To the NFL and its coaches, players, analysts, reporters, fans, and, most importantly, the Raider Nation:
I hope that you’re all as excited as I am for the 2008 season to finally get underway. The anticipation overwhelms me at times, but that's just me.
However, that may not be the case for some Raiders fans, as they find themselves discouraged after Saturday night's game. Daydreaming with endless thoughts of déjà vu, replaying last season's memories of disappointment and hoping they won't be repeated in the upcoming season.
The Cardinals gave a constant reminder of an old feeling that has haunted Raiders fans for the past five seasons: discouragement. It's has definitely been a roller coaster ride both in the offseason and preseason.
It's kind of like one of those things you deal with when you're in a relationship, being unable to open up because you're afraid to get your heart ripped out. And this is a very similar situation with the Oakland Raiders, as I know that the members of Raider Nation carry a relationship of love and passion for their team.
And after five years of getting new hopes broken, they now find themselves in a position that they do at the beginning of every season. Do they open themselves up in hopes of the glorious return of the Raiders...only to have their hearts ripped out with disappointment, once again? Or do they give in to what reality wants them to believe: expect nothing, lose nothing?
I can't speak on behalf of the entirety of Raider Nation, but I can tell you this: It would take more then a bad half of a meaningless game to strip me of my loyalty and love to the Oakland Raiders. And the Glory days are near; my belief of this is stronger then ever.
To be honest, can we really take anything to serious from these exhibition games?
I don't believe so. Did we really learn anything new that we didn't already know? We run great, play good defense and are in a learning process with the passing game.
Here's the main reason why nobody really knows what to expect from the Raiders this season: In these preseason games, we never had the chance to see starters play a full game, but, most importantly, not in the fourth quarter, the most important of the game.
The Raiders are that type of team that hangs in through the entire game and always finds a way to lose at the end. And those are the most unpredictable teams for upcoming seasons, because they are usually one key element away from becoming a winning club. Do you guys remember how many times last year the Raiders were leading going into the 4th and lost the game. There were at least
12 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Eric Gomez 10 months ago
Oakland Raider Kryptonite, huh? I thought this article was going to be about LaDainian Tomlinson. HA!
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John Reedy 10 months ago
What about being in the red zone 3 time and no points the Raiders need to figure it out if they really want to win
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Raider Card Addict 10 months ago
Andres, I think AA is what you classify as a General Hater, mostly around to annoy, but with little substance.
If you look through his comments, it's mostly the typical cheese and whine bit. Just ignore him and keep writing.
After all, like others named....he apparently is afraid to put up articles, for fear of being ridiculed.
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Joe Woodson 10 months ago
This is one of the most underrrated secondaries in the league......and your right about the fourth
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terry yunie 10 months ago
Very good read Andres. Like you said i am excited about the up coming season!! This is the Preseason nobody will know anything about it once the season starts. Except for the injuries. Don't mind Pig F***er (that's what his name means) hes got nothing better to do than sit around mamma's house and come to the Raider sites and talk crap to us, Because nobody is at the 4whiner sites to keep him company. This is probably as close as he'll get to having friends. So be nice to him. hahaha
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Andres Sanchez 10 months ago
I'll tell you Terry... Im very excited also. Unlike the 2003 Raiders, were young. The Raiders have many years of competition in them.... hopefully it'll all peice together to another superbowl run in the near future.
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Philip Fitch 10 months ago
Aardvark, what the hell are you talking about. The Cards had 87 yards in the first half, the raiders had over a 150 yards, the raiders out gained the titans and the 49ers in yardage also in the first half. If you want me to go to the stat book i will, you won't like the out come. In the first 2 games the raiders running backs ran all over 49ers and titans, and if they had the same game plan against the cards, they would have ran wild all over them, but Kiffin made it clear the raiders were going to pass the ball, in other words kiffins knows the running games is ready. In the cards game the raiders wanted to test the passing, so when in the red zone Kiffin passed the ball and didn't kick field goals or run the ball, the cards knew this. That game wasn't about winning, it was about getting the passing game ready. Preseason games are won in the 4th quarter by a bunch of scrubs players fighting for a job. the real battle of the game is played in the first 2 quarters, and what i have seen from the raiders so far in the first halfs they looked pretty promising. The D caused a lot of turnovers also. Teams will struggle to pass the ball against the raiders and the bend don't break run stopping play of the D will be good enough for the raiders to have a winning season. As far as your niners go, they will win some ball games too, they have some exciting players, the D looks strong. Here is some advise, quit comming on other teams sites and bashing the, worry about your own teams problems. Oh that's right, nobody writes about the niners, so you come here. pretty lame dude, pretty lame.
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john failho 10 months ago
Looks like there's a little Raider in all of us.
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EndZoner 10 months ago
Nice article, Andres. It is so true. The 4th quarter is where Pride and Poise win the game for you. There are SO many instances where our lack of P+P cost us games. And it can happen in so many ways.
In the game against Detroit, we had the lead with 7:43 left. We give up an 80 yd td drive and then the collapse is on. We have a false start, an int, we recover our own fumble, we lose a fumble, another false start and another fumble to end the game.
The "ice the kicker" thing last season in Denver was actually "ice the long snapper." Condo's snap was high and Lech did a good job to get the ball down. But the timing was off just enough for the kick to be a little wide. Jano hit the ball hard enough, considering that he hit the top of the upright at 52 yards.
We had the lead going into the 4th at home against KC. Then the defense gave up a TD and we weren't able to make up for it.
In Tenn we had the lead until late in the 3rd qtr. But we were driving to try to win when a pass was dropped by Mike Williams.
We had a lead with 3:28 left against Chicago and got burned by a long pass. And then the roof totally fell in and we ended up losing by 11.
We had the lead with 10:29 left until Manning showed how it is done. He drove his team masterfully and scored not just the TD, but the 2 point conversion, too.
This is a team game and there were different reasons for all of these losses. Offense, defense and special teams. Just a little better execution and those are all wins. There are times when we lose the P+p and it kills us. We need to finish to win these. We finish these and we have 10 wins. Finish 2/3 of them and we are 8-8. This team is potentially SO close. I hope that we can figure this out this season.
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Andres Sanchez 10 months ago
Good looking EndZoner, Couldnt have put it better myself. Its easy to check the end score on ESPN or on NFL.com and make your own judgements "Great, another loss for the Raiders"... But if you watch the full games, then you know just how many times the Raiders SHOULD have won the game and let it slip away. Just as you proved above. Its something I hope they can learn to do as the season progresses because thats what seperates the Good teams from the Bad, finding a way to win at the end. Good stuff.
Always appreciate the feedback
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EndZoner 10 months ago
The fact that this team was in all these games last season is something that I want to look at as huge improvement over '06. That team was absolutely unwatchable. Last season's advances were great, but we need to build on them. Like I said, we could have squeaked a couple more of those and this team can be fun again.
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Old Raider Fan 10 months ago
A very good article and thanks!!
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