Saturday, 4 a.m.
Once, they were the football team you’d least like to encounter in a dark alley.
Now, they are the cute little Las Vegas Raiders, a team that was all the rage back in the days of mood rings.
Ah, the Raiders. Once, they were what the Hell’s Angels would be if they were a football team. They were outlaws and desperados, a second-chance team with bloody knuckles. There was an aura to the Raiders, a noteworthy bunch of rule-breakers who ran roughshod over their league.
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But it has been more than four decades since the Raiders were anything worth bragging about. If former owner Al Davis were still alive, this would probably kill him.
It has been 23 seasons since the Raiders even appeared in a Super Bowl. They lost that one — to the Bucs — and they’ve been lost since then. They’ve had 17 losing seasons since then. They’ve only made two playoff appearances in that time — and they promptly lost in the wild-card game each time. They had a 33 win run in three years under Jon Gruden, but they didn’t win the Super Bowl for him, either.
Since losing the Super Bowl, they’ve gone through Bill Callahan, Norv Turner, Art Shell (again), Lane Kiffin, Tom Cable, Harold Jackson, Dennis Allen, Tony Sparsno, Jack Del Rio, Gruden (again), Rich Bisaccia, Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce.
It has become the land of lost legacies.
Now, they are the land of AidenO’Connell. (he’s a quarterback), who has lost all three of his starts. He did throw two touchdown passes in a 19-17 loss to Kansas City, which seems to struggle with everyone.
The Raiders have lost eight straight, however. That early season win over Baltimore was long ago.
So do the Bucs have a walkover? Not necessarily. The Bucs’ secondary remains soft, and the pass rush needs work. But the team does run better these days.
My guess is that they sputter a lot of Sunday, but in the end, they win.
Prediction: Tampa Bay 23, Las Vegas 20.
In other NFL games:
New Orleans 30, New York Giants 10.
Atlanta 24, Minnesota 23.
Philadelphia 28, Carolina 17.
Kansas City 26, L.A. Chargers 24.
Miami 21, N.Y. Jets, 16.
And in the college games:
Tulane 24, Army 20.
Arizona State 27, Iowa State 23.
Texas 24, Georgia 20.
Penn State 20, Oregon 17.
Clemson 21, SMU 20.