The Oakland Raiders were AFC West Champions last in 2002.So far in this decade the Raiders have claimed three AFC West Championships, played in two AFC Championship games and a Superbowl .From 2000-2002 the Raiders had a combined record of 32 - 16, with a combined divisional record of 15 - 7.
2003-2006 of course have been a little different.After losing the Head Coach who was the architect of that earlier success and the QB that had led the team, subsequent coaching appointments have done little to stop the decline of the team.
My point?
In the aftermath of the loss to the Chargers, looking around some Raider message boards there are alot of fans who feel that Lane Kiffin's first year as top man in Oakland will be one of laying a foundation to build on for the next couple of years, one in which he starts something that will hopefully lead to further successes.
But, there seems to be a large number of people who aren't prepared to wait, don't want to wait.They want to win now, and every week regardless of who we play and where, and they want everything rectified immediately, and they're sick of losing, WAH WAHH, stamp feet, throw toys from pram.
The NFL compared to many other sports is a closed shop.There is no relegation, no promotion, and due to the draft system the chances of the same teams being bad forever are slim.So to a non-American the bitching of Raiders fans who have had enough of losing after the last four seasons gets a little hard to stomach.The Superbowl has been in existence for forty years and the Raiders have appeared in five, that averages out to a Superbowl every eight years.If you told me that Blackburn Rovers would win the English Premier League every eight years I would be over the moon, it's already twelve since they did it, and they've won it twice since 1875!
So I would like to say to the cry babies, who have had a tantrum after the Raiders dropped to 2 -3 this week, STFU and get a spine, being a fan involves the good and the bad and the last four season's have been some of the bad, and this Sunday in San Diego was bad, but the team stuck at it and were still in the game in the fourth quarter.As for the Chargers, they may have beaten us again for now, but that team has been trying to win a Superbowl for forty years and has failed.If they continue to fail with the most talented squad they have ever had then forty could become alot more.
The Raiders are a half game off the division lead entering week six.If someone had offered me that after last year I would have taken it.Add to that an obvious improvement as a club in a short space of time and a roster that has Morrison, Howard, Asomugha, Russell, Miller, Bush all hopefully in Silver and Black for some time to come then as a fan I am optimistic and see some wins coming down the road, maybe not all at once right now, but I can live with that.
Three of the next four games are at home against teams that are unlikely to be winning anything soon either.Hopefully the Raiders will be moving past .500 in that sequence of games, and the cry babies will be quiet as lambs. bless.
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6 comments:
Good perspective LeighRaider.
Kiffin took over a team that lost 14 games last year, gave up 72 sacks, and scored a whopping 10.5 points per game. The roster has been turned over by 40%. The offensive coaching staff is entirely new.
Most Raider fans don't want to admit it but this is in fact a major rebuilding year. We are a long ways away from being an elite team. It is going to take more weeding out of the personnel, more productive drafts, and additional career development of our young guns with less than 3 years in the league.
Year 1 under Kiffin has been a roaring success in my book for the simple fact that the expectations, competitive spirit, and will to win have all been raised.
Step 2 will be to add more talent via the draft & free agency next year.
I will be very interested to see how the team responds to this setback. A solid win vs. KC will get us back on track.
Last but not least, my motto as a Raider fan has always been "I'm in it for the long haul. I suck it up when things are going so well and celebrate when we are rolling".
It won't be long before we are rolling once again. Onwards & Upward and keep raising your pint of Guiness high in the air.
I'm with you. Cheers! Calico Jack :)
Cheers Jack, just got sick of the whining.You're right, if any year was a rebuilding on e this is it.The past few seasons have been re-loads and look where that got us.I actually go into games this year with some belief and that is a good start.
As one of the "cry babies," I have to give you your props.
However, Kiffin himself said that no one on the team should have slept soundly on Sunday night. Yet we, the fans, should be sleeping like babies, with visions of sugarplums and rebuilding dancing in our heads?
Kiffin has said there are no more scholarships, and I would include the entire organization in this new era of accountability.
Sunday's "effort" was nothing short of shameful and unacceptable in my opinion, and I think Kiffin would agree with me.
This isn't a Kiffin issue. It's an organizational issue I have no problem with holding the organization's feet to the fire with regard to acquiring the right personnel to get the job done, and to expect an accelerated timetable with regards to turning things around. In this age of parity, it is really difficult to stay on the bottom (or the top) of the NFL for four straight years. By year five, we should be well out of the woods.
That's not a unreasonable expectation. In fact, we were doing it until this game. There is simply no wiggle room for Art Shell-type games anymore. Rather than say, well, that's the breaks, just hang in there, I'm saying: No. Unacceptable. Never again.
That's not crying. That's sending a message, the same message the Kiffin is surely sending in the locker room.
Perhaps I'm being so hard on this team, so early, because I believe more than ever before that the Kiffin era will be different, that we no longer have to settle for anything less than sound, motivated, competitive football.
Just my two cents.
Bitchin' blog, by the way.
It was a shock to see you so down on the Blog RT.I understand the frustrations, but last year set us back so badly.If Kiffin had been hired last season then who knows where we'd be now.I agree that the initial improvment delivered by Kiffin also creates a new level of expectation which makes losing disappointing, but I don't think a team should be vilified for a bad day at the office.People will say we've had 3 bad days at the office but I don't think so.And don't get me wrong I am not saying that losing should become acceptable for the Raiders, but I was trying to put a perspective on 4 bad years from over here in England where drafting and parity aren't there for the beleaguered fan.By the way I wasn't referring to you with the cry baby remark, mainly some hysterical contributors to message boards, as I know that you have been a glass half full guy in the past.Thanks for the kind words too mate.
Well, you can add paranoia to my long list of faults. I actually did feel like a bit of a cry baby, and it felt good. I'm sure I'll feel even better after watching the Chiefs get spanked in Oakland on Sunday. My father hailed from Sunderland, I hear they got off to a rough start this year in the EPL?
You see already back to half full mode for Sunday!
Sunderland have started ok really, the promoted teams always struggle to stay up due to the money in the EPL.They have a good chance though as their stadium is a tough one to got to.
By the way if you and Calico are going to be in Ricky's on the weekends of the Texans and Bears games there are a few of us coming over.Just ask Ricky or Tina to point out Martin and Martin from England.
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