Raiders fans: Yay or Nay on Al Davis?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

I've always sort of wondered this. Davis seems to have some pretty odd tastes, such as excessive speed at the cost of talent and habitual character problems. Do you think the Raiders will win a Super Bowl under Davis any time soon? Or is he not the problem in Oakland?

[joeybee12]

1. I'm a closet Oakland fan--only like them because they now have Kerry

Collins, who got the shaft by my former favorite team, the Giants.

I figure that gives me the right to answer--yes, I do think the problem is Davis. They have a lot of problems--organization and such--that can only be fixed when that putz leaves, or agrees to stop thinking he knows anything and stays the phuck out of running the show.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Yeah, I've been a Collins fan myself.

Loved him at Penn St., stayed with him in Carolina. I agree he got completely shafted by the Giants - their problem wasn't QB, it was a lack of an offensive line and more than 1 WR to throw to. Still don't like the Raiders though.

[joeybee12]

4. I agree--the Giants seem to think Eli is their saving grace...

...he may yet turn out ot be an ok quarterback, but he's not enough to build a team around, especially with all the other problems, as you noted.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. I've never been high on either Manning

And quite frankly, I'll be surprised to see EITHER win a Super Bowl any time soon. I'd have taken (and yes, I was saying this all along) Roethlisberger or Rivers first. But even then, it's not the answer to the Giants' problems.

As for the Mannings... just look at the recent SB QBs. Brady, Johnson, Dilfer, Elway, Favre... there's one major defining attribute to all of them - leadership. They're all fiery leaders that will their team to win. Go even further too - Young, Aikman, Montana, Bradshaw, Namath. Quarterbacks need to be the team's emotional leader too. That's also why guys like Marino or Bledsoe never won one. Marino pretty much pissed off his teammates and Bledsoe is a deadfish, ala Peyton and Eli. They'll put up stats and win lots of regular season games, just like Marino and Bledsoe, but they're unlikely to win it all, in my humble opinion.

[joeybee12]

6. I thought the behavior of the whole Manning clan prior to the draft

was atrocious. That in itself made me dislike them. Peyton might someday win it all--the odds aren't great, but it could happen. Eli? Never.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Al Davis is one of the reasons I don't like football

I used to try to do the "patriotic" thing and root for the local team, but when the camera pans to the owner's box during a Raiders game, that gets really, really hard to do.

When the Raiders came back to Oakland, Davis should have stayed in LA.

[musiclawyer]

7. Nay

I think most Raider faithful, if you put a gun to their head, would say that consistent better days are to come only when Al is gone.

[RagingInMiami]

8. I'm a huge Raiders fan

And the problem with Al Davis is he will never hire a good coach who can lead the team himself. He only wants puppet coaches and it hasn't worked out during the last 20 years.

I think they can win a superbowl under his rule, but he makes it much more difficult. He never hesitates to grab the best players in the NFL, he just refuses to take the next step and hire the best coaches.