Napa, Calif. – That suit he wore during his days in the league office never quite fit Art Shell. It was the right size, but the wrong feel.
“I was very happy doing that,” Shell said of his role as an NFL senior vice president. “But the commissioner used to ask me, ‘You’ve still got that fire in your stomach, don’t you?”‘ Shell said. “I said, ‘Yeah, it’s still there a little bit.'”
“When I came back here, it felt like I was coming home. As Gene Upshaw says, ‘You belong there.’
“To be back with the Raiders and be around these players and smell the grass, there ain’t nothin’ like it.”
Trouble is, the place Shell once called home needs a major remodel. Al Davis fired him as Raiders coach because he won only nine games in 1994. That’s four fewer than the Raiders have won in the past three seasons.
Nobody talked the talk more than the Raiders during Shell’s days as a Hall of Fame tackle and later as their coach. They talked about the Raider Mystique, the Pride & Poise, the Commitment to Excellence. All these years later, they’re still talking, still reminiscing, still yearning for the good old days.
It’s winning they can’t seem to get a handle on.
Forget blocking and tackling. Shell’s first order of business after being rehired as coach had nothing to do with football. It had everything to do with core values.
He has preached discipline, commitment, pride and accountability. As opposed to the Raiders’ approach in the previous three seasons, when they finished last in the AFC West and led the league in penalties each year.
“I don’t know what they lost, but we’re trying to get back whatever we lost,” Shell said. “We talk about pride, about the will to win, the commitment to excellence.
“Those phrases mean something. They’re not just words. You’ve got to commit yourself to being as good a football player as you can be. That’s what I told the players when I first got here.”
Davis, the Raiders’ 77-year-old patriarch and propaganda chief, said he never should have fired Shell. He also acknowledges the team Shell inherits has its share of issues.
“The idea isn’t to be in the playoffs,” Davis said. “The idea is to be in the Super Bowl. It was still going (during Shell’s first tenure) and we lost it. We’ve got to get it back.”
Shell, who won two Super Bowls as a player, is the Raiders’ fourth coach since the start of the 2000 season.
Jon Gruden has come and gone, as have Bill Callahan and Norv Turner. Callahan led the Raiders to a Super Bowl appearance in 2002, but flamed out the next year.
Turner never had a chance in his two seasons, finishing 5-11 in 2004 and 4-12 in ’05. The players’ focus waned when they knew Turner was facing a lame-duck season, as shown by their league-worst 147 penalties, 50 more than the Broncos.
“Sometimes you know when something is going to happen,” fullback Zack Crockett said. “Things happen in this league.”
Now comes Shell with his old-school ways, which some Raiders players have embraced and others, most notably wide receiver Jerry Porter, have rejected. Porter and Shell got into a heated argument during the offseason, and Porter has demanded a trade.
Randy Moss bought into the program in the early going, but had a sideline meltdown after being taken out of an exhibition game at Minnesota.
Will Shell’s approach yield different results than his recent predecessors? Only time will tell, but this much is certain: Davis, relegated to a walker and looking every bit his age, had to try something. Where better to look for the answer than in the Raiders’ glorious past?
“I just feel good about it that he’s back,” Davis said. “It’s a reaffirmation of everything the Raiders stand for. He’s a legend of the game. When he walks in, he can dominate a room.”
Shell was 54-38 in five-plus seasons and took the Raiders to the AFC championship game in 1990. His record, combined with a Hall of Fame playing career, have earned Shell instant respect among the players.
“Guys don’t want to disrespect him by not showing up for something or not giving 110 percent,” Crockett said. “We have accountability toward him and accountability for each other. That’s something that’s changed.”
Said tailback LaMont Jordan, “I want to walk out of this game with a Super Bowl ring and Art Shell wants to get another Super Bowl ring. When you have a head coach like that who doesn’t just want to make the playoffs, that sets the standard. I’m glad last year went the way it did. You look back at it and say, ‘We have a much better coaching staff right now. The team is a lot more focused than we were last year.’ And it’s because of our head coach.”
Shell sent a message to the players from the earliest moments of training camp, putting them through four consecutive two-a-days, during which every on-field infraction was rewarded with a penalty lap.
The message? Be physical, stay focused and lose the penalties.
Count veteran defensive tackle Warren Sapp among those who appreciate Shell’s no-nonsense approach.
“It can’t be overstated what he’s brought to us,” Sapp said. “He really has brought a consistent work ethic and a consistent plan about how we’ve got to go about this thing.”
Catch Jim Armstrong from 6-9 a.m. during “The Press Box” on ESPN 560 AM. He can be reached at 303-820-5452 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
