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. 

Of all respect to Robert Gallery, how could Al Davis possibly pass on the explosive offensive playmaker in Larry Fitzgerald when the OL wasn't all that big of an issue and you lacked lots of explosiveness?  Now let's look at the defense.  Rob Ryan is a 3-4 schemer, so Ted Washington and Bobby Hamilton are good pick ups, but why did you waste a ton of money on a former All Pro 4-3 DT in Warren Sapp?  Tommy Kelly, Ted Washington, and Bobby Hamilton would've made up a good front 3 with Tyler Brayton backing off the line to OLB, Clark joins Harris in the middle, and Sam Williams would end up taking most of the reps at the other LB position. 

These mistakes would carry over into next year.

2005-06 We pick up where we left off last year with the troubles.  Top rookies are LB Kirk Morrison, CBs Fabian Washington and Stanford Routt and QB Andrew Walter was drafted as the future of the franchise.  Big aquisitions included WR Randy Moss, DE Derrick Burgess and RB Lamont Jordan.  Big losses included LB Napolean Harris, RB Amos Zereoue and CB Philip Buchannon. 

This was pretty much a repeat of last year.  The biggest change was Rob Ryan went to a 4-3 defense to be more "Warren Sapp friendly."  Last year's mistake of signing Warren Sapp carried over into this year.  Now this year we will pay for leaving Larry Firzgerald on board and give up what could've been a great pick at #7 overall. 

The Raiders made noise early in the offseason by trading the #7 overall pick and LB Napolean Harris to Minnesota for WR Randy Moss.  As mentioned earlier, signing Warren Sapp was a big waste last year because Tommy Kelly, Ted Washington, and Bobby Hamilton could've easily manned up the front 3 in Rob Ryan's initial defensive scheme.

LBs Danny Clark and Napolean Harris manned the middle pretty well and Tyler Brayton seemed to be adapting ok to the OLB but might've been more comfortable on the front line.  We had an OLB void to fill and we could've easily done it with the #7 overall pick.  Two future All Pros were on board at that point and have been very successful OLBs in 3-4 schemes with their respective ball clubs and they are Demarcus Ware and Shawn Merriman.   

The defense would help Warren Sapp produce more prior to his season ending injury but the rest would struggle.  LB would be a big weakness.  Danny Clark would man the middle and Kirk Morrison would start on the strong side.  Tyler Brayton would be listed as the starter on the weak side but would actually take more reps at defensive end and earn his starting DE spot back over Bobby Hamilton.  Tommy Kelly would move inside to defensive tackle in place of Sapp after his injury and make a big mark there. 

First year Raider Derrick Burgess would become the first Raider to lead the NFL in sacks.  We would actually end up playing primarily a nickel defense and it was given that we needed a linebacker because we didn't have enough at all.  The secondary was a joke yielding only 4 INTs (the fifth in the stats was a tip ball caught by Sapp) lead by second year safety Stuart Schweigert's two. 

On offense, the passing game would be forced way too much.  Lamont Jordan kept saying "I can't run the ball if they don't give it to me; they always want to pass."  In games that Jordan would get a decent amount of carries, we would play well and in some cases win.  I don't think Norv Turner ever talked to Al Davis, just listened until he was dismissed at the end of the season.

2006-07  Al Davis was desperate for a coach to bring the nasty Raider attitude back so after nobody else wanted the job, he brought back Art Shell as head coach. 

Top rookies were LB Tom Howard, DB Michael Huff, OL Paul McQuistain, and OL Kevin Boothe.  Big departures included CB Charles Woodson, DE Bobby Hamilton, LB Danny Clark, QB Kerry Collins, and DT Ted Washington.  QB Aaron Brooks was the only big aquisition.  Just when we thought things couldn't get worse, they did (or at least on the offensive side of the ball).  Defense was pretty solid all season with Burgess earning his second straight Pro Bowl appearance.  Nnamdi Asomugha would have such a break out season that opponents would shy away from him for years to come. 

Rookie LB Tom Howard would finish second on the team in tackles behind second year LB Kirk Morrison.  Defense would be ranked #3 overall and #1 against the pass thanks to solid efforts from CBs Asomugha and Fabian Washington. 

Offense was a joke. 

Offensive Coordinator Tom Walsh was previously running a bed and breakfast and was clueless to the game today.  His scheme was so out dated that the players had never heard of it and was so bad that he was demoted during the season in favor of TE coach John Shoop, but there was no difference. 

WR Jerry Porter got off on a bad note with new coach Art Shell and would pretty much be invisible all season.  WR Randy Moss would betray the RaiderNation by running plays wrong and dropping passes.  RB Lamont Jordan would fight injuries all year to keep his starting job. 

Robert Gallery would move from right tackle to left moving long time LT Barry Sims to guard.  Barry Sims would eventually get benched in favor of rookie Paul McQuistain.  McQuistain actually started the season as the starting right guard but was benched in favor of fellow rookie Kevin Boothe.  Gallery's name kept coming up more than all of them as the reason why they were so bad since the left tackle position was where a good bulk of the sacks were coming from despite the fact that he missed half the season with injury and more were allowed by back up Chad Slaughter. 

Truth is they all played poorly as a unit and there was no reason to single any certain player out. Change was desperatly needed on offense.

2007-08  Lane Kiffin was brought in as the new head coach.  Big departures included WR Randy Moss, OT Langston Walker and OL Kevin Boothe, and Top rookies were QB Jamarcus Russell, TE Zach Miller, OL Mario Henderson, WR/PR Johnnie Lee Higgins, DE Jay Richardson and RB Michael Bush despite missing his rookie year would be a major assett later on. 

Nothing really changed on defense but the offense got a little better.  The best aquisition was OL coach Tom Cable who implemented a zone blocking scheme.  Barry Sims would regain his starting LT spot and Robert Gallery would slide over to LG.  New aquisitions Cooper Carlisle and Cornell Green would start at RG and RT.  Green would get hurt and replaced by Paul McQuistain. 

We would play alot of close games this year.  RB Justin Fargas would have a breakout season and rush for over 1000 yards before going to IR.  Lamont Jordan would lose interest in the team and get demoted to the #3 running back and eventually get released at the end of the season. 

On defense LBs Tom Howard and Kirk Morrison would break out with lots of INTs; Howard would lead all LBs in the NFL and be left out of the Pro Bowl.  CB Nnamdi Asomugha would only be passed against once a game.  Kiffin started the big "I'm in" phrase stating that you are in it for the team not yourself.  The problem was that Kiffin wasn't in and we would find out in an offseason drama course with Al Davis and he would be rumored to be on his way out. 

Kiffin was just trying to make a name for himself as a head coach and didn't really want to be a Raider.  Fans would be disappointed because they didn't want him gone because they were seeing signs of life in him despite another double digit loss season but there were more close games than in the previous 3 seasons. 

2008-09  The Kiffin-Davis Saga would continue into the season and Kiffin would be fired after a 1-3 start to the season. 

Top Rookies were RB Darren McFadden, WR Chaz Schilens, DB Tyvon Branch, and DE Trevor Scott.  New aquisitions included OT Kwame Harris, SS Gibril Wilson, DE Kalimba Edwards, WR Javon Walker and DB Deangelo Hall. Big departures included OL Barry Sims, QBs Dante Culpepper & Josh McCown, CB Fabian Washington, and DE Tyler Brayton.  OL Coach Tom Cable would be named interim head coach. 

Things would get real shakey in the RaiderNation.  Cable pulled off amazing wins against the NY Jets and Denver, but fans started losing hope in him when he blew a game against KC, but he didn't quit.  He eventually lost several players to injury and was left with mostly youngsters.  He studied film on them and made a game plan heading into the last 2 weeks of the season challenging them to show up and win for pride and they did.  After a big loss to New England it looked like we were on our way to a 3-13 season and might be in for another coaching change. 

The RaiderNation was down and fans were wondering what was gonna happen next, but then something unexpected happened when we took the field against Houston; we scored on our opening drive for the first time all season.  During that game we looked like a whole new football team; I thought we looked like we were heading to the playoffs, but I knew we weren't.  

The team looked completely turned around and everything was just amazing.  That win over Houston was our biggest of the season if you ask me because it sparked the begining of what appears to be a new era for this football team.  The proof would appear next week as Tampa Bay was fighting to make the playoffs and the Raiders were looking to match their highest win total since their last playoff appearance. 

Forgotten RB Micheal Bush would carry the Raiders with 177 yards on the ground and 2 TDs in their second straight victory to end the season.  This convinced the fans that we would be back to winning next year as long as they kept the key players that contributed the most in the last 2 weeks. 

The RaiderNation was on fire but unfortunatly, the season was over for us.  Cable would become the full time head coach and would bring in his own staff for the 2009-10 season.  The Raider team and the RaiderNation is more excited about this season that ever before.   Granted we had 3 other wins this season, but the last two at the end of the season were something special because we actually looked like a winning football team, not a losing team struggling to just get a few wins.  The mentality of the game was different and execution of plays was highly improved. 

Now we anxiouly await to see if we are the real deal for 2009.