50 Yeah, that's a very good point.
18:51 And quick note, I do, I mean, I do firmly believe that, you know, the field that they're
18:56 playing on greatly impacts them.
18:58 I think that's why you saw such a difference between both Kansas City games.
19:01 I think Kansas City playing on that turf was a huge difference than them playing on a rainy,
19:05 wet, you know, ground of grass.
19:08 But in terms of the Colts game, yes, I think Raiders double digit win.
19:12 I think they've come too close to turning this thing fully around to let this Indy game
19:16 slip through their fingers.
19:19 Want to ask you a question because I think people are underselling the captains on this
19:25 team.
19:27 Max Crosby, Devontae, Holton.
19:31 I mean, and the list goes on.
19:32 There's a bunch of them this year.
19:34 I think the Raiders captains this year have been more influential than any of the four
19:41 seasons I have covered.
19:44 Every one of them.
19:45 You're seeing them the way they're talking to guys on the sideline during games.
19:49 You and I have been on the sideline in practice and talked about it.
19:53 I think the captains this year have been phenomenal.
19:58 Your thoughts?
19:59 I think they've been great.
20:00 And I think the reason why they're being undersold is because a lot of them are not necessarily
20:05 the most publicly vocal people.
20:08 They're not necessarily using the media to get their message across.
20:12 And I'll be honest with you.
20:13 I think this season that may have been the best route.
20:16 I don't think this was the season to go and say too many things about frustrations to
20:20 the media, really for anyone, but especially for the captains.
20:24 And I honestly think that a lot of the captains, that's their demeanor, no matter who the Colton
20:27 is, or is it not necessarily a quiet guy, but these guys aren't a rah-rah kind of person.
20:32 So I think that's part of what's going on.
20:33 And their leadership is follow what I do, right?
20:37 See how I'm playing, seeing how I train, and that's how they're leading.
20:40 And I think that goes a long way.
20:41 And that's why they're being undersold.
20:43 I think in this day and age, people are used to the prima donna, if you will, or the loud
20:47 athlete saying, I want X, Y, and Z.
20:49 That's not what these guys are.
20:50 They're very selfless.
20:51 They're very down to earth.
20:52 And they say, hey, you know what?
20:53 What's better than my words?
20:54 It's going to be my actions.
20:56 So I think that's why they don't get the attention that they deserve.
20:59 But you got to look at what they've been through this season, how they've turned this around.
21:02 It wasn't all because of AP, right?
21:03 AP is not on the field every week.
21:05 It's because of those captains.
21:08 I was asked this week about Devontae Adams on an interview I did.
21:14 And someone asked me, do you think he's a prima donna?
21:20 And I just laughed.
21:21 I said, I think the guy just wants to win.
21:26 I don't think he's prima donna at all.
21:29 I think he wants to win.
21:31 I think it frustrates him when he sees things that can happen that can lead to winning.
21:38 But I don't know that I don't classify someone wanting to win as a prima donna.
21:45 Do you think he is?
21:46 Well, this is what I'll say.
21:47 Think about the last 20, 30 years of football in the NFL and the wide receiver position
21:52 specifically as well as the word prima donna.
21:57 If you look at the last 20 years, you've never had to ask if a prima donna was a prima donna.
22:01 It was always very Taryll Owens, right?
22:04 You never had to clarify.
22:05 We never had to ask that question.
22:07 So I think the fact that you're asking should tell you that he's not.
22:11 But I can also, I feel like I can confirm this from being around for a little bit.
22:15 That's not the case, right?
22:16 Whether he's at the podium speaking, he's easy to talk to.
22:19 Whether he's in the locker room and you want to shoot a quick comment or shoot a quick
22:22 question to Devontae, again, you would almost not even know you're talking to a potential
22:26 Hall of Fame or expected Hall of Fame wide receiver down the road.
22:29 So prima donna couldn't be further from the truth.
22:32 And that's something I can confirm.
22:34 Yeah, I'm going to say this.
22:36 I've had so many dealings with him and he's never once ever been a jerk.
22:43 He's never been anything less than a gentleman.
22:45 He's never been anything less than warm.
22:49 There's been times he's been frustrated.
22:51 I guess you wouldn't say when somebody's frustrated, they're warm, but he's never been a jerk to
22:55 anyone.
22:56 Even in his frustrations, he was never, even when he's expressing the frustrations, has
23:00 never come across as aggressive or mean or disrespectful.
23:03 None of that.
23:04 He's always got the right way.
23:05 And he hasn't, there's been times where off the record, he's coming to the locker room
23:09 and said X, Y, and Z and express a little bit of frustration.
23:11 And even then he was, he still did it the right way.
23:14 So I'm with you.
23:15 Yeah.
23:16 All right.
23:17 Last guy I want to talk about is somebody we've talked about a ton.
23:20 Zemir White.
23:22 This is a guy we've all, you and I believe it.
23:25 I mean, the guy looks like he's chiseled out of granite.
23:29 He's got muscles in places of my body I have never seen.
23:37 This guy looks the part.
23:39 He's a great kid.
23:42 Great kid.
23:43 There's no one that dislikes him.
23:45 And to see him finally coming to his own, to see a lot of these young players responding
23:51 to faith that AP has in them, responding to what Bo Hardegre and responding to what Patrick
23:58 Graham and responding to the captains.
24:02 It's really fascinating to see your thoughts on watching Zeus emerge.
24:06 Yeah.
24:07 You know, I'll be honest.
24:08 I'll start off by saying I'm extremely biased.
24:11 You know, in terms of college football, you know how I feel about my Georgia Bulldogs.
24:13 I'll say that, but I only say that to say this.
24:16 I've watched Zemir for a long time.
24:18 I've watched him grow.
24:19 And with Zemir, you got to think about his position and how he feels, right?
24:23 He's really been kind of riding the bench for the last two years or special teams for
24:26 the last two years.
24:27 And to go from being one of the top college football running backs and now riding the
24:31 bench behind one of the better running backs in the National Football League, that's tough,
24:35 right?
24:36 That's tough to sit there and ride the bench knowing you're talented enough to be on that
24:38 field.
24:39 So in terms of his production on the field, that's great.
24:42 It was good to see.
24:43 It was good to see him finally kind of break off and show his potential, right?
24:47 He's still got some growing to do.
24:49 He's still got some areas of improvement, mainly catching the ball out of the backfield,
24:53 mainly hitting the holes a little bit better.
24:55 But to see that progression finally work, it was refreshing to see.
24:58 But I also think it's a testament to all of the younger players because Zeus isn't the
25:02 only player that's talented but has had to ride the bench, right?
25:05 And wait your turn, even though you're very talented.
25:08 So I think that says a lot about the Raiders as an organization and where this coaching
25:12 staff has taken the guys.
25:13 So I think this is just the beginning for Zemir White.
25:16 You know, I got asked by somebody yesterday, can you talk about the personnel moves that
25:22 you think Champ Kelly's made?
25:25 And I literally thought to myself, okay, you let Marcus Peters go, you bring in a Jack
25:30 Jones.
25:31 They brought in several players, by the way.
25:33 I'm not going to get into all of the players that they brought in.
25:37 You go to AP and together you guys make the decision.
25:40 We got to play more young players.
25:42 The emergence of Zeus, the emergence of Malcolm, the letting Patrick Graham do what Patrick
25:49 Graham does.
25:51 It was him making the decision to Mark Davis, hey, I want to promote AP.
25:57 I mean, he's done multiple things just this year in a very, very short time.
26:02 I think it's a testimony to this team.
26:04 When I say the team, I'm referring to AP and to Champ.
26:09 You know, you want your general manager to be the boss.
26:12 He is.
26:13 But you want your coach to be strong-willed to know what he wants and to not be afraid
26:18 to speak up, which is what they have.
26:21 And I just think, I mean, with Mayock, Gruden ran it.
26:25 Okay?
26:26 There was no doubt Gruden was the boss.
26:29 With McDaniels and Ziegler, McDaniels ran it.
26:33 Now, I've been critical and said Ziegler should have.
26:37 And even Mark Davis told T'Shawn of the Athletic, he said, listen, Ziegler was the boss, but
26:45 what he did with it, that's another story.
26:47 I mean, confirming what we wrote.
26:50 That is not the case here.
26:51 Champ's the boss, but he wants AP empowered.
26:55 They're doing it the way it's supposed to be done.
26:57 I'm going to say this, and you may be a little young to remember this, and I know they've
27:04 not won any Super Bowls, so I'm not saying it's a perfect comparison, but it reminds
27:09 me in the early process of a Ron Wolf, Mike Holmgren.
27:14 Just those two guys, Wolf was the man in the office.
27:19 Holmgren was the guy on the field in the locker room.
27:22 And even though everyone knew where Wolf stood, it was symmetry.
27:26 It is symmetry with AP, it is symmetry with Champ.
27:30 You are not going to find it any other way.
27:33 I don't care who you bring in.
27:34 It ain't going to be like it is now.
27:38 And AP reminds me a lot of John Madden, a position coach, not a ton of experience.
27:44 You look at what Champ's done with other organizations.
27:48 To me, this is lightning in a bottle, baby.
27:50 And we've talked about this hire being a legacy-defining hire for Mark Davis.
27:56 If he goes and hires these two, and it doesn't work out, no one's blaming him.
28:02 Nobody.
28:03 Nobody.
28:04 If he goes out and hires someone else and it doesn't work, it's all on him.
28:08 Everyone's blaming him.
28:09 It is all on him.
28:11 This is legacy-defining like the Stogie.
28:17 I agree with you.
28:18 I agree with you.
28:19 I think had they not beaten Kansas City, okay, again, obviously, it's a coin toss what they
28:24 do.
28:25 But now that they've beaten Kansas City, I think Raider Nation, I think all of us that
28:28 are close to the organization, I think we're all on the same page of don't overthink this.
28:34 You can't go and try to go through a whole other interview process and potentially hire
28:38 a GM and a coach that has no idea what it has been like in this locker room, in this
28:43 organization for the last X amount of years.
28:45 They have no idea what these guys and what this organization have been through.
28:49 That's not the GM and the head coach you want to bring in, let alone the blame that you
28:52 could face for if it doesn't work out.
28:55 It's right there for Mark.
28:56 Pull the trigger, man.
28:57 Don't make this harder than it has to be.
28:59 It's AP, it's champ.
29:01 It's easy to me.
29:02 I don't see almost why it hasn't happened yet.
29:05 Those are the guys for the job, for sure.
29:08 Again, whether the GMs are right or not, let's assume they're not and you got to follow the
29:13 Rooney rule.
29:14 There's nothing more like his dad.
29:16 I mean, that in itself, well, Raider Nation would sell t-shirts.
29:21 As a matter of fact, the title of this episode is going to be, "It's Time for Mark Davis
29:27 to Light the Stogie."
29:29 Light it.
29:30 Light it.
29:31 It's going to be such a good time, man.
29:34 Mark has to make this move, man.
29:36 I can't fathom a way that he doesn't.
29:39 It's just right there.
29:40 This is the move that I feel like is really going to take.
29:42 You say legacy-defining, that's the quick way of saying it.
29:45 I'm saying that this is going to be the move that takes Raider Nation into the future.
29:48 Now, I'm not saying AP is going to be the next coach.
29:51 He's not going to be the coach 10 years from now.
29:53 But hey, for this period of the next three, five, however many years, AP is the guy, for
29:57 sure.
29:58 All right, everybody.
29:59 It's time for Mark Davis to light the stogie.
30:03 That is the great Zeke Trezevant.
30:04 I'm Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast,
30:09 part of the Fans First Sports Network.
30:11 Remember, if you don't want to watch the video, you can always just check the audio on Spotify
30:18 or on Apple, as well as I do another podcast every day that's just five to 10 minutes,
30:23 riding with Hondo and Dexter, breaking you some more inside information on the Raiders.
30:26 You can check it out there.
30:28 Follow me on Twitter @HondoCarpenter, @HONDOCARPENTER, and @HONDOSR on Instagram.
30:34 By the way, I kept my word.
30:36 Hondo, I want to thank you.
30:39 I want to thank the member of the organization that bought this for me.
30:45 Not naming any names.
30:46 Nothing's changed.
30:47 Don't ask me to wear another hoodie unless AP's named coach.
30:52 And after that, the only time I would dare it is with a playoff win.
30:55 Fair enough, Zeke?
30:56 Hey, he might get both of those this season.
30:59 All right.
31:02 It's possible.
31:03 It's totally possible.
31:04 I agree.
31:05 All right, Mark Davis.
31:06 Make it happen.
31:09 your stogie. All right, see you all tomorrow.