Hostetler Welcomes a Fresh Beginning : Raiders: Coaching changes and new play-calling responsibility has quarterback excited during mini-camp.
It was a different Jeff Hostetler who came off the field Friday at the Raiders’ El Segundo training headquarters, walking instead of limping, smiling instead of frowning, joking instead of fuming.
And why not?
The Raider quarterback had survived one of the stormiest and most painful seasons of his career.
Gone were all the aches and pains of last year, when he seemed to spend as much time in the trainer’s room as the locker room. Gone was Tom Walsh, the offensive coordinator with whom Hostetler repeatedly clashed. Gone was Art Shell, the coach with whom Hostetler had argued on the sideline in Miami. Gone was the offensive game plan that had frustrated Hostetler so much.
The Raiders have a new coach in Mike White, a new play caller in Jim Fassel and a new offensive system.
“I think we made some major changes and I feel really good about it,” Hostetler said after taking part in the first session of a two-day off-season mini-camp designed to acquaint the players with the new regime. “There’s a new enthusiasm, and I feel really good about it.”
Especially as opposed to last season.
“That was a real rough year,” he said. “Not only physically. I took a pounding physically. But mentally, it was a real tough year, real tough. . . . I knew that things had to change. It couldn’t go like we were last year. There were all kinds of alternatives, I guess, and (owner) Al (Davis) decided it was a coaching change. We made a huge change, and I think there are real positives with that.”
The biggest plus for Hostetler is that, according to White, the quarterback will have a much bigger role in the play-calling than in the past.
“That’s how it should be,” Hostetler said. “It’s important for it to be that way. When you’re on the field, you see things. You don’t always see the whole picture, but at least you have input. . . . It’s not to say that everything I say or want or ask for or desire is just going to be handed over, but at least it will be (considered).
“You could put down on paper what you say is the greatest play that ever was. But if (the quarterback) doesn’t feel comfortable with it, for one reason or another, or if you get up to the line of scrimmage and have doubts whether it’s going to work, most of the time, it’s not going to work.”
Hostetler’s enthusiasm is shared by his favorite receiver, Tim Brown, who blasted Raider management immediately after the firing of Shell in February.
“It’s a whole new everything,” Brown said. “The guys are having fun.”
What excites Brown most is the new offense, which, he said, may involve as many as 40 to 50 formations and the use of three- and four-receiver sets to a greater degree than before.
“I don’t think,” Brown said, “that people are going to be able to call us predictable anymore.”
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Raider Notes
The Raiders signed veteran receiver Hassan Jones. He spent seven seasons with the Minnesota Vikings before going to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993. Jones, 30, played in eight games for the Chiefs, catching seven passes, then sat out last season. . . . Also signed was receiver Phillip Bobo, who played at Washington State. . . . Both players are attending this voluntary mini-camp along with 40 others. . . . Running back Ty Montgomery is being tried at wide receiver. . . . Fullback Tom Rathman is not here, but Coach Mike White maintains that despite the signing of fullback Derrick Fenner, Rathman figures in the Raiders’ plans.