Pete Carroll is already making life much more fun for the Raiders than the last regimes have done, and the players are admitting it
There have been some really dark times over the last few years, or really the last 20 years or so, for the Las Vegas Raiders — for both their players, staff, and fans. To have your last playoff win be over 20 years ago, and your last Super Bowl win to be over 40 years […]
There have been some really dark times over the last few years, or really the last 20 years or so, for the Las Vegas Raiders — for both their players, staff, and fans.
To have your last playoff win be over 20 years ago, and your last Super Bowl win to be over 40 years ago, is just not good at all, and it can't be a good feeling to continue to cycle through regimes, head coaches, and everything else, every single year. There needs to be some continuity with winning.
But, it's fair to say that with this new regime, under former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant GM John Spytek, the Raiders are peaking their head around that corner.
"Yeah, it's really exciting," punter A.J. Cole said on Thursday. "The last couple of years have had some pretty dark moments, and it's been rough. We've lost a lot of games, more than we feel like we should have, and so I'm really optimistic about the future of this organization and the leadership that's in place.
"And I feel good about the way we're headed, and I didn't want to miss that. And so, I'm excited to be here. I want to be a Raider for life, I've been pretty clear about that the whole time, and so I think both sides kind of wanted that in the negotiation. So, it's good that we got to a great place. And, yeah, I'm just really excited for the future now."
And honestly, you can just listen to Carroll talk and watch some of the things he does during practice and say that he makes everything more fun, while also implementing a culture that is good for the franchise. I mean, the dude has quite literally won every single place he's been, outside of the New England Patriots, but that's different.
He has already turned this franchise around to a point where the players are openly admitting that it's more fun now than it was with past regimes.
"I mean, to be completely honest with you, I haven't been this excited to come to work in a really long time," Cole continued. "I'm having more fun playing football than I've had in quite a while and showing up to work every day, it has been the easiest it's been. And so yeah, when you have the opportunity to sign a deal with a regime like that, and with people you really trust, and with an organization you truly feel like is headed in the right direction, it makes the process easier, for sure."
This comes just after Cole was given a lucrative contract extension by the franchise, making him the highest-paid punter in the NFL. But, it's something he has deserved for sticking around so long on a bad team and a bad franchise when he has oftentimes been the best player at his position in the entire league.
So, yeah, maybe this regime is different than others.
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