ALAMEDA – Lane Kiffin offered another take on Mike Williams’ failure with the Raiders in his conference call with Minnesota-are reporters.
Kiffin was always tough on Williams in an attempt to motivate him. But it didn’t happen with the Raiders.
“A number of things can happen to guys all of a sudden,” Kiffin said. “Especially when you get drafted that high, 10th overall, and a kid is used to having to no money and all of a sudden here is $13 million or whatever it is. So that can affect people and some people can lose their motivation sometimes. I wish Mike nothing but the best of luck. We gave him a great opportunity. I stuck with him as long as I could. He wasn’t able to take it as serious as he needed to to be able to stay in this league and it’s really a sad story.”
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I spoke with special teams coach Brian Schneider. Actually, he spoke with several members of the media.
Besides enjoying the job coverage teams did stopping Devin Hester, he’s enjoying working with Shane Lechler, who is solidifying himself as the best punter in the NFL, along with Sebastian Janikowski.
It should also be noted he has a better relationship with the players than Ted Daisher ever did last year in the same role, which is helping out this season.
He said the return of Jarrod Cooper and Isaiah Ekejiuba boosted the unit immensely, but he’s working on getting the return game going.
One person who won’t have any part in that right now is rookie Johnnie Lee Higgins. He’s fumbled two punts and with the offense struggling, Schneider said the team couldn’t afford to have someone with fumbling issues on punts.
Tim Dwight will handle duties it appears for now.
--Jason Jones
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