2023 Draft Night Thread

Where was I...oh yeah, bye Derek, hello Jimmy!

A lot has gone down since I last posted. If I'm being honest, I wasn't broken hearted about the whole Derek Carr thing. I think he had run his course with the Raiders. If he was really going to pop, it was going to be elsewhere. On the Raiders, it just felt like rinse and repeat, year after year. Good with flashes of great. Eventually you need more than flashes.

We Raiders fans are so starved for an elite QB that we hallucinate potential whenever there's a new shiny object at the position. Stidham! Yeah, no. Mariota. Matt McGloin. Terrelle Pryor, Andrew Walker, Aaron Brooks...maybe just maybe just maybe, umm, no. 

Now comes Jimmy G. There's a chance there. Maybe, maybe. But there's better be a Plan B in the works, considering how often he gets hurt. 

Anyhow, here we are on the precipice of another draft. Who will the Raiders pick? How bullish are you on the immediate future of the team? Bang it here and grab your popcorn!

Goodbye Derek Carr, Hello Future + Trivia

It's official - Derek Carr is no longer an Oakland Raider. 

I have mixed feelings. He was a great Raiders, one of our best QBs in ages.

Yet his ceiling seemed somewhat fixed. Good to great, but not elite. Not a QB who could consistently impose his will on games and team culture, albeit often in very uncertain, unfair or chaotic circumstances.

It got me thinking about this long run of futility for the Raiders, this seemingly endless search for a lasting head coach and an elite franchise QB, among other things. 

So I thought I would throw this out there. Going back around 30 years, since Art Shell's last season in 1994 to conclude his first go-round as head coach, who are the Raiders' Top Three in the following categories over this period:

-Head Coach
-Quarterback
-Overall Best Player

So three choices only, spanning from 1994 to now. Let 'er rip!

Chiefs Gameday Thread / Lost Season Edition

Another lost season. How many of these have I seen since starting this blog in 2005?

That said, I think I see some rays of sunlight peeking through the clouds.

There's been one constant in all of this, and that's ownership. It pains me to say it, because I like Mark Davis, he's a Raider and a renegade. 

But there's more than enough evidence to conclude that this isn't a well-run organization. When you look around at the teams that are perpetually in chaos, grasping at straws and mired in poor culture, it always starts at the top. Jets, Browns, Commanders, Colts, Lions, Raiders...

I'm sad to see Derek Carr go, but I don't mind a fresh start at QB either. It is what it is, and it was probably time if McDaniels and Co. had lost faith in him, since McDaniels and Co. apparently aren't going anywhere.

Today, we get another look at Stidham, and hope to see the team finish out on strong note. It's all we can ask at this point, after another lost season. GO RAIDERS!  

Merrry Christmas, Raider Takers

I'm resisting the temptation to make this a Clown Car Christmas after last night's debacle.

I will say this: how can this team, with the best receiver in the NFL, one of the best RBs, and an (allegedly) very good QB put up another offensive stinker like this? How does our defense so regularly find a way to lose in the last minutes? I boil it down to this: this is a team that lacks FORTITUDE. 

But let's forget all that for today. I love you all, you bring your passion, intellect and heart to this place. Merry Christmas, may the Good News bring you joy and happiness during this holiday season!

Patriots Gameday Thread

I've been doing this a long time, and I'm hard pressed to think of another season that was this exhausting and disappointing. There's outright sucking, we've seen numerous years of that. There's been promising seasons that fizzled toward the end. And there's been a few playoff seasons that were never destined to go much farther than the first round. 

But this season, wow. There's just no conceivable reason for several of these losses, and these same losses have been a pivot point between abject failure and playoff aspirations. We're talking about history-making meltdowns, with the latest one against the Rams being the nail in the coffin of a mini-resurgence of actual playoff hopes. 

Anyhow, just had to get that off my chest. Now we're playing for...pride? Signs of heart and life? Momentum heading into 2023? You name it. All I can say for now is: GO RAIDERS!

Rams Gamenight Thread

Well, this is a "should win" if there ever was one, which always scares me with the Raiders. Time to keep the momentum rolling! GO RAIDERS!

Chargers Gameday Thread

Momentum? Yes! We actually have a little for once, so keep it going. One thing is for sure, the Raiders ALWAYS make it interesting. GO RAIDERS!

Seahawks Gameday Thread

A little late on the draw here, it's 7-7 early on, playing for some semblance of momentum today, GO RAIDERS!

Broncos Gameday Thread

What's left to be said? Playing for dignity at this point. We'll see if McDaniels is still doing "a fantastic job." GO RAIDERS!

Colts Gameday Thread

Playing for pride, down 0-7 in the first, work to be done. GO RAIDERS!

Jaguars Gameday Thread

I was gonna say it's now or never, but then I realized it's already too late for that. Play for pride. GO RAIDERS!

Saints Gameday Thread

Is it possible to say that the Raiders have momentum at 2-4? I believe so. They've won two out of three, and lost the other by one point to the Chiefs. If they win today, we should be feeling a lot better in the wake of a disastrous start to the season. Let's go RAIDERS!

Texans Gameday Thread

Pretty soon, we're going to run out of "must win" games because it won't matter anymore. Thankfully, the AFC West is proving to be weaker than expected, so even at 1-4 there are glimmers of hope of turning things around and clinging to a Wild Card dream. Needless to say, today is a MUST WIN! Or should I say, JUST WIN, baby!

One Postgame Take

Going for two with more than four minutes left rather than tying it up. Leaving Kelce COMPLETELY UNGUARDED after he's already burned you for three touchdowns. Wide receivers running into each other on the last play. And now Davante Adams is going to get suspended for shoving a cameraman to the ground afterward.

McDaniels is getting perilously close to Nathaniel Hackett territory. The wheels are coming OFF right now. On the one hand, this was a great game: competitive, close, hard fought. But on the other hand, it was a winnable game that came down to a loss of composure that has now spilled over into the postgame with Davante Adams. 

A great game but a terrible loss. This could get real ugly real soon. 

Chiefs Gamenight Thread

Well, it's time for the Raiders to shock the world and win a must-win game that no one expects them to. It's time to change the narrative. GO RAIDERS!

Broncos Gameday Thread

Well, four weeks into the season and we already have an absolute must-win game, which tells you everything you need to know about how the first three weeks went. GO RAIDERS!

Titans Gameday Thread

Time to park the Clown Car and get back on track. Brace yourself for the Derrick Henry show. This is such a pivotal game and the Raiders can't afford to get run over. EVERYBODY needs to step up their game today. GO RAIDERS!

One Postgame Take

That was an epic choke for the ages, fire up the Clown Car. 

There's been a lot of disagreement in the comments lately, but this is something we can all agree upon: that was a massive fail that lands squarely on the shoulders of the coaching staff. The players and the refs aren't entirely off the hook, either.

Go back and review the drive charts for the last nine minutes of the game. It's a horror show. Every time we needed just ONE more play to shut this circus down, we couldn't do it. Again and again the Raiders let Murray yank rabbits out of hats while seemingly refusing to help themselves on offense, right down to the last possession that ended with fumble (recovered), near INT, fumble, game over. 

Davante Adams: two catches, 21 yards over 60+ minutes. WTF?

This is the kind of game that can change trajectories and careers if things aren't shored up fast. That may be overstating it, but if the Raiders don't bounce back soon, we're going to look at this game as a pivot point for a lost season and a rough start for the McDaniels era. Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but anything is possible after yesterday.