2007, 2008 or 2009?

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, December 23, 2008  |  Comments( 29 )

Oakland Raiders
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As the NFL season ends, ESPN.com, ever devoted to immediately defining sports history in order to hurriedly allow another Top 10 list that passes as a column, is this week getting misty-eyed sentimental about the 2008 campaign.

While in the Raider Nation, 2008 will probably go down as another season to be looked back upon in anger by backers, the more optimistic can surely find some silver lining in the black clouds of six straight sub-.400 seasons. Today, a comparison of the 2007 and 2008 Raider teams and seasons; and, just to do the Worldwide Leader in [American] Sports one better, utterly off-the-cuff predictions for yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 2009 Oakland Raiders.

Offense. On paper, this is an obvious choice, and by “paper,” I mean “any medium in which the expression ‘Josh McCown’ may be conveyed.” While the Raider quarterbacking situation in 2007 consisted mainly of a six-month showing of “Waiting for JaMarcus,” 2008 was ... um, well “Waiting for JaMarcus II.”

At least Russell was on the field in 2008. Headlines and hype aside, going into Week 17, the Raiders’ passing game is bottom three statistically in points scored, yardage, first downs, attempts, touchdowns and whoa is there anything else. Though occasionally showing flashes of brilliance, surely only the greatest of JaMarcus’ supporters could staple together an argument supporting the QB’s performance in any of the 13 games he's started this season. (OK, maybe last week against the Houston Texans in a no-worries game at home. Maybe.)

Indeed, going into 2009, Oakland has to be feeling more than a little anxiety as the 'B' word comes ever perilously closer to becoming affixed dead center on Russell’s No. 1 overall forehead. The winner: 2009, if only because the re-re-reappearance of Daunte Culpepper and Marques Tuiasososopo gets unlikelier all the time.

Defense. Gee, if you leave out the combined 83-33 shellacking given the Raiders in Weeks 14 and 15, this ‘D’ has generally looked pretty decent in 2008, all things considered. Of course, nothing could like up to the hype generated in real life and blogosphere (yes, yours truly too is guilty here) in the preseason when considering that black-and-silver secondary members Nnamdi Asomugha and former first-rounder Michael Huff would be joined by name acquisitions in Super Bowl champion Gibril Wilson and DeAngelo Hall. Another paper tiger, eh?

Unfortunately, the Hall implosion was symbolic of the chaos perceived (and reported on, if you’re Warren Sapp) to prevail in the land of Oakland Raiders Football Inc. While the pass ‘D’ has been decent – statistically top 10 in yardage allowed and total interceptions – the Raiders are still being outsacked, managing 30 going into the final week against 38 allowing. And while Oakland also boasts a top 10 rushing defense, it's just simply giving up too many big plays. Finally, third-down conversions have worsened in 2008, with the ‘D’ allowing a 45 percent conversion rate in 2008, as opposed to a respectable 39 percent allowed the year previous.

Too bad Nnamdi’s not coming back: Together with Kirk Morrison and a few others, the Raider defense looked as though it might have a nice foundation for the future. The winner: 2008.

Special teams. No comparison. The 2009 Raider coaching staff – whoever those karmically challenged souls may be – has absolutely got to find a way to bottle the lightning strikes of this season’s special teams. Amid all the drudgery of this season, fans could always look forward to those punts and punt receptions, kickoffs and kick returns that made the 2008 Raiders look like the 2001 New England Patriots or the 2006 Chicago Bears. Justin Miller: What an acquisition! Johnnie Lee Higgins: Who knew? The winner: 2008, but dare to dream of all-time greatness in 2009.

Coaching situation. In the center circle of the media circus surrounding these Raiders this year was poor Lane Kiffin. As one of the few supporters of Kiffin remaining outside the Tennessee area, this writer maintains that the young man showed promise and an outstanding learning curve in 2007, back when he was still allowed a little leash. Sure, Tom Cable comes off as cool and collected most of the time (rant on Kiffin’s hiring policies notwithstanding) while seemingly truly believing in the future of his team; the same thing can be said of Rod “I’m not 0-15, You’re 0-15” Marinelli.

Quite frankly – and we’ll spare you those damning numbers repeated incessantly during Raider game broadcasts – Cable has shown a formulaic game plan and a shocking inability to get his offense to produce at all. If Justin Fargas were Bo Jackson, the favored tactic of hitting those tiny “gaps” produced by the offensive line (supposedly Cable’s forte) three times consecutively would be no problem. As it stands, problem.

As for delusions of Bill Cowher in Oakland for 2009, sober up, forget it, and pray Jim Fassel takes the job, 'cause that may be as good as it gets. The winner: 2007.

Season highlights. The four wins of 2007 consisted of two streaks of two wins each; particularly satisfying for the fans were the back-to-back victories in Weeks 12 and 13 at the Kansas City Chiefs and versus the Denver Broncos. Unfortunately, this upswing was battered down by a season-closing run of four consecutive decisive losses to division-winning teams.

This season began in the most disturbing and positivity-crushing ways with that ugly loss at home to the Broncos. Face was saved, however, with a strong run of games heading into the break. Sure, the Raiders were 1-3 at that point, but they’d managed to stay competitive in every game and could well have pulled off wins in the Buffalo Bills and Chargers games with a break or two. (Not to mention some suspect work by defensive coordinator Rob Ryan; almost as though he wanted to get Kiffin fired. Hmmmm...)

But you know the rest: Kiffin was canned, the Raiders couldn’t quite hand the New York Jets the game in Week 7 much as they tried, followed by a loooooooooong patch of sound whippings and/or limp offensive production before the revenge win at Denver. Will there be an Oakland Raiders highlight DVD this season? The winner: 2009. I mean, it can’t get too much worse, can it?
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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CommentsComments: 29  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
neil b		08:52 AM
12/23/2008
Just wanted to wish everyone who posts on this site ( and AC, Os and Hugo ) a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New...
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No.2
Raidehz		12:07 PM
12/23/2008
Os, nails this team again! I can't believe that the Raider Nation doesn't understand his typings. 2009 should be better,...
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No.3
02:22 PM
12/23/2008
God I wish RF365 would give a football test before letting the monkeys at the zoo pound on the keyboard! Oz not only do you need...
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