Is this the bottom of the barrel?

[mexicanraider]

I have been thinking that for the past few days. Is this really the low point of this horrible, long, unbearable stretch of futility? Can we only go up from here? Can our D play any worse? Can this team look more uninspired?

I know, I know, most of you will say '06 was the bottom, but I have to say we have dropped so much compared to last year, this year does feel like the worst we have endured. Plus in '06, I think it was more a scheme, coaching, talent thing. They played hard and despite an inept offense did keep up in some games. This version of the Raiders is just flat. Uninspired. They look like zombies out there.

Either my patience is running out or my expectations were too high, but this year has been particularly hard to stomach. I still watch every game every play, I don't change channel, but at the end of the blowouts, is like I'm on auto-pilot, I'm following along but no really following (maybe is the alcohol haha!) ... it has been close to unwatchable.

And before the fan police starts with the "go root for another team" agenda, I would never root for another team as long as I'm alive. I love the Raiders, they are an important part of my life. I have every right to vent and to criticize them. Hell, they deserve way harsher comments than this.

[paul0660]

I think it has been worse, recently.

Still, that is not a happy relevance.

[raider4llf]

I mean, the defense has just gotten out-of-hand terrible. We beat Pitt and almost Atlanta but it's like those 2 games were our team's Superbowl or some sht. After that they just checked out

[beau]

I cant remember it being worse than right now....I've been an avid fan since 1975.....

[danax]

I think this year will be a new higher bottom, with 2006 being the actual bottom. There have been signs of capitulation with the current blowout streak (yes, getting outscored 2 to 1 in the Bronco game was a blowout.) The D is near-record bad. Next year might be bad too when we see small home crowds and possibly injuries to key players once again (Palmer?).

[guydon]

In 06 we were only 3 years in to the losing streak. We kind of knew what we needed to do to improve. There was still fight in the team, and the "Raider Way" wasn't the joke it has become. Yes we lost more games in 06 but you are right, to me this feels much worse. I think it is mostly because it feels like there is really no direction going forward. There is so much wrong with this team it seems it will take forever to fix. Many of us felt that Cable started us in the right direction and were disgruntled by his firing. Then Hue takes over (I wasn't a fan of his toward the end), and most of us are thinking with a little better D we could really be competitive... then this happens. We have so many holes to fill, we don't know what direction we are really headed in. If we stay with Allen, we will need about 3 full drafts to build "his team" and we don't even know what "his team" will look like once it is built, or if he can even have a team ready to play on Sundays. So yeah, I would say the fan-base is frustrated and we have every right to be. We are currently ranked 32 in the NFL Dot Com power ranking. We are still here posting after ten years of the garbage. There are no more band-wagoners or fare-weather fans left at this point. Unfortunately it may get worse before it gets better.

[mexicanraider]

In 06 we were only 3 years in to the losing streak. We kind of knew what we needed to do to improve. There was still fight in the team, and the "Raider Way" wasn't the joke it has become. Yes we lost more games in 06 but you are right, to me this feels much worse. I think it is mostly because it feels like there is really no direction going forward. There is so much wrong with this team it seems it will take forever to fix. Many of us felt that Cable started us in the right direction and were disgruntled but his firing. Then Hue takes over (I wasn't a fan of his toward the end), and most of us are thinking with a little better D we could really be competitive... then this happens. We have so many holes to fill, we don't know what direction we are really headed in. If we stay with Allen, we will need about 3 full drafts to build "his team" and we don't even know what "his team" will look like once it is built, or if he can even have a team ready to play on Sundays. So yeah, I would say the fan-base is frustrated and we have every right to be. We are currently ranked 32 in the NFL Dot Com power ranking. We are still here posting after ten years of the garbage. There are no more band-wagoners or fare-weather fans left at this point. Unfortunately it may get worse before it gets better.

Great post.

[AL 9000]

I have been thinking that for the past few days. Is this really the low point of this horrible, long, unbearable stretch of futility? Can we only go up from here? Can our D play any worse? Can this team look more uninspired?

I know, I know, most of you will say '06 was the bottom, but I have to say we have dropped so much compared to last year, this year does feel like the worst we have endured. Plus in '06, I think it was more a scheme, coaching, talent thing. They played hard and despite an inept offense did keep up in some games. This version of the Raiders is just flat. Uninspired. They look like zombies out there.

Either my patience is running out or my expectations were too high, but this year has been particularly hard to stomach. I still watch every game every play, I don't change channel, but at the end of the blowouts, is like I'm on auto-pilot, I'm following along but no really following (maybe is the alcohol haha!) ... it has been close to unwatchable.

And before the fan police starts with the "go root for another team" agenda, I would never root for another team as long as I'm alive. I love the Raiders, they are an important part of my life. I have every right to vent and to criticize them. Hell, they deserve way harsher comments than this.

2006
September 11, 2006 - San Diego Chargers - L 27–0
September 17, 2006 - at Baltimore Ravens - L 28–6
Bye
October 1, 2006 - Cleveland Browns - L 24–21
October 8, 2006 - at San Francisco 49ers - L 34–20
October 15, 2006 - at Denver Broncos - L 13–3
October 22, 2006 - Arizona Cardinals - W 22–9
October 29, 2006 - Pittsburgh Steelers - W 20–13
November 12, 2006 - Denver Broncos - L 17–13
November 19, 2006 - at Kansas City Chiefs - L 17–13
November 26, 2006 - at San Diego Chargers - L 21–14
December 3, 2006 - Houston Texans - L 23–14
December 10, 2006 - at Cincinnati Bengals - L 27–10
December 17, 2006 - St. Louis Rams - L 20–0
December 31, 2006 - at New York Jets - L 23–3

2012
September 10, 2012 - San Diego Chargers - L 14–22
September 16, 2012 - at Miami Dolphins - L 13–35
September 23, 2012 - Pittsburgh Steelers - W 34–31
September 30, 2012 - at Denver Broncos - L 6–37
Bye
October 14, 2012 - at Atlanta Falcons - L 20–23
October 21, 2012 - Jacksonville Jaguars - W 26–23 (OT)
October 28, 2012 - at Kansas City Chiefs - W 26–16
November 4, 2012 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - L 32–42
November 11, 2012 - at Baltimore Ravens - L 20–55
November 18, 2012 - New Orleans Saints - L 17–38
November 25, 2012 - at Cincinnati Bengals - L 10–34
December 2, 2012 - Cleveland Browns - L 17–20
December 6, 2012 - Denver Broncos - L 13–26

It's pretty close but I still think 2012 is worse than 2006. 2006 was not our bottom. Currently 2012 is but they can definitely go deeper into that hole if they choose to. If things don't change this off season, 2013 will be even worse.

[Fabbulous]

Technically the Jaguars are at the bottom of the barrell this season. But that doesn't mean much...

[TokyoLA]

I have been thinking that for the past few days. Is this really the low point of this horrible, long, unbearable stretch of futility? Can we only go up from here? Can our D play any worse? Can this team look more uninspired?

I know, I know, most of you will say '06 was the bottom, but I have to say we have dropped so much compared to last year, this year does feel like the worst we have endured. Plus in '06, I think it was more a scheme, coaching, talent thing. They played hard and despite an inept offense did keep up in some games. This version of the Raiders is just flat. Uninspired. They look like zombies out there.

Either my patience is running out or my expectations were too high, but this year has been particularly hard to stomach. I still watch every game every play, I don't change channel, but at the end of the blowouts, is like I'm on auto-pilot, I'm following along but no really following (maybe is the alcohol haha!) ... it has been close to unwatchable.

And before the fan police starts with the "go root for another team" agenda, I would never root for another team as long as I'm alive. I love the Raiders, they are an important part of my life. I have every right to vent and to criticize them. Hell, they deserve way harsher comments than this.

I never expected the team to be THIS bad. The team really has given up and it's a damn shame because if you look at last years offense we should be better than this.... I wish some of the players would play for pride atleast and try and compete out there (especially on D).

[Worrier]

These are dark times. It's as bad as I can ever remember. With the other horrific teams of the past we could always identify someone to blame. The walrus, Art Shell and the bed and breakfast. Every offseason Al would fire coaches, make some trades, bring in new (better) coaches, big name (quality) FA's. He'd get me to drink the kool-aid every time.

This resembles a college program rebuild. If we stay on course w/ RM and DA, and we should, it'll be just as bad or worse next year. The year after that, maybe we get back to 8-8, after that we could be playoffs.

Will Mark Davis stay the course while losing $millions every home game with the stadium empty over the next 3 years?

[agular9]

These are dark times. It's as bad as I can ever remember. With the other horrific teams of the past we could always identify someone to blame. The walrus, Art Shell and the bed and breakfast. Every offseason Al would fire coaches, make some trades, bring in new (better) coaches, big name (quality) FA's. He'd get me to drink the kool-aid every time.

This resembles a college program rebuild. If we stay on course w/ RM and DA, and we should, it'll be just as bad or worse next year. The year after that, maybe we get back to 8-8, after that we could be playoffs.

Will Mark Davis stay the course while losing $millions every home game with the stadium empty over the next 3 years?

It resembles an expansion team that was given a 75% salary cap of the rest of the NFL (28mil dead $). And youre right on about what a lot of raider fans in this forum have become accustom to, Al signing new staff/players and giving fans hope EVERY year, so much so that fans here were so happy with the past two 8-8 seasons. Now that we are starting over, fans expect the coaching change once again.

OP, you do have every right to criticize this team, they ARE horrible. The Ron Bartell interview yesterday with local radio told a lot about all the players wanting to do too much and not focusing on their own jobs. Seems players have the respect of these coaches, just need to execute better, yes, what allen says every day.

It has gotten worse, but I do think it is the bottom and with more FOOTBALL talent next year and possibly new assistant coaches we all have to believe it will get better from here. Plus, didnt we have the top 5 hardest schedule this year?

[JUSTWINBABY9111]

Knapp has definitely not helped the offense but it is much harder on the offense when the defense can not any stops. This defense is one of the worst ever fielded by the Raiders.

Many changes are happening to this team, and Al's defense has been effected the most. They have no protection from Al, and the writing is on the wall. A new GM and their jobs are not safe. It is easy to sink to old levels when guys like Seymour and Kelly know they are gone. The changes and cuts have been so many to list. For this reason this season is not bad.

This season was inevitable on the defensive side of the ball. These attitudes and big contracts were created by one man, and it flies over many heads. Are we guaranteed to become good again? No. A new GM attempting to, and this team taking a dip in the win column was inevitable.

[dry23]

We're in a double dip recession

economy = futility in this example.

[xcraider37]

Knapp has definitely not helped the offense but it is much harder on the offense when the defense can not any stops. This defense is one of the worst ever fielded by the Raiders.

Many changes are happening to this team, and Al's defense has been effected the most. They have no protection from Al, and the writing is on the wall. A new GM and their jobs are not safe. It is easy to sink to old levels when guys like Seymour and Kelly know they are gone. The changes and cuts have been so many to list. For this reason this season is not bad.

This season was inevitable on the defensive side of the ball. These attitudes and big contracts were created by one man, and it flies over many heads. Are we guaranteed to become good again? No. A new GM attempting to, and this team taking a dip in the win column was inevitable.

What are you going to say to the 7 or 8 posters that want DA out and think that the talent level is the same as the almost 8-8 SB champions of last year? Because they will be coming at you soon as demented as they are.