Al Davis: Calvin Johnson is Nothing Special
Al Davis never gets old. Actually, he has gotten old. Very, very old — but you know what I mean. It seems like every time he opens his mouth something ridiculous comes out. Just when Crazy Al says something that might lead us to believe he has a shred of sanity left inside his dome, he goes and spoils it with more of the same.
Last week, reporters asked Davis about the way the Raiders have drafted the past two seasons. Things started out smoothly before getting a little bit ugly.
“I think we’ve been very successful the last four,” he said. “I think we’re always pretty good. The thing that hurt, is the question someone asked, JaMarcus hurt a great deal. But the ones they wanted to take instead of JaMarcus, Brady Quinn, hasn’t played yet.”
Fair enough, right? At least he’s admitting the team screwed up when they drafted Russell. That may seem like a given, but we’ve seen Davis in denial many times before. He seems to think Darius Heyward-Bey can be compared to some of the greatest receivers of all-time, but we’ll let that slide. Anyway, here’s where he flew off the handle.
“There was some talk of Calvin Johnson,” Davis continued. “But you can take a look at Calvin up at Detroit. How many games did they win this year, Detroit, do you know? Six? Yeah. But up until now, Calvin hadn’t done anything for them. He had been eulogized, but he hadn’t made a lot of indelible impression on the won and lost.”
Johnson did nothing to the tune of 78 catches for 1,1331 yards and a whopping 12 touchdown catches in 2008. In 2009, he had a down year by his standards when he hauled in 67 balls for 984 yards and only five touchdowns. This season, Megatron caught 77 passes for 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns, once again. But hey, at least Davis said “until now.”
The bottom line is Johnson has been the absolute least of Detroit’s problems since they drafted him in 2007. Had the Raiders selected him with the No. 1 overall pick, no one would be criticizing the selection — regardless of how many games they’ve won. The Lions quarterback situation has been somewhat of a revolving door when you consider Matthew Stafford’s injuries, yet Calvin has remained one of the best at his position.
Again, I digress. Al Davis actually admitted the Oakland Raiders made a mistake that cost them in the long run. That in itself is a miracle.
