The Oakland Raiders are one of the NFL's most storied franchises. The team has won three Super Bowls in their history and have had the privilege of having some of the best football players play on their teams throughout the years. Raiders greats included Bo Jackson, Howie Long, Jim Otto, Tim Brown, legendary coach John Madden, Charles Woodson, Ken Stabler, Gene Upshaw, Jim Plunkett, Marcus Allen, and maybe, just maybe, Sebastian Janikowski.
The Raiders had their best years in the 1970s; they dominated the early AFC West and were known for having great games against the Steelers of the 1970s, most famously the 1972 Immaculate Reception game. Their defense were one of the most feared and also most dangerous. The Raiders captured their first Super bowl in 1976 against the Minnesota Vikings.
The 1980s was a mixture of good and bad depending on the season. The Raiders did win two Super bowls in the 1980s. The first was in 1980 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Their last Super Bowl victory was in 1983 against the Washington Redskins, and in the late 1980s the Raiders saw the arrival of multi-sport athlete Bo Jackson. This was also the period where the Raiders were the Los Angeles Raiders (1982-1995).
Since the 1990s however, the Raiders became a laughing stock of the NFL. The reason being that for a span of ten years except 2008 and 2011, the Raiders never one more than 5 games in a season and had numerous coaching changes and ineffective draft picks. Do JaMarcus Russell or Darren McFadden ring a bell?
As a Raiders fan, I'm happy to say that the Raiders are finally a contender in the AFC. The main reason being are the young players the Raiders base their team upon. Derek Carr, Amari Cooper, Karl Joseph, Michael Crabtree, and Latavius Murray are just a few of these young guns who are reviving the team. This team is going nowhere, but up. The future of the Raiders is bright and can now take advantage of their AFC West rivals. As this article is being written, the Raiders are 7-2. If they keep the momentum going to win the AFC West. The Super Bowl? That maybe too much for this season. I'm not ruling out a Super bowl victory though. I'd give them 5-10 years. Nevertheless, as the late Raiders owner Al Davis said, "Just win, baby".
