American Football

Raiders history: Fighting through the pain of toughest defeats

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Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon (bottom) l
Tony Siragusa, Rich Gannon | Photo credit should read JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images

Fans deal with the pain, knowing good times to come

Last week, in our Tuesday Community Question, we asked fans what was their favorite win in the history of the Raiders.

Of course, there were great memories of three Super Bowl victories and more. It was a fun moment of celebration.

Well, this week, we had to rip off the band aid and talk about the flipside of fandom. Yes, the worst losses in Raiders history.

It was therapeutic.

Here are some of your responses:

SnB Stop the Run
Too numerous. The one that hurt the team the most was the Colts game where Carr broke his leg. The Raiders won the game but they lost their future.
That Raider team beats Houston and is a tough out moving forward. Raiders probably keep Musgrave and Carr doesn’t lose his edge. After that game and OC change, Carr was consigned to mediocrity and JaMarkus eagerly moved in to bring back the disaster that was Gruden/Mayock.
Team still hasn’t recovered from that game.

Vila41
Pick almost any game from the 2006 season. That was the worst Raiders team, maybe the worst NFL team ever, that I’ve ever seen in my life. From the coaching to the players, that team was totally inept and a complete disgrace to the Raiders legacy.
Art Shell v1.0 was actually pretty good, but version 2.0 was a disaster. The Tom Walsh bed and breakfast offense was an abomination, and it was the worst display of “offense” I’ve ever seen. It made last year’s offense look like Air Coryell. The defense wasn’t much better. Don’t let the #3 defensive rank in total yards and #1 rank in passing yards fool you. Teams knew they literally only had to get a 7 to 10 point lead and the game was over. Time after time opposing teams would get the lead and just throttle down with the run game and chew clock. That’s why we finished 25th in run D (yards allowed).
And the roster? How does Andrew Walter, Aaron Brooks, Terdell Sands, Stuart Schweigert, Fabian Washington, and Stanford Routt sound to name a few? My God, this was a bad team.
The games? How about losing the home opener to the Chargers 27 to 0. How about the next game at Baltimore getting crushed by the Ravens 28 to 6. I don’t think I’ve seen a Raiders team not only lose but also get completely embarrassed and physically abused and dominated for consecutive weeks like those two games.

PalmettoNole
AFC Championship 1991 Bills 51 Raiders 3. I hate fucking Jay Schroeder…….Longest day of my life. Also the Raiders beat down against Tampa in the SB

209raiderjman
Depends on the context of the question. In the tuck rule game the team played great and we would have won except for the fraud perpetrated by the refs. The TB superbowl game was all coaching, I wouldn’t put that on the team. In my humble opinion the worst loss I ever saw was the Monday Night game against Favre after his dad died. The team was horrible and Favre was just heaving the ball in the air deep and our defense was nowhere to be found. That was a horrible and embarrassing team loss.

rastaRaiders
2000 Ravens Sirgusa crushing Gannon and Dorsett/Pope letting Horse Face Shay Shay trot down 80 yards.
2001 Walt Coleman getting the call from Goodell, but watching Chucky not be able to run the clock out even after the call.
2002 Gruden, Gannon, Barrett Robbins, Tampa 2, Callahan, Run the damn ball!

oakrad32
I say the Tuck Rule Game. It forever change the direction of 2 teams. Had the Raiders won that game and went on to win the Super Bowl, Gruden doesn’t get traded and a dynasty is born. Doesn’t mean the Patriots wouldn’t have still been great with a young Brady, but the Raiders would have been a lot different!

SeaofHands74
I have two:
Tampa SB Disaster: Callahan not changing calls, changing the game plan, Robbin’s going AWOL.
1977 AFC Championship vs Broncos: Refs blow Lytle fumble on goal line, destroyed a potential 2nd straight SB and it would have been an epic, historic matchup. Al Davis’s renegade Raiders against the strait laced “America’s Team” Cowboys, it would have been one for the ages.

NASHVILLER8ER
The loss of Derek Carr in a game that meant nothing.
The Tuck Rule. That one still burns me as I am not old enough for the other screw jobs.

Karldared
December 23, 1972..

Brownetowne
1)Super Bowl against TB with Robbin’s disappearance in San Diego into the streets of Tijuana showing up but being benched due to protocol. Should have given him an IV and told him he better maul or be fired. We could have ran the ball 50 times in that game with Robbin’s… Leading to Callaghans stupidest team in Americas. Thanks coach.
2.) Tuck Rule no need to elaborate, to much to say.
3) Siragusa flops on Gannon vs Baltimore like he does his wife once a week. That must be one tough lady. This was perhaps our most talented team and was derailed from the start with Gannon disable.

We feel your pain, Raider Nation. Again, hopefully, this has provided good therapy. Good times are ahead and because of all of the pain, the good times are going to taste so good and be so richly deserved.

Head to the comments section to share your thoughts and join the conversation. You can sign up for a commenting account below and we have full-time moderators to enforce the Community Guidelines.

Cheers and have a great weekend.

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