Sebastian Janikowski versus Shane Lechler may be a blatant far cry from the most intriguing matchup of NFL Wild Card weekend, or even considered a matchup at all, but perhaps it is fitting to see the Oakland Raiders placekicker and Houston Texans punter locking horns against one another in the playoffs. The veteran special teams aces have a connection to BC Lions defensive line coach Robin Ross; both were selected by Oakland in the 2000 NFL draft, Janikowski in the first round and Lechler in the fifth, when Ross was entering his second and final season as linebackers coach for the Silver and Black.
With the Raiders set to battle in their first playoff game this decade, Ross can’t help but look back on one of his more eventful, and there have been plenty, stops in his 40-plus year coaching career. Ross spent the 1999 and 2000 seasons working under late owner Al Davis and a brash, young head coach named Jon Gruden.
The team in 2000 may have been good enough to win it all, but they fell short against Ray Lewis and the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.
“It was really memorable because we had gone 8-8 and just missed the playoffs the year prior,” recalls Ross.
“We had a lot of key players coming back, picked up some free agents and then in the draft focused on special teams when we picked Janikowski and Lechler. We won a lot of close games, finished 12-4 and as the season went on, you couldn’t find seats available after there were some empty ones at the start. The crowd got into it, the Black Hole was coming alive, the tailgates were great and the whole community really got behind our run.”
The Ravens’ stout defence proved to be too much for Rich Gannon company, as they won 16-3 and denied Ross his first chance to coach in a Super Bowl.
He left after that season to take a job at the University of Oregon. The Raiders followed that up by losing the infamous “Tuck Rule” game in New England the following January and then were beaten handily by Tampa Bay, and their former coach Gruden, in Super Bowl XXXVI in January of 2003. This Saturday in Houston marks their first playoff game since.
“After that (loss to Baltimore), we wound up coaching in the Pro Bowl but it was like what we just went through in BC last year. When you’re 60 minutes away from a championship game it makes it tougher at the end of the season.”
Ross has plenty of great memories from his two years with the Silver and Black, not the list of which is the passionate and crazy fan base that still supports them not only at home games, but on the road. The Raider Nation are known for their costumes, make up and overall obsession with wanting their team to win, week in and week out.
“It was like Halloween every Sunday. Everybody is dressed up, they have the makeup on and the uniforms on,” says Ross. “It’s like that everywhere you go. I was amazed. We were in New Orleans once roped off in our hotel because the Raiders fans were lining the hallways wanting autographs from players and coaches. Raider fans are all over the country.”
Working with Davis also provided its fair share of benefits for a football junkie of Ross’s nature. The long time owner was known for being a “rebel” and an “outsider”. When it came to football, Ross insists there was no better owner to have in your corner.
“Mr. Davis was the Oakland Raiders. You learned so many things from him. He would always wear his black jumpsuit or his white jumpsuit and that’s about all he wore. He was all about football. He studied film; he knew the drills and we was an ex-coach himself. I learned a lot from the way he looked at the game from personnel, to speed and all those things that allowed him to win the three Super Bowls.
It was no doubt tough on him when we came up 60 minutes short and two years later when they got to the Super Bowl and lost. He was proud of the winning tradition and his Commitment to Excellence slogan wasn’t just lip service. He is looking down now and is really happy about how this season has turned out.”
Fun fact: In his book The Waterboy, late Lions President Bob Ackles listed Davis, along with legendary head coach Bill Parcells, as one of two people he wished he could have worked with during his time in the NFL.
Over his four decades of coaching, Ross’s list of contacts is endless so it’s no surprise to find out he knows a couple members of Jack Del Rio’s current staff in Oakland: He worked on the same staff with defensive line coach Jethro Franklin at Fresno State in 1996, while secondary coach Marcus Robertson played for Ross at Iowa State in the early 1990’s.
“I have texted those guys and wished them luck,” says the former head coach at Western Washington. “I know they are excited about the opportunity. It’s unfortunate they are going to be without their starting quarterback (Derek Carr suffered a broken fibula on Christmas Eve), but that’s football. It’s a long season and anything can happen.”
And if Janikiwoski happens to kick a winning field goal in the dying seconds, you can bet Ross will be smiling from ear to ear.
Matt Baker: mbaker@bclions.com