Hey DUDES – GRUDEN was an. Assistant coach from PHILLY!

Former players and commentators are even acknowledging this proven fact. Wasting another year with DA would be moronic and a disaster.

I was thinking about this yesterday as I read comments here. My exact thought was, “At least I witnessed one of the greatest franchises in football history when they were almost always great or very good.”

I attended Raider games at the Coliseum in the Sixties until they left. We had agonizing seasons, don’t misunderstand me. For a team that made the playoffs as regularly as we did (and, mostly, as easily as we did, we also had to face top notch and perennial enemies in the Buck Buchanan/Len Dawson Chiefs and the great Steeler teams, the Jets, to a lesser degree. The

After the AFL-NFL merger, there were always some teams that didn’t let us make it to the SB and previous to the merger, there were stellar opponents for the AFL championship, but yesterday I was thinking how spoiled my family and I had grown all those glory years.

As I read comments about our receivers dropping balls, I thought of Raymond Chester, Dave Caspar, and more than anyone, Freddy (and his stickum). They didn’t drop passes, guy. They may have failed to catch a pass now and then because it wasn’t thrown on time or anywhere near them, but they didn’t drop passes. I recall the frustration of watching a wide open Cliff Branch look like an little girl trying to catch a ball thrown her way, but lo and behold, he learned to catch them.

Then, I read comments about our pitiful O-line. Admittedly, Raider fans way back were incredibly spoiled. Lamonica did get sacked a lot when he reached the important playoff games, and he was forever hurting his hand in those playoff games, hitting it on the helmet of an incoming Chief’s pass rusher, but for the entire of the regular season, he had all day to pass (and he took forever to go back with his 7 step drop and he didn’t have a quick release), yet our line did all they could to protect him. And Stabler? All day. He stood there flat-footed and simply looked until a receiver came open and our O-line made him this little nest he could stay in almost forever.

Back to the receivers…I remember when Raider receivers actually came_back_to_the_ball, to the qb when Stabler couldn’t hit them on their regular route. How often do we see our receivers actually do that today?

So, yeah, I was spoiled, and I do feel bad for those of you who never saw that. Of course, that means you are much younger than I so you have youth!

Here’s my belief: we are still being made to endure the the curse of LA which was place on Al Davis and his Raiders for their move south and their betrayal of fans who never did anything but show huge support.

Yes, there were some winning years, even a SB year in LA, but it came at a high price. Not only did the curse see to it that the team would endure more losing seasons, it saw to it that it would be cursed with an unsavory stench that attached itself to it, with gangs and low-lifes attached to our image instead of simply tough football players. We didn’t just begin losing games and enduring losing seasons, we lost respect.

Not all curses are forever, however. (Find a Sicilian grandmother for more info). Nevertheless, we never know for how long the curse was placed.

Until then, we endure.

With no franchise QB available, what position are you leaning towards supporting with our 1st pick?
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Well, I’m NOT one of those guys that subscribes to ‘best player available’ at ALL times.

I think there are times when you DO draft to fill needs, especially when the call between two players is very close.

But with THIS team – BPA is the ONLY way to go.

That’s bcz there’s not a single area (besides PK) that is solid.

Having said that, it’s my belief that we can make strides on offense simply by replacing Krapp and that a total rebuild is not required on that side of the ball.

Defensively, we need at least a half dozen new starters.

Therefore, I would think this draft should emphasize defense.

If there was a franchise QB available – I’d still go in that direction in a heartbeat.

Don’t care how many holes there are to fill. Palmer definitely isn’t long term and if you want to be a legit contender you’ve got to have the QB.

I’m not absolutely convinced that Geno can’t be a franchise QB, but I have strong reservations about him.

Seems like the 2013 draft should be a ‘get an impact player’ and ‘hole filling’ exercise – and securing the franchise QB might have to wait until we are drafting near the top in 2014 again.

That’s a reasonable 2 year plan and one that could work.