Oakland Raiders: Jack Del Rio All About Changing Organization’s Culture

Half a dozen Oakland Raiders players were involved in a series of scuffles during OTA’s and HC Jack Del Rio used the fights as a means of showing how the organization’s culture is changing.

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Oakland Raiders HC Jack Del Rio isn’t a big fan of players skirmishing with one antoher during practices. And after three separate fights broke out during the team’s OTA session on Tuesday, Del Rio let his team know he wasn’t pleased with their extracurricular efforts. He also used the fights as a tool to show his team how the culture within the organization is changing and where it needs to go.

Make no mistake about it, this was not IK Enemkpali cracking Geno Smith in the jaw and ruining his season. But three different battles broke out during the OTA sessions and in at least one of those skirmishes, punches were thrown. Del Rio made a point of letting his team know that fighting amongst themselves was not going to be tolerated, nor was it the sort of “toughness” he was looking for in his players.

The scuffling among the team was what some might call a, “teachable moment.”

Del Rio was quoted as saying:

"“Displaying real toughness is not hurting the team or getting yourself thrown out; it’s having the discipline to do the right thing. That’s the real toughness. That’s the toughness I’m looking for, the real toughness.”"

Some organizations don’t have much of an issue with tempers flaring and teammates getting into it during practice – so long as it doesn’t go too far, of course. But Del Rio and his staff are making it clear that skirmishing with teammates is not the “Raider Way.”

"“I laid it out for them, what it looks like here, how we treat each other, what the Raider way looks like. Hopefully we won’t waste our time doing things like that. Raiders want to take care of Raiders. We want to compete and play hard. We want to be respectful. We want to understand that having self-control is huge.”"

After more than a decade of coasting along with a real sense of direction, and certainly no real understanding of what the “Raider Way” was going to be going forward, it’s something of a breath of fresh air to have Del Rio stand up, plant his flag, and declare that this is how things are going to be.

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Fans have to be excited about Del Rio taking control of the direction and culture of this franchise and whipping them both into shape.

Though Del Rio has been in charge for just a year, he’s already putting his stamp on this organization and it’s already filtering down into the players. Derek Carr, one of this club’s leaders and a guy many of the youngsters will be looking to for guidance, is echoing the lessons Del Rio is teaching.

"“You just have to stay away from that kind of stuff when we’re on the practice field. We have to take care of each other, and we know that. We have to have the culture around here to show like what we did last year. We’re not going to be about that.”"

It’s a very welcome change of pace to see Del Rio enforcing the way things are going to be done in Oakland going forward. It’s a very welcome change of pace to see him changing the culture of the team and moving it in a positive direction.

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Teams that don’t win are the ones most often at one another’s throats. Teams that don’t win are the ones where you will see players constantly battling it out in the locker room or on the practice field. But teams that do win are the ones with the most chemistry and cohesion – and though tempers may flare from time to time, they handle it in a professional and respectful manner.

That winner’s mentality is what Del Rio is trying to bring to this organization. It’s a mindset that hasn’t been a real part of Oakland’s culture for quite some time, but one whose return is most assuredly, very welcome.

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For far too long, the Raiders haven’t been all about anything but losing. They’ve been a rudderless ship lost at sea. But they have new direction, new purpose, and they have a coach trying to instill a new culture and belief system into this team. Del Rio’s Raiders are all about the team, all about the brotherhood between players, and most importantly, they’re all about winning.