RAIDERS FACE SIMILAR CROSS IN THE ROAD AS THE 2002 TEAM

It’s been nine years since the Raiders fielded a competitive football team. That was Rich Gannon’s ’02 team that finished 11-5, on it’s way to the Raiders first Super Bowl appearance since 1984.  At face value, Gannon’s team had little in common with the 2011 version. But this years’ team faces an eerily similar cross in the road.

The way most of us remember it, the ’02 team was a juggernaut offense that consistently moved the ball at will and piled up lopsided wins. But in fact the ’02 Raiders suffered a major hiccup after starting 4-0, and averaging over 40 points per game. After eight games they found themselves 4-4 and struggling to reclaim their identity.  The last three games during that stretch included division losses to Kansas City and San Diego, as well as a painful home loss to San Francisco in overtime. They averaged just 16 points during that 4-game slide.

Sitting at 4-4, it was nearly nine years to the day (Nov. 11, 2002) that the Raiders travelled to Denver to face the 6-2 Broncos in what would be one of the most memorable regular season games in franchise history. On the primetime Monday night stage, the Raiders dismantled the division leading Broncos 34-10 behind one of the greatest quarterback performances the league has seen. Rich Gannon threw for 352 yards and 3 touchdowns on 34-38 passing.  It was the defining moment in the season, and one of the few high points of the last decade.

Nine years removed from that night, a struggling Raiders team will once again travel within the division searching for their identity. This Raiders team is beaten and battered with injuries. The defense has struggled, and they go into tonight’s game seven point underdogs. Just like in 2002, the Raiders will need a big game out of their former Pro-Bowl quarterback.

Carson Palmer hopes the Raiders can revive his career just the way the team did for Rich Gannon. And if he can stretch out tonight’s game just a little, maybe he can do it on the same the same day Gannon did it nine years ago (for east coast fans at least).