Friends, I'm going to let it rip. I can't hold back any longer.
I've been thinking a lot about this, and I've been running Raider Take for 21 years, and I've come to a conclusion.
My conclusion is simple: the Raiders organization suffers from a willful and institutional lack of smarts that starts at the top. I don't mean that as an offhand remark or a wisecrack. I mean it as something that is deeply embedded in the fabric of the Raiders.
In short, this isn't just an organization that continually makes the wrong decision. It's an organization that is optimized to make the wrong decision. In other words, the team's results are by design. I'm not saying the results are intentional, but rather that they're inevitable given how the organization is constructed and run. It is designed to fail.
What we have seen lately is far beyond a spell of bad luck, or a case of on-the-job ownership training (those excuses have long run their course). It runs deeper than mere folly or error.
Quite the opposite, in fact. What we are seeing comes from the actual design of the organization. What we see over and over again is an effort to merely correct mistakes, when, in fact, the organization should be un-designing why the same mistakes keep being made again and again.
This is why nothing has been fixed after all of these years, coaches, GMs, coordinators, high draft picks, free agents, etc. This is why, in fact, after all of these "efforts" we are now witnessing the saddest Raiders season in 20 years, and perhaps the saddest in the organization's history when you take everything into context.
In the NFL, you are either rebuilding or building. You are either aiming to re-frame the house for a brighter future or adding rooms, appliances and amenities to improve upon an already solid frame.
But if the architect is stubbornly hapless (a dangerous combination), then you end up adding rooms to a poor frame; ordering appliances that don't fit into the cabinetry; ignoring leaky pipes; and chasing fixes that don't last for the long term. And then when you do finally decide to rebuild, it's done poorly and the whole shebang begins again.
This is the Raiders under Mark Davis.
Also, when is the last time you saw Mark Davis express any sort of regret, blame, shame or extreme ownership of the organization's chronic state of failure?
And so yet again, after everything we've been through over the past five or so years, we
end up overpaying for another mediocre QB, hiring another coach who's
already a dead man walking, firing new coordinators midseason, drafting
an RB in the first round only to play him behind a historically awful
offensive line, and fielding yet another defense that is the definition
of meh.
I
know that all of this sounds harsh. But I share it in the spirit of
tough love. I want what's best for this team. They are part of my
history, my family, my nostalgia, and the friends I've made right here at Raider Take over the years. I wish I could be ever sanguine like Sandy--wait 'til next year!--but this season has become a bridge too far.
Please
share this post with other fans. We need to all get around the
proverbial campfire and figure out what we can do, starting with being
honest with one another, and with the organization and the Raider Nation. We need to stop
blaming Pete Carroll, the offensive line, the coordinators, Geno Smith, etc. They are mere
symptoms of a chronic ailment, the fault firmly lies elsewhere.
We need to air this topic out thoroughly before any talk begins about our next head coach, the 2026 draft, what to do at quarterback, who to sign, etc.
And so my conclusion leads to a question: What should be done? Or perhaps more specifically: What can be done?
As fans, we can't make a material difference, at least not quickly. We're not going make an immediate impact. But we can be heard. And if we're noisy about it, who knows. Off the top of my head:
-Stop blaming coaches, players, GMs, etc. We're well past that until there is a much bigger fundamental shift at the top.
-Demand better from the organization, and speak with your wallet until that happens. Get the f*** off the crazy train until the conductor shows you some respect.
Chime in and rip me if you like, either way get it off your chest. It's catharsis time.
RT out.
