As the off-season moves along, the Oakland Raiders department at Last Word on Pro Football will be doing a series on great Raiders from history. We’ll revisit Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders that are now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, reminiscing on their careers and impact on the silver and black. This week, Art Shell is the topic of discussion.
Great Raiders From History: Art Shell
Art Shell. For younger fans, he might represent the nadir of this proud franchise’s existence. His second stint as head coach saw the team hire a bed-and-breakfast owner as its offensive coordinator before finishing 2-14. Forget this. It doesn’t matter. Not when you consider Shell’s wider achievements as both player and coach. He’s a Hall of Fame lineman, and one of the greatest Raiders ever to play.
As a Player
The Oakland Raiders drafted Art Shell in the third round of the 1968 AFL draft. He would only ever play for the Raiders. He played 207 games in Silver and Black, was named to eight Pro Bowls, four All-Pro teams and made the NFL’s 1970s All-Decade Team. A formidable player alongside Gene Upshaw he dominated the left hand side of the Raiders offensive line.
In his time with the team he won two Super Bowls, notably dominating the Vikings great defensive end Jim Marshall in Super Bowl XI. As Upshaw, Shell’s Hall-of-Fame linemate said, “Shell … shut Marshall out. There was no evidence that he was even on the field. There was no statistic. No assist. There was nothing.”
The Raiders picked up over 200 yards rushing in Super Bowl XI, much of it thanks to Shell and Upshaw. 27 of their first 33 running plays in that game went to the left side of their line. It’s this kind of domination that led the great Paul Zimmerman to say, “Art Shell to me was the greatest power tackle that ever lived.” And who are we to argue with that?
As a Coach
In 1989, Shell made the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Just two months afterwards, Al Davis promoted him to head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders, following the firing of Mike Shanahan. He was the first African-American head coach in the history of the National Football League.
Over six seasons, he was an excellent coach. From 1989 to 1994, he won 54 games, with a more than respectable 0.59 win percentage. In six seasons, the Raiders had just one losing record, and Shell was named AFC Coach of the Year in 1990. In that time, they made the AFC divisional game (in 1993) and the AFC Championship (in 1990). Both years they lost to the Buffalo Bills.
Shell wasn’t a vocal coach, but he was a student of the game with a wide understanding of all aspects of football. John Fox and Jim Haslett are just two of the coaches who worked under Shell who went on to have success in the NFL. Davis fired Shell on missing the playoffs after a 9-7 season, later admitting this was a mistake.
The Great Art Shell
So, forget about Shell’s second stint as head coach of the Raiders. It doesn’t matter. Shell was one of the greatest players to ever play the game. In 2010, he was voted into the top 100 players ever at number 76. Take a look at the highlights. He could run block, he could pass block, he could get downfield, he could do everything. As Ron Wolfe said, “other than Marcus Allen, Art Shell was the greatest player the Raiders ever had.”
Amen to that.
