AGAIN ESPN, REALLY?

Actions speak louder than words. Just let that ESPN talk go in one ear and out the other.

Why can’t they say that?

Are you serious? He’s one of the “Classest” guys to EVER play the game. Did you ever see this guy act the way the WR’s of today act?

I understand not liking what ESPN has to say about our Raiders, but come on “No Class” YOUR AN IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!

its old news now bro

we’ve only been bad for two seasons now and that entire regime is gone right up to the owner. We currently hold a lot of young (however unproven so this could swing either way) promising talent from the youth movement Herm impressed last season, which includes; a franchise LT in Albert, a solid option at LB in Derrick Johnson, two solid corners in Carr and Flowers (without mentioning Leggett), a pro bowl potential free safety in Jarrad Page, a solid strong safety in Bernard Pollard, a speedy change of pace back to spell Larry Johnson in Jamaal Charles, a solid receiver in Dwayne Bowe and a solid (when healthy) second option in Mark Bradley, and a huge blocking ace at TE (the way Haley utilizes TE’s) in Cottam.

This off season brought us a franchise QB and a solid backup in Cassel and Thigpen, a guard to solidify the spot opposite our pro bowl LG (Brian Waters) in Mike Goff. Last season our greatest weakness was our D line. We responded by moving Tank Tyler to his natural position at NT, and drafting two defensive ends with our first two picks. Next up linebackers; we brought in 3-4 aces Mike Vrabel and Zach Thomas and moved some talented players to DE (McBride and Hali) all the while cruising the low market adding a lot of players to audition for the rush linebacker spot.

I will admit I am worried about our front seven. However as far as the rest of the team goes Kansas City has some makings to be at least 500 this season..

On the other hand you have Oakland. While they have added some solid talent this off season you have these issues

Jamarcus Russel really hasn’t shown talent up to par of a good NFL QB, serviceable in a run heavy offense yes, but excelling? Far from.
Darren McFadden showed tons of promise in the draft but went down to injury in his rookie year. Will this continue?
The second worst LT in the league last season is the starting LT for Oakland
Oaklands first round pick was acclaimed one of the biggest reaches in the draft because of the availability of Michael Crabtree (while KC is at least somewhat understandable because no other true 3-4 ends were available) followed by THE biggest reach in the draft in the second round.
Finally, instead of trashing the unsuccessful regime Oakland opted to retain a coach from that regime and Al Davis is still the GM.. When you have been bad for the last seven years (or 50 in the Lions case) not making huge changes will often result in frequent bashing by the media.

… Just saying

It’s because of the Raiders maverick, non-conformist attitude. But I agree with you that the Chiefs are an improved team and should at least hit .500.

However, if the Raiders show anything, it’s that conventional views can often be tossed out the window, especially when it comes to the draft, which is largely a crapshoot anybody. The scouts are so sure of themselves when they grade this prospects, and yet up to half of them a year will bust or be chronic underachievers. Then again there will be pleasant surprises amongst low round draft picks and even undrafted players because NOBODY knows what’s going to happen with these new recruits until after they hit the field in the regular season. The OTA’s really tell you nothing about the players, etc., which is why they should reserve grading drafts until after a season has passed. The scouts can bash Mitchell all they want to but what’s their excuse for not predicting the fallout of players like Ryan Leaf. On subjects like that, they are strangely quiet. Because if they let it be known officially that it was largely guesswork, they might not have jobs.

As for Russell, you came to the wrong place to criticize. We’ve been having arduous discussions about this for days now, and when we compared his first full season stats to most other rookie quarterbacks, including of the greats, we found that he is on par. Certainly, he has done better than Vince Young or Matt Leinart, both of whom play for better teams. And for that matter, his stats are not so different from even Matt Ryan’s.

Al is a crazy man. No two ways about it. But he’s got three Super Bowls for his efforts, and might have had a fourth had not Gannon had the worst game ever against Tampa Bay (three interception returns for touchdowns in one game??). They can question his sanity all they like, and so do I, but still, 3 Super Bowls ain’t too shabby, even if the method to the madness isn’t always clear.

I admit sometimes the Raiders get some cheap potshots from ESPN, but until we stop trotting out a joke of a team on the field, our franchise will not be seen as anything other than a joke. Since 2002 we have been constantly awful, and that’s not a biased report or someones opinion. Its a fact. The fact that our owner is constantly in public view and acts like a god damn nutcase both with his football decisions and his conduct outside of the game also adds to us being seen as a punchline. Maybe in the past you could attribute this “bias” to his “maverick attitude”, but its not a bias anymore. Every single sports reporting source, from blogs to ESPN to the newspaper, sees us as a joke because we have not done anything in recent memory other than field some of the worst teams in football every single year and make horrible decisions. Every single draft analyst saying that DHB was a laughably bad pick was not because they all have some axe to grind with Al Davis, its because from what information is currently known about him it was a laughably bad decision to take him with that pick. If we had taken one of the guys that deserved to be drafted there, there is no way anyone would have written the same things about us. But don’t bitch about the media and their grudge against us, because thats bullshit, bitch about Al Davis and the Raiders organization as a whole’s current commitment to excrement turning a proud franchise into a complete and utter joke with no hope in sight, because anything else is straight up delusional. If we begin to show improvement and not be terrible every year, maybe people on TV won’t say these horrible things like that we’re terrible every single year. I hate ESPN and pretty much all mainstream sports news is filled with morons, but they’re not in the wrong on this one.

You seem to think this has only happened to the Raiders. Every team has rebuilding periods. The Raiders weren’t even the worst team in their division last year.

You know, a lot of Raider fans seem to think they’ve got it terrible because of these past 5 seasons. I lived in a Chicago for 20 years and watched the Bears through a long string of losing seasons when they only reason to turn on the tv was to watch Walter Payton. The 70’s and early 80’s was an awful period right up until a couple of years before the Super Bowl. There may have been the occasional season of 9-7 or something like it, but all in all it was a longer stretch than the Raiders have suffered through. Before that you had to go all the way back to 1963 before the Bears had a significant season.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Bears_seasons

Really, Raider fans. I understand the frustration, but there are fans who have it much worse than you.