There will always be hard times in the NFL for all teams. Especially with salary caps, as it behooves the NFL to have parity. However, some teams will be consistently better than others in the long run. I believe it starts with the teams owner, his commitment to football, his love and dedication to excell in it and his desire to be the best at all cost. We have Al Davis navigating our ship and we have pretty much stayed on course.

Overall, when you look at our past history and our success in the NFL, you’re forced to acknowledge that we have one of the best owner in the NFL: AL DAVIS. He played a substantial role in mergering the two leagues together, ending up with what we have now … the NFL.

Al Davis is only human and like all of us he has made his share of mistakes. Ever owner has and every owner will continue to make them as well. On the other hand, many owners have made consistently good decisions over the years which have made a great impack on the team.

I can’t discuss all the owners of the 32 teams, but I can make a few comments on the Raiders, as I have been a Raiders fan since the early sixties.

Yes, we have had a few bad years, win wise, but that’s not the full story. Has Al Davis learned anything over the past five years that he was directly responsible for? Can he make corrections, has he learned from them and can he make the most out of these situations for the eventual good of the team.

Now we specifically come to the players. To get over this down cycle we’ve been in, we must improve our players on both sides of the ball. And those players need good coaches to bring the best out of them, to set goals and plans amoung each player to reach his best, while being able to mesh and work with his counterparts. A good team doesn’t allow personal distractions from disruptive and unfocused players.

Free Agency and the Yearly Draft allow teams to better themselves. Some teams will do better than other and some teams will be “luckier” than others. I say that because you can only estimate how a player will progress into the NFL. Will he be good or great? No one really knows. What we do know is that some players play way over their estimated draft value and projections, while others players expected to play great…BOMB OUT.

For us Raiders fans, we’re on the up swing and we’re only going to get better. We have many young players, with much upside and an organization behind them that wants them to suceed. Most of these players, who understand NFL football and it’s history and triditions will want to suceed in an organization like the Raiders. We have it all: The fame and the history, the Super Bowl Rings, the AFC titles, the number of Hall of Famer’s who have played for us, etc.,etc.

Hang tight Raiders fan, this is the year we start jumping forward and every year here after will only get better…for the next 4 to 6 years…then there can be a down swing, but them maybe not. It depends on how we prepare to replace older players while staying within the CAP limits.

Al Davis has shows our Raiders fans that he’s willing to take chances, and he’s willing to spend money in free-agency. Probably more than any other team. Give credit where credit is due. The money Al is spending, shows us he cares about the team and it’s success before profit. There are only a hand full of owners willing to do that. (Dallas & Washington) He wants us back to where were consistent winners, where we’re the envy of the NFL. It all starts this year and expect nothing less than (8) to (9) wins with a fair draft. If we can trade some excess baggage: Stu, Fabian, Stanford, Seabass, Grove, Rhodes, (Jordan, for sure or he’s cut anyway) and from these trades get some draft help for the O-line and D-line, then we’re looking at (10) to (13) wins and you can take that to the bank. On 4/27/08 we can review our draft, and we’ll have a betted idea of where we’ll be headed during the 2008 season.

What a wonderful post!

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