Are The Raiders On The Verge Of 0-16?
The San Francisco Chronicle's Nancy Gay made this statement in her column Monday:
"The Raiders, who are a Dec. 3 home game against Houston away from being the first team in NFL hisotry to go 0-16, are going nowhere but down."
The line is a bit shocking, if not for its directness, but its stark plausibility. The Raiders are the worst thing these parts have seen in any sport in a very long time, if not ever.
What makes these Raiders at 0-4 so different from the other three winless teams in the NFL is that perception that this franchise is run by an absent tyrant who has unmercifully slayed ever capable coach in the kingdom and must now turn to less than mediocre talent.
For every stupid, yet creative way the Raiders bumble their way through 60 minutes of football, they come back to the basic premise that the Raiders have moments when they look utterly lost on the gridiron. There are moments when the simple act of hiking the ball to the quarterback is bumbled, not once, but on successive plays.
On Sunday, running back Lamont Jordan, forgot about the basic lateral rule. Instead of pouncing on the borderline pass, he stood and stared at the orb like a pedestrian would stare at mangled roadkill.
It comes down to this revelation. When two well-coached teams play on television like tonight's Denver-Baltimore game, it makes me wonder how the Raiders are actually a professional football team.
"The Raiders, who are a Dec. 3 home game against Houston away from being the first team in NFL hisotry to go 0-16, are going nowhere but down."
The line is a bit shocking, if not for its directness, but its stark plausibility. The Raiders are the worst thing these parts have seen in any sport in a very long time, if not ever.
What makes these Raiders at 0-4 so different from the other three winless teams in the NFL is that perception that this franchise is run by an absent tyrant who has unmercifully slayed ever capable coach in the kingdom and must now turn to less than mediocre talent.
For every stupid, yet creative way the Raiders bumble their way through 60 minutes of football, they come back to the basic premise that the Raiders have moments when they look utterly lost on the gridiron. There are moments when the simple act of hiking the ball to the quarterback is bumbled, not once, but on successive plays.
On Sunday, running back Lamont Jordan, forgot about the basic lateral rule. Instead of pouncing on the borderline pass, he stood and stared at the orb like a pedestrian would stare at mangled roadkill.
It comes down to this revelation. When two well-coached teams play on television like tonight's Denver-Baltimore game, it makes me wonder how the Raiders are actually a professional football team.
