Oakland Raiders: How We Got Where We Are...

(Photo by: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

I'm tired of reading all the hater articles about the Raiders not going anywhere because of what they've done since Superbowl 37.  Truth is none of them have the facts and they just see what they want to see, not what's coming.  As many of us know, it started with the trading of Head Coach Jon Gruden.  Let's take a look at each season since then.

2002-03 This was our last winning season.  Our top draft picks were CB Phillip Buchannon and LB Napolean Harris. 

Bill Callahan was named our new Head Coach.  Big aquisitions were DTs John Parrella and Sam Adams, LB Bill Romanowski, and FS Rod Woodson.  Big losses were FS Eric Turner passed away, All Pro DT Darrell Russell was suspended for a year for substance abuse (and never returned to the Raiders), All Pro LG Steve Wisnewski retired, CB Eric Allen retired, and DT Grady Jackson left in free agency. 

Newly aquired LB Romanowski was expected to be the missing piece at WLB in the LB puzzle with Greg Biekert in the middle and Eric Barton at SLB.  However, at the end of camp it was a major stunner to see that Biekert's name was at the top of the cut list in favor of rookie Napolean Harris, who was expected to learn under Biekert for a year as Biekert was expected to walk in free agency the next year. 

When the season started, All Pro CB Charles Woodson went down and out with an injury and that allowed rookie Phillip Buchannon to show what kind of game he had.  However, 2 or 3 weeks later, Buchannon would go down and out for the season with a broken wrist.  This was a major hit because Buchannon was also the punt returner.  C Woodson would be back periodically throughout the season battling injuries and WR Tim Brown would return to punt return duties like in his early days. 

QB Rich Gannon would go on to have a record setting season and earn league MVP award and it would appear that this team didn't miss a beat without Gruden...until they got to the Superbowl (somewhere they never got with Gruden thanks to bizzare circumstances).  Gruden would know the playbook inside and out because he wrote it and Callahan opted to keep it the same because we'd been winning with it and everybody knew it. 

Problem was Gruden knew it better than any of the players and always made the right calls on defense.  All Pro Center Barrett Robbins was the main one for reading those defenses and was sent home for disappearing the day before.

2003-04 This was the begining of the "Blackhole" era.  Top rookies were DE Tyler Brayton, DB Nnamdi Asomugha, and RB Justin Fargas.  There were no big aquisitions, but the biggest was re-signing safety Anthony Dorsett after he became a cap casualty.  The big losses included DE Tony Bryant with a neck injury, DT Sam Adams was a cap casualty, CB Tory James was a cap casualty, and OL Mo Collins retired due to injury. 

At first the season didn't start out too bad, but Rich Gannon got injured early on and we all thougt it would be the chance for Marques Tuiososopo.  Tui looked good in that game against KC, but under threw Tim Brown at the end that could've been a game winning TD pass.  The next week Tui would go down and out for the season and shortly after that, Bill Callahan would turn his back on the Raidernation by calling them the dumbest team in football. 

2004-05 Now things really started to get ugly.  Norv Turner was named the new head coach and brought in Rob Ryan as his new defensive coordinator. 

Our top rookies were OL Robert Gallery, OL Jake Grove, FS Stuart Schweigert and DL Tommy Kelly.  Big aquisitions included NT Ted Washington, DT Warren Sapp, QB Kerry Collins, Amos Zereoue, DE Bobby Hamilton, and LB Danny Clark.  Big departures were DT Rod Coleman, LB Eric Barton, RB Charlie Garner, WR Tim Brown, WR Jerry Rice, and TE Doug Jolley plus C Barrett Robbins, DB Rod Woodson, LB Bill Romanowski, and DE Trace Armstrong all failed physicals and OT Lincoln Kennedy retired. 

First let's look at our draft board.  Everybody knows that Al Davis likes a strong arm QB...I see Ben Rothlisberger, but we already signed Kerry Collins to fill that void.  Everybody knows that Al Davis is all about speed and he just lost Tim Brown (and would eventually Jerry Rice) at WR...I see an excellent playmaker in WR Larry Fitzgerald on board and he's got excellent hands to compliment his speed. 

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