Forgive Us NFL Fans: Now Let's Rejoice, Oakland Raiders!

Years ago, Dr. John R. Bisagno told a story of a man whose child was very ill.  The child was expected to die according to the doctor's report.  Bisagno said this man really loved his son.

Raider fans really love the Oakland Raiders team. 

Let me tell you what the man did.  Raider fans should consider doing something similar.

The man connected his life experiences with those of his child.  The man set up all night pulling for the recovery of the child.  Then, he thought, he will ask everyone he hurt, everyone he offended in some way, to please forgive him.

He believed this would reverse the situation and that his child would be revived.

Okay.  We have tried everything else.  So, I will start.

I want to publicly ask that if my writing offends you, please forgive me.

If I have failed to many math students, please forgive me.

And so on.....

Now what I want after all of this confessing and asking for forgiveness is a winning Oakland Raider team.

I am like the man with a dying child. If all it takes is for us to go around the community, the city, the state and the world and ask for forgiveness, let's do it.

We want a winning team and we are willing to do whatever it takes.

Now I want to look at the data and the names of those who ranked one in the NFL at various intervals in Raider history. 

As I scan the data I determined three brackets or intervals.  Basically, if I saw a rank one at a earlier level, I looked for the next occurrence of rank one. 

I suggest we analyze the brackets and determine what the coaching style was and who the key players were.

Next part of the process, determine if the coach was fired, perhaps prematurely, and then go find him and ask for his forgiveness.

Scan the data and see what player was making the difference in the Oakland Raiders performance, and even if the player is a senior, still, go and find him and ask for forgiveness.  Then get some advice on how he helped the team win during his tenure.

Study those better years of performance in Raider history.  Make a complete and exhaustive study of the factors, and determine whether it was

coaching

players

fans

morale

all of the above.

Did you say, "This is not going to help."

Well, according to Dr. John R. Bisagno, the man's son was revived.  The man rejoiced.

We, too, will rejoice, once again, as we have in earlier intervals of Raider history.

Now, you take a good look and tell me what you see.

Top Players			Off Rank		Def Rank		Overall Rank
Year	Lg	Tm	W	L	T	Coaches	Passing	Rushing	Receiving	Pts	Yds	Pts	Yds	T/G	Pts±	Yds±	out of

1977	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	11	3	0	Madden	Stabler	van Eeghen	Casper	1	2	14	15	6	4	4	28
1976	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	13	1	0	Madden	Stabler	van Eeghen	Branch	4	2	12	18	19	7	7	28
1975	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	11	3	0	Madden	Stabler	Banaszak	Branch	4	4	7	3	17	6	2	26
1974	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	12	2	0	Madden	Stabler	Hubbard	Branch	1	2	9	16	2	1	7	26
1973	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	9	4	1	Madden	Stabler	Hubbard	Siani	10	3	3	2	15	7	2	26
1972	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	10	3	1	Madden	Lamonica	Hubbard	Biletnikoff	3	3	8	12	8	4	2	26
1971	NFL	Oakland Raiders	8	4	2	Madden	Lamonica	Hubbard	Biletnikoff	2	7	14	16	12	8	13	26
1970	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	8	4	2	Madden	Lamonica	Dixon	Wells	9	1	19	19	16	13	4	26
1969	AFL	Oakland Raiders*	12	1	1	Madden	Lamonica	Smith	Wells	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	10
1968	AFL	Oakland Raiders*	12	2	0	Rauch	Lamonica	Dixon	Wells	1	1	2	3	4	1	2	10
1967	AFL	Oakland Raiders*	13	1	0	Rauch	Lamonica	Daniels	Biletnikoff	1	3	2	1	4	1	1	9
1966	AFL	Oakland Raiders	8	5	1	Rauch	Flores	Daniels	Powell	6	4	5	1	5	5	2	9

1977	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	11	3	0	Madden	Stabler	van Eeghen	Casper	1	2	14	15	6	4	4	28
1976	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	13	1	0	Madden	Stabler	van Eeghen	Branch	4	2	12	18	19	7	7	28
1975	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	11	3	0	Madden	Stabler	Banaszak	Branch	4	4	7	3	17	6	2	26
1974	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	12	2	0	Madden	Stabler	Hubbard	Branch	1	2	9	16	2	1	7	26

2002	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	11	5	0	Callahan	Gannon	Garner	Rice	2	1	6	11	5	3	2	32
2001	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	10	6	0	Gruden	Gannon	Garner	Brown	4	7	19	18	16	8	9	31
2000	NFL	Oakland Raiders*	12	4	0	Gruden	Gannon	Wheatley	Brown	3	6	9	17	3	1	12	31