Six - The Hard Way
In my last post, I took out a wide angle lens to frame the Raiders success over the past 46 years in comparison with our divisional rivals.
Tonight, I have the unpleasant task of focusing on the Raiders past 6 seasons in comparison with the entire league.
After reviewing all 32 teams' season records and playoff berths, only 5 of the 32 teams had the undesirable combination of (1) no playoff berths and (2) three or more seasons of double digit losses.
Oakland - No playoff berths + 6 seasons of 10+ losses
Detroit - No playoff berths + 5 seasons of 10+ losses
Cleveland - No playoff berths + 5 seasons of 10+ losses
San Francisco - No playoff berths + 3 seasons of 10+ losses
Houston - No playoff berths + 3 seasons of 10+ losses
There were additional teams that met half the parameters but not both such as:
Buffalo - No playoff berths + 2 seasons of 10+ losses
St.Louis - 2 playoff berths + 3 seasons of 10+ losses
Miami - 1 playoff berth + 3 seasons of 10+ losses
Arizona - 1 playoff berth (SB appearance) + 4 seasons of 10+ losses
Washington - 2 playoff berth2 + 3 seasons of 10+ losses
The elite teams over this six year span clearly were the following teams:
New England - 5 playoff berths, 3 SB appearances, 2 SB victories + 0 seasons of 10+ losses
Pittsburgh - 4 playoff berths, 2 SB appearances, 2 SB victories + 1 season of 10+ losses
Indy - 6 playoff berths, 1 SB appearances, 1 SB victory + 0 seasons of 10+ losses
NYG - 4 playoff berths, 1 SB appearances, 1 SB victories + 2 seasons of 10+ losses
Seattle - 5 playoff berths, 1 SB appearances + 1 season of 10+ losses
Philly - 4 playoff berths, 1 SB appearances + 1 season of 10+ losses
San Diego - 4 playoff berths + 1 season of 10+ loss
You might be asking "So ... what's your point, Calico Jack?" Let me share my untarnished opinions and you are welcome to take them for what they are worth.
#1 There are bad seasons (no playoffs, 10+ losses), mediocre seasons (7-9 wins; no playoffs) and good seasons (10+ wins, playoffs). 6 bad seasons in a row is nothing short of vomit stew.
#2 In a league driven by parity, 6 seasons of ineptitude is totally inexcusable. Only 16% of the entire league (5 of 32 teams) were true bottom feeders.
#3 When you start stacking enough consecutive double digit loss seasons together, a losing culture and dysfunction rears it's ugly head.
#4 The 2 key alpha leaders of any franchise are the QB & Head Coach. Since Gannon went down, it has been an endless cycle of poor performing QBs and a Head Coaching carousel.
#5 JaMarcus Russell and Tom Cable need to end this vicious cycle now by providing the required top level performance and leadership.
#6 Any way you slice it, this has been the worst stretch in the franchise's proud history.
#7 Lucky Number 7 as in season 7 needs to see tangible progress. Solid improvement would be a 7,8,9 win season. This would be gaining traction, establishing consistency, and building stability. Another 4,5,6 season is continued ineptitude and another "Oh sh*t, here we go again".
posted by Calico Jack at 8:45 PM
5 Comments:
teams should be measured in ten year increments how did you come up with six years?
Anonymous:
Some would say that teams should be measured on a year by year basis.
I used 6 years because there is a real awareness amongst Raider fans about how bad the past 6 years have been.
This was a way to show exactly how bad of a rut the Raiders have been in compared to the rest of the league.
1 game, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years etc. can all be legitimate measuring sticks depending on the subject at hand.
In a "what have you done lately world" and especially in a parity driven NFL, 6 years is a big chunk of time.
The biggest reasons for this half dozen years of misery? No o-line, and failed o-line draft picks. Right behind that is sub par qb play. Some of that is due to the o-line.
JSpicoli
I have been a Raider fan for 40 years. I prefer to look at the team by decades 70, 80, 90,00. With this decade not finished yet the Raiders have done pretty good 3 division titles, 2 afc title games and one superbowl appearance. Not winning the big one hurt badly. However, the achievements listed above are better than 85% of the teams in the NFL can say.
To the author, someday when you have been a Raider Fan for 4 plus decades you will reflect back on things in a similar manner. Until then: POSITIVITY TRY IT YOU MAY LIKE IT.
Anonymous 3:21 pm today:
Did you even bother to read the first 2 paragraphs?
Just scroll down to my post immediatey preceding "Six - The Hard Way" and you will notice that I covered the Raiders success from 1963 to the present.
BTW, I have been an avid fan since 1970. Next year will mark 4 decades of following my beloved Raiders.
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