It's funny because while watching the Oakland game last night, it reminded me of how this team has been on a steady slide starting during Del Rio's tenure. The Raiders looked ill-prepared for the game, and got completely overrun. There was a complete lack of discipline as the flags were flying, and silly mistakes were happening. Up until the final drive, the $100 million QB had a whopping total of 86 yards passing and 2 INTs. He padded his stats in the final drive so that he cracked 100 yards.

When Del Rio came on board, it was a reaction hire. He was brought in because he wasn't as heavy handed as Tom was, and the front office felt like they needed to go in a different direction. Weaver has subsequently called firing Tom the biggest regret of his ownership tenure. When Del Rio arrived, we were introduced to chopping wood, a player's coach who would suddenly shift to a disciplinarian only to go back to being a player's coach. There was never any real attention to detail.

Mularkey came in to replace Jack, and he was handed just an awful roster and a front office in transition. He was set up to fail, and he did as expected.

Bradley continued the approach of being a player's coach, positive at all times, and not nearly as focused on attention to detail as he was to just getting better. We all know how that fared.

Marrone brings back the discipline and attention to detail, and while that may rub some players the wrong way, it sure seems like everyone is starting to buy into the approach. It's not about getting better every week. It's about finding ways to win, and playing consistently. Eliminate mistakes, take advantage of mismatches, and play to win.

When they pulled the fake punt yesterday, the play by play guy started to rip the Jaguars for basically rubbing salt in the wound, but Lofton backed the Jags and basically shut him down. For me, it was a sign that this ain't Gus' Jaguars. Marrone wants to win, and he wants to make a statement. We're not going to play for a 1 point win. We're not going to take the foot off the gas. We're not going to let a team claw their way back into a game. We're going to take a lead, we're going to build on that lead, and we're going to press the opposition until they break.

For a team that has a decade of losing to shed, I like it. It may bother some people, but I like the fact that we've got a staff that's not afraid to take a kill shot. This team needs to build confidence and learn how to win, and yesterday was a great example of philosophy in action.

---