Through seven weeks of the National Football League season, there is one thing that we actually know for sure: The 2014-15 Oakland Raiders could go down as the worst team in NFL history.
Now for those who are ready to tell me they have gotten better the last two weeks, they have played a lot better under intern head coach Tony Sparano. But it’s deeper than the coaching of this organization.
The Raiders finished 16-16 between 2010 and 2011. At the end of that 2012 season, where the Raiders finished one game short of the AFC West division and their first playoff birth since 2002.
Mark Davis, owner and son of the late Al Davis, made a move that has sent this franchise into a tailspin that has seen the Raiders go a combined 8-31 in their last two and a half seasons, since Reggie McKenzie took the reigns as the teams new General Manger, including the 0-7 start to this season, the worst start in franchise history.
I give McKenzie credit for getting the Raiders out of the substantial mess that was thrown onto his lap in the terms of terrible contracts, draft picks who did not pan out, and a franchise that has floundered since the 2002 Super Bowl season.
But McKenzie is not innocent when it comes to a few of the moves he has made the past three seasons. The worst moves I can think of are the moves he’s made in looking for the quarterback of the future in the form of Matt Flynn and Matt Schaub.
These moves have not panned out as rookie Derek Carr has taken over the reins in Oakland and looks to be the man the Raiders need to build an offense around.
Hopes were high for a decent season with the additions of Justin Tuck, LeMarr Woodley, and Carlos Rogers on defense. The new additions have not delivered for the Raiders as they carry the leagues 26th ranked rush defense (130.1 yards per game allowed).
The defense has a promising young linebacker in Khalil Mack (5th overall pick in 2014) that, whoever the general manager is, can build a new defense around. For this season, Tuck has been a shadow of his former self, and Woodley is gone for the season after suffering a biceps injury in a week seven loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
The Raiders have faltered under McKenzie’s watch. A team that went 8-8 in 2010 and 2011 falling just shy of a playoff berth has now gone on the verge of having only the third winless season in National Football League history.
The schedule for the Raiders is among the toughest in the league this season. The best thing for Oakland to do now, is to start over. And when I say start over, bring in a new General Manager with a clean slate. The only way the Raiders will ever return to glory will be to start with a clean slate.
Reggie McKenzie was never offered a clean slate but when the slate was cleaned he set this organization to depths Raider fans have never seen.
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