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That's a nice read Neil, thanks a lot.

The Raiders are just an embarrasment, pure and simple. The team, the coaching, the front office - horrible, just horrible. They need to Al Davis to be put out to pasture and a new broom to sweep out all the garbage. Very pleased my Eagles are playing them on Sunday!

PS would argue the Patriots can't be a model franchise while the filming scandal is still fresh in the memory...

Nice blog, Neil.

This has been brought up many times on 606 boards. I agree with all your comments.

Drafting - DHB - Definately an Al Davis selection, no way he should have gone at pick 7 and he was the 5th/6th ranked WR in the draft. MaClin, Crabtree, Harvin, Nicks were all better prospects. If the raiders they needed him they should have traded down and picked him up later. I think DHB going in the top 20 would have still been a suprise, but the Raiders love speed.

Their love for speed was evident again when they picked up Mike Mitchell (SS) in the 2nd round. Mitchell is exceptionally fast for a safety and I remember Mike Maycock saying he wouldn't have gone above round 3 and that would have been a little high.

JaMarcus - At the end of last year he looked like he was taking small (very small) steps forward but then looks to have spent the off-season working on his fast-food diet rather than his game. I don't know how long the Raiders will stick with him but they dont have anything behind him to suggest a change will help them.
They had Garcia (old but has started and won games) in the off-season but then released him and kept Fry and Gradowski which just seems a strange decision.

Al loves his puppet coaches and i can't see this changing anytime soon. A franchise that is so popular and has been good historically now looks like the NFL's equivalent to circus.

Good read Neil.

With the lack of coverage in the Emerald Isle for the great game your offering a great insight!

'That's like trying to learn French by watching re-runs of Allo Allo'

That's one of the funniest lines I've ever read on a blog !

Everything you say is spot on, they have been a laughing stock for years.
Randy Moss case in point, oustanding in New England and Minnesota, decidedly average in Oakland.

Davis shows no sign of stepping down and until that happens Oakland will continue to be the NFL's laughing stock.

Good bog Neil, well done

With the Raiders, for as long as they had some experienced players in the squad, they could get away with being the crazy gang - because they still knew when to knuckle down and train themselves into being a competitive team.

They have none of that experience any more, and no free agent with any self-respect is going to join them.

It's also worth pointing out that with Russell, he held out Crabtree-like for a giant pay-package (and he's a reason why in the current round of wage-negotiations, a rookie pay-cap is likely to be agreed). Yet his level of performance has seemed to have gotten worse each game he played.

I find it hard to decide if DHB is wildly over-rated, you kind of feel he needs to be in a semi-functional offense before reaching any kind of judgement. Perhaps he could be a genuine deep threat, but no way should he ever have been the Raiders first-round draft pick.

Darren McFadden has been disaster so far as well, presumably his fitness problems are symptomatic of the Raiders deep-seated issues. Worth recognising however that there are a handful of guys - I'm thinking Zach Miller, Michael Bush and Justin Fargas - who do work hard and now are surely counting down the days till they are free agents and can join franchises where their effort will be appreciated.

Makes me feel good about being a Detroit Lions fan, this blog...

The Raiders have systemic issues as a franchise in full. The legendary arrogance of Al Davis has to be front and center of any analysis. You wont find any other team in the NFL crying about the demise of the silver and black. Arrogance in the NFL is never in short supply but Davis always took this to a singular level. Yea...great entertainment when things are going well but irritating and out of place when they are not.

As one poster has already intimated...the Raiders may become the Detroit Lions of recent years. Way to go Al! Mark my words, the next thing AD will do (to stick it to the NFL) is hire Matt Millen as head couch. Funnily enough (or not)just dessert is just a spoonful away!

As a Raiders fan, even though it is depressing to read, I must admit it is all true! I don't even know where to start.

The problem I have is that there appears no obvious way to turn it around. Yes Al Davis and his "unique" ways are a HUGE factor in why we are in this mess but, even if Al did the right thing by the franchise and walked away tomorrow, the place would be in such a poor state anyway.

I honestly see years of trouble ahead and trust me, as a Raiders fan, since Gruden left (which when you think about it is a hell of a long time ago now) there haven't been many good times to enjoy. I've almost forgotten what it feels like to go into a season with hope at all.

Sorry, just read over my post and it looks as if I'm about to slit my wrists! It's just hard being a Raiders fan nowadays.....

Great Blog, and I agree with the comments.
I think it would have been nice to point out some of the few good things about the Raiders - such as Nnamdi Asomugha - How much longer do you think he'll be able to tolerate the mediocrity surrounding him?

-- As one poster has already intimated...the Raiders may become the Detroit Lions of recent years. --

I think they already are. The raiders are the first team in nfl history with 6 consecutive 11+ loss seasons. They are already setting benchmarks for futility.

I can't say that it bothers me either, as the raider mystique is a total myth and it gets very boring hearing the comparisons to the "rough, tough" raiders of old whenever they win 3 consecutive games...

I live in Oakland. I'm orginally from Brixton (the two places have similar pedigrees). We here in Oakland call the Raider's 'The Faders'.

Here's a poem: THE RAIDER'S CURSE

For a place that's full of great natural wealth,
It's really dangerous for a young man's health.
The redwood hills gaze over flatland wars,
While our schools are toys for politic's whores.
What curse can it be that stalks thru the land,
Wearing the garb of the Oakland Raider fans;
Who invade each Sunday, dressed up like ghosts,
Then return to Danville as the perfect hosts.
So this season if they don't make the grade,
We'll offer up Al Davis in a big time trade.
For as long as he's here the curse will remain,
He's got negative karma, stamped out with pain.
So if you're curious why Oakland town is so perverse,
Look no further than the Raider's dark curse.

(Danville is an exclusive white suburb over the hill from Oakland. Most Rader fans are from out of town)

It's somehow refreshing to post on a Ö÷²¥´óÐã blog about American football - I'm a New Yorker and Liverpool supporter who regularly blogs on our sites here about the Prem. I also suffer from the affliction of Raider-itis and have had it chronically for 35 years. I have previously lived and worked in Oakland - and remember that last wonderful Super Bowl run in 2002 when the sun shone brightly in Alameda and Trestle Glen...

Al Davis has defined the Raiders for years, but am I alone in believing the Raiders can define themselves at this point? We're going through a painfully distended passing of a great football mind and ego who has contributed great things to the game. New ownership can and will likely attract new front office, coaching and playing talent. The silver and black will be re-created and I'd like to think the new Raiders will be even better than the old. I just hope I live to see it... It's beginning to get as bad as the wait for #19 for Liverpool.

There's a few teams that don't look like they belong in this league and the Raiders are clearly one of them, until Al Davis steps back this simply isn't going to change as he is out of touch with the modern game despite interfering more than most (all?) other owners.

Great article!

It is no coincidence that a new stadium is breaking ground in Los Angeles and the Raiders are one of the teams under consideration with the Bills, Vikings, 49ers', Jaguars, Rams and Chargers.
It would seem that Los Angeles might be a better home than Oakland has ever been. The Raiders franchise should be a strong brand, sadly the team has been mismanaged for so long.

Ive been a diehard Raider fan since the early days in UK (Nicky Horne / The Vicious Boys anyone ?!) ... and its been sad to watch this last 6 years .... the sad truth is that we will not get better until Mr Davis hands over the reins ... we will win a SuperBowl within 3 years of his moving on .. guaranteed.

It's been depressing to watch the Raiders for quite a few years. Yet I always used to get enthusiastic because Davis always tried to build a team to win during the offseason (consider the acquisitions of Randy Moss, Richard Seymour, DeAngelo Hall, Lamont Jordan, Dominic Rhodes) over the years.

Last year though, I gave up on the franchise when Davis dumped Kiffin. Kiffin was no angel but I felt he was beginning to turn things around. Once he got dumped I knew 2009 was a rebuilding year with the team undergoing another training camp where they were expected to learn a new playing system.

Cable surprised me with a good end to last season. He got the team motivated, used the bench and waiver wire as his friend to get players playing hard and most of us thought 2009 might be good despite a tough midseason schedule.

Yet here we are. 1-4 with no hope. Jamarcus Russell has just stunk the place up. His accuracy is atrocious. Opponents no longer both to stay honest against the pass and so the running game is stuffed. I don't know how good or bad Frye or Gradkowski are, but I'm pretty sure that Cable's got to show the rest of the team that this is a year to be taken seriously not just being used to develop Russell.

2006 was a bad year for us offensively but I do recall the Browns coming from 20 points down at halftime to beat us. Their quarterback ... Charlie Frye.

"the sad truth is that we will not get better until Mr Davis hands over the reins ... we will win a SuperBowl within 3 years of his moving on .. guaranteed."

Not a chance, the Raiders will need far longer to rebuild due to the high level of incompetent interference of Al Davis.

I have been a Raiders fan since 1976. The moment it all went haywire was simply the departure of Tom Flores. I assume he was far too good for Davis to tolerate or maybe after 2 superbowl wins he became too expensive or difficult to satisfy.
The Raiders were odds beaters, Plunkett called his own plays, Hendricks re-acted to opponent's plays as he saw fit, and other incredibly talented players also played their own game. Flores relied on their savvy and not their conventionalism - he treated them as experts and did not lecture them.
In my opinion, after Flores departure the players lost interest, Davis realised the error and continually compounded it by allowing his ego to rule any brain he possessed. Then, again against the odds, along came Gruden and Gannon, both winners and guess what, Davis let Gruden go - same issue as Flores - no position upstairs in Raiders organisation.
The Raiders decline bears remarkable similarity to my first and only true love, the Welsh national XV. The only difference is that one man achieved in California what hundreds of committee men saddled us with in the Valleys. Wales have improved but beating England is just not enough!

@1

here's a ranking from a US sports website:



(there are more aspects to what makes a "model" franchise than a 1 off bad incident)

Go Pats!!!

Oakland Raiders = Newcastle United of the NFL... Game over!

#21

More like an amalgamation of Wimbledon, Spurs, Millwall and Leeds Utd!