Oakland Raiders: Fee, Fie, Fo, Fum, We Really Should Have Won

"Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum,

I smell the blood of an Englishman,

Be he alive or be he dead,

I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

The Baltimore Ravens are named for the poet Edgar Allen Poe who was born in America and had his early education in England. Poe's poem, The Raven, is a favorite in American literature classes. It's a poem about a bird; its a poem about depression, I believe.

The Oakland Raiders are named for a more fierce and aggressive presence. The Raiders are the pirates who sometimes have a bird on their shoulder.

The Raiders were established years before the Ravens. The Ravens started in 1996, and is one of the youngest NFL franchises. Two others, the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars, are one year older (1995) than the Ravens.

And here is my poetic chant:

Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, Last Sunday we should have won!

Not exactly as good as Edgar Allen Poe, but I made my point!

There were so many "what ifs" in the 2009 season. So many variables are at play in the game of professional football.

Injuries took their toll on the Oakland Raiders, and we ended up tumbling down the beanstalk like the giant in "Jack and the Beanstalk."

When you look at the numbers for wins and losses, there were as many "swings" in the curve for the Raiders as there were for the Ravens.

The bird flew back and forth; the pirate stumbled up and down.

Now, to use a regression curve to measure the overall direction the season was going for both the Raiders and the Ravens, we see that the slope of the regression line for the Raiders is positive. The slope for the Ravens, is, surprisingly, going downward, or decreasing.

From a statistical standpoint, if we extrapolate and imagine that the season is longer than 16 weeks, then the Ravens would have been headed downhill, according to the statistical model.

I know what you are saying, but I see the good in it all.

We can definitively conclude that we had improvement and an upward movement near the end of the 2009 season, although a second quarterback had injuries, and we lost our groove in the Ravens-Raiders game.

Let's look at the bright side. We lost, but maybe we have found a hen to lay our golden egg, and maybe we will do so much better once all of our players get their groove on in their respective positions.

So cheer up Raider Nation, and remember the big guy who said "Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, tumbled down the beanstalk, and he was dead and done."

Wow! The children's story did not have a happy ending for Jack's opponent.

In fact, Jack and his poor mom got the hen and the golden eggs and lived "Happy ever after."

Now, that's the kind of ending we want for the Oakland Raiders in 2010.

What if Gradkowski had not been injured?

Our curve started swinging upwards after Bruce Gradkowski took over for disappointing JaMarcus Russell at quarterback.

Did Charlie Frye do any good?

Frye kept us going once Gradkowski hit the injured list.

Russell keeps us hoping.....

JaMarcus Russell kept us hoping.

Well, do you think he might do better next year if we didn't make so much noise "booing" him?

Next year, if Russell starts, let's keep quiet and at least give him a chance. Let's not give him any excuse for inconsistent performance.

We don't make the decisions, Al Davis does.

Tom Cable: Is it cheaper to keep him?

Are they discussing who should leave the team: Coach or quarterback?

Is Russell thinking: I would do better if I had a better coach?

Is Cable saying: It's not me, it's you.

Either way, some believe it would destabilize the team to remove both Cable and Russell.

Here is a suggestion:

The coach benched the quarterback and we saw a difference in performance.

Now, let's be creative and try this:

Bench the coach and see if there is a difference in performance. Don't just tweak one variable, tweak two or three of them.

And to end this 2009 fairy tale, we shout from the sidelines, "What's good for the gander is good for the goose!"

Furthermore, stop all of that "Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum talk" and get out there and play football. Otherwise, we recommend that you "tumble down the beanstalk" like the giant who challenged little Jack.