As we travel back in time to 2002, we see that the raiders took care of themselves and played strong. As they made their way to the super bowl. Their first Super Bowl in 19 years.
At Super Bowl XXXVII, the Raiders would play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coached by Jon Gruden. Gruden who coached ten Raiders from 1998-2001 had rebuilt the team into a scoring machine that his replacement Bill Callahan helped form into the top offense in the NFL who, were matched up against Gruden's Buccaneers who had the top defense in the NFL. (Crazy huh!)
The Raiders were stressed because of this. It was like a day at the circus. Barret Robbins who went AWOL the day before the big game in San Diego. Robbins would reappear the morning of the game after a night of drinking in Tijuana, but he would be suspended from the team.
At the start of the game it appeared as if the Robbins disruption would not hurt as the Raiders, who took advantage of an interception on the first possession of the game to take an early 3-0 lead. The Bucs defense seemed to know what was coming as they red Rich Gannon perfectly intercepting 2 passes and shutting down the Raiders offense completely to take a 20-3 lead into halftime.
Things would not get better for the Raiders in the second half as the Bucs extended their lead to 27-3 on a long drive that ate up time in the 3rd Quarter. Now in desperation Dwight Smith who returned it all the way to extend their lead to 34-3 would pick off mode Gannon trying desperately to get the Raiders back into the game.
The Raiders would make a strong attempt at comeback scoring three consecutive Touchdowns, to cut the lead to 34-21. However, in the final 2 minutes Gannon would have another two interceptions ran back for touchdowns as the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl 48-21. (Ouch!)
In 2003, the riders did not do too well. They carried a losing streak in a lost season as the Raiders finished with a terrible 4-12 record, the worst season ever for any team coming off a Super Bowl Appearance. The dreadful that the Raiders finish tied for the worst record in the NFL Coach Bill Callahan is given the boot and replace by Norv Turner.
In 2004, the Raiders would still have problems even with a new coach finishing in last place with a 5-11 record.
Now 2005, the Raiders added Randy Moss which caused them to have one of the most exciting offenses in the NFL. However, the offense does not win Championships, as the Raiders defense still needs a lot of help. Expect the Raiders to be lacking consistency as they wind up finishing .500.
