Al Davis: Just Retire, Baby!

The Oakland Raiders were at one time a feared team in the NFL. My, how things change.

No longer do you hear players dreading their upcoming game in the "Black Hole" against the silver and black. No longer do you hear that famous Raider catch phrase "Just Win Baby!" No longer are the Oakland Raiders significant in the National Football League.

Ever since "The Tuck Rule" game against the New England Patriots in the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff game, aside from their Super Bowl appearence the following year, the Raiders have been a team free falling from the ranks of the NFL's elite teams to the bottom of the food chain.

Al Davis' Raiders have won just 24 games in six seasons and obviously haven't made the playoffs in any of those seasons. There's not many people understanding anything dealing with Oakland these days, that is with the exception of their owner Al Davis.

Al Davis was at one time a great owner, leading the Raiders to three Super Bowl titles.

Those days, however, are long gone. The Al Davis of today has made more than a few head scratching moves in order to "better" his team.

For example, in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft, Al and his team drafted Darius Heyward-Bey of Maryland over Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree (who was regarded as the best receiver in the draft); then in the second round, choosing a safety, which most of the other 31 teams didn't even have on their draft board.

The best way to sum up Davis was best said by former Raiders' defensive tackle Warren Sapp. When asked about his former boss, Sapp said, "Al Davis knows football—It's just '60s and '70s football."

And I couldn't agree more.

Al's mentality is that all you need is a quarterback who can throw the deep ball and a Wide Receiver fast enough to run it down. Due to the Raiders recent season records, it's safe to say that this is a mentality that just doesn't work anymore.

Oakland needs more than a handful of things to change in order to be competitive in the NFL in the near future, and their biggest need doesn't have anything to do with the players. What the silver and black need most is for Al Davis to step down and retire before they can even begin thinking about making it to the Super Bowl.