One of the allegations thrown around by Raiders owner Al Davis during his bizarre press conference two weeks ago, was that former Head Coach Lane Kiffin wanted nothing to do with JaMarcus Russell because he -- allegedly -- thought Russell was just some fat guy he couldn't win with.
If that's true, Kiffin certainly has an odd way of showing it, seeing as how he still contacts Russell and offers him coaching advice despite the obvious handicap of no longer being his coach. From Steve Corkran of the Contra Costa Times (via PFT):
"He just called and talked to me about their defense, things he would do if he was here," Russell said. "So, really, nothing changed."...This wasn't a one-time thing, either, Russell said. Kiffin reaches out to him on a regular basis. "He has got a lot of off time on his hands," Russell said, "so he would pay attention to the defense I would have to go up against. He leaves me a text message or a voice mail here or there."
Nice. I'm sure Davis just loves hearing about this. And by loves, I obviously mean he's probably ripping out what's left of his hair and throwing chairs around the office.
Of course, this probably goes a long way to explaining why Russell still thinks Kiffin is a good guy. It's also probably the most control he's had coaching a Raiders player since, well, ever.
