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Thoughts from the Dark Side
Top 10 Raider Killers of all time
There are a few players and coaches who just seem to have the Oakland Raiders number. There is something about them, whether it is a grudge with Al Davis or a general swipe of luck, that gives these guys the power to just make life miserable for the Raiders and Raider fans. So, without further ado, here are the top 10 Raider Killers of all time.
10 Jon Gruden, Coach Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gruden is 1-1 against the Raiders since he bolted to Tampa Bay. Doesn’t sound like much of a Raider Killer, but that one win was in the Super Bowl where he fed the Tampa defense everything about the Raiders offense.
9 Eddie George, RB Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans. It seemed that every time George would face the Raiders he would put up obscene numbers.
8 Houston Texans. Inexplicably, the Texans have had the Raiders number during Houston’s short stay in the NFL. The Texans hold a 3-0 record against the Raiders.
7 Brett Favre, QB Green Bay Packers. Favre played for an NFC team, which was a fortunate thing for the Oakland Raiders as he never lost to the Raiders. His greatest game came on a Monday Night in Oakland following the passing of his father. Favre torched the Raiders secondary mercilessly as the Pack destroyed the Raiders that night.
6 Marcus Allen, RB KC Chiefs. Allen started off his career with the then-LA Raiders, winning a Super Bowl MVP along the way. He had a falling out with Al Davis and joined up with the KC Chiefs. Once he donned the red and yellow of Kansas City, he made it his personal mission to destroy the Raiders every chance he got.
5 LaDainian Tomlinson, RB SD Chargers. Tomlinson seems to have a career day every time he faces the Raiders. In one game, where the Raiders had him contained as a runner, he threw for a touchdown pass. It seems like when he faces Oakland he becomes completely unstoppable.
4 Mike Shanahan, Coach Denver Broncos. Shanahan was let go as Raider Head Coach part way through his second season as a head coach. Shanahan claims that Davis still owed him some money, which Davis denied. Shanahan took to extracting a pound of flesh every time the Raiders and Broncos would meet. Shanahan is something like 10 games over .500 against the Raiders lifetime.
3 Derrick Thomas, OLB KC Chiefs. Derrick Thomas was the scourge of Raider quarterbacks. He had an astounding eight sacks including a safety in a game against the Raiders back in 1998. He completely destroyed Jeff George that game.
2 Marty Shottenheimer, Coach KC Chiefs & SD Chargers. What can be said about Marty? He had a pathological hatred of Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders, and took personal delight in destroying the Raiders every chance he got.
Wait a second? Shanny and Marty are both up there, but there is someone who was more of a Raider Killer than those guys?
Who could it be?
1 The Zebras. There is no one who has cost the Raiders more games than the NFL officials. From the phantom PI call against Kansas City in 1966 that cost the Riders a chance at Super Bowl I and the “Immaculate Deception,” through the Rob Lytle non-fumble and the “Snow Job.” If there is a rule that can be interpreted more than one way, it will be interpreted in a manner to hurt the Raiders. Marquez Pope recovering a fumble only to find himself hydroplaning into the endzone in monsoon conditions in Seattle, where there is no way under the law of physics he could stop his slide, but he gets called for a safety. Vincent Jackson, untouched throwing the ball down in celebration despite not being touched. The refs call it “Intentional grounding” but still grant the fourth down conversion. (Loss of down, means loss of down or so I thought until that moment.)
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27 Responses to “Top 10 Raider Killers of all time”
May 14th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Good list. I agree that we have had our share of issues with the refs and those are all great examples. I hesitate to agree with the number one ranking though, because it makes us sound like whiners. Sometimes you have to take what’s given on the field and still find a way to win. Zebras are definitely up there, but putting them number one doesn’t sit right with me. Just my opinion though.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Personally, I would’ve put the Ravens over Gruden. I’m not even sure that Gruden holds anymore magic over the Raiders now that nobody remains from his coaching days here. Another Raider killer has always been Seattle - the city. The Raiders, even in their heyday have always had trouble winning there. I don’t agree with LT being that high either. Until Shottenheimer was there, the Chargers or LT didn’t do much, I think Eddie George should be higher.
Good article Patrick. It’s definitely a good one for debate.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:36 am
What about Shawn Alexander? His two giggest games ever are against the Raiders. Shawn always has a big game against us. Well most other RBs do to.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:36 am
giggest = Biggest
May 14th, 2008 at 9:35 am
would all agree Russell and Bowe formed a great tandem in LSU. Look at this Marcel Reece kid. He is taller, about 20 pounds heavier and get this…..ran a slightly faster 40 at 4.4 compared to 4.5. If he earns playing time, who’s gonna check this kid at the line before the snaps? He’ll stiff arm basically any defender or out run most.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am
good list and my response to junior is that it sits fine with me to have the idiots in black and white stripes at the top of the list because the calls made that you mentioned are not consistent in the league,they go against the raiders but never go against any other team,if the idiots in black and white stripes blow every call in a game at least the calls are consistent.j.m.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Eddie George is the one I couldn’t ever figure out. Marty for sure. Shanarat was a crappy coach for us, then he gets John Elway and didn’t the league screw us out of getting him anyway? I remember the Favre night well - errantly throwing up passes like any league pick holder would do and our secondary was so bad! Glad those days are gone!
What about the screw job the refs put on Seattle in the Super Bowl against Pittsburgh a couple years ago. Wow!
May 14th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I think the NFL Commisioners Office needs to be on this list somewhere. They have messed with Al Davis since the inception of this team.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:56 am
On the referees a few corrections and facts are in order about the referees always being against the Raiders. First of all on the Immaculate Reception it is quite debatable whether or not the Raiders got the shaft. There is a strong case to be made that the catch was legitimate. On the New England game, the Snow Job, the Raiders were lucky that they weren’t called for roughing the passer on the play. The refs blew two plays - the fumble and the roughing call that wasn’t made. Had they made the call the fumble would have been nullified. And, it seems you forgot all about the holy roller which the refs completely blew in favor of the Raiders. This is just some of the big games. I remember a regular season game I watched from the seventies in which the refs went with a 5 yard penalty for a blatant roughing the kicker instead of the 15 yrads at the end of the game that totally changed the complexion of the game and helped the Raiders win. On Jackson, that was a bad call no question. But you know what. The Bolts had that huge touchdown INT called back in Indianapolis, on the road in a playoff game on a bad call. They just sucked it up and won instead of whining.
Every team has calls go against them and go for them. You can’t do one sided bookeeping. I get tired of some (not all) Raider fans who have this notion that there is a conspiracy to get them by the officials, the press and the world. Anyone who criticizes the Raiders is a hater. Get over it. The Raiders are just another team right now. They had a great run. If you want to know why the Raiders aren’t doing well look at their drafts, their coaching, their management, their ownership. I guess the year that they got in the superbowl the refs forgot to ‘get them’.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
The number one sticks in my mind for one name: Walt Coleman. Since then, I don’t think, for his life, they will let him officiate a Raiders game, here or away, for fear, the fans will not burn him in effigy, but probably burn the real thing after the Tuck rule.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
No mention of John Elway? Excuse me while I spit, cuss and puke and the mention of his name…
May 14th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
William Smith: On the referees a few corrections and facts are in order about the referees always being against the Raiders. First of all on the Immaculate Reception it is quite debatable whether or not the Raiders got the shaft. There is a strong case to be made that the catch was legitimate. On the New England game, the Snow Job, the Raiders were lucky that they weren’t called for roughing the passer on the play. The refs blew two plays - the fumble and the roughing call that wasn’t made. Had they made the call the fumble would have been nullified. And, it seems you forgot all about the holy roller which the refs completely blew in favor of the Raiders. This is just some of the big games. I remember a regular season game I watched from the seventies in which the refs went with a 5 yard penalty for a blatant roughing the kicker instead of the 15 yrads at the end of the game that totally changed the complexion of the game and helped the Raiders win. On Jackson, that was a bad call no question. But you know what. The Bolts had that huge touchdown INT called back in Indianapolis, on the road in a playoff game on a bad call. They just sucked it up and won instead of whining.
Every team has calls go against them and go for them. You can’t do one sided bookeeping. I get tired of some (not all) Raider fans who have this notion that there is a conspiracy to get them by the officials, the press and the world. Anyone who criticizes the Raiders is a hater. Get over it. The Raiders are just another team right now. They had a great run. If you want to know why the Raiders aren’t doing well look at their drafts, their coaching, their management, their ownership. I guess the year that they got in the superbowl the refs forgot to ‘get them’.
—————————————————————————
Wow!!
An honest realistic Raider fan.
Will wonders never cease?
May 14th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
What are you talking about William? Roughing the passer on the tuck rule play? Or on another play in the game? Cause if you are talking about that particular play, you are out of your mind. How the hell could that be viewed roughing by anyone.
Inacurate reception, obvious that Fuqua touched the ball when Tatum drilled him, thus making it an illegal catch.
I liked the article, lot of bad memories though. One guy I would add to the list is Randy Moss. That turd set our rebuilding back 2 years with his huge salary and refusal to try.
Gruden’s days of hurting us are over. That one game was more Callahan stupidity than Gruden smarts. Gannon didn’t help our cause either. He had to know Gruden knew all his tricks and fakes, but he tried them anyway.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I hate to dredge the snow job but if you go back on youtube and look at some of the replays you will see that the Raiders hit Brady in the head, i.e. ‘went to the head’ which is a 15 yard penalty. In the old days you could hit a QB in the head but not under the rules that were being followed and enforced at that time. In fact during that time the NFL was moving to protect QBs more and a lot of teams besides the Raiders got called for going to the head of the QB at the same level that the Raiders hit Brady in the head. So on the fumble - which I think was a fumble that the refs got wrong - it wouldn’t have mattered because the Raiders should have been called for the illegal hit. So you could say we were lucky not to get called for that penalty. And, you know we could have also stopped the Patriots too after the play and gone on to win.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I’m with Oregon Raider on this one. Where is John Elway on this list? He killed the Raiders and even when we had a lead I never felt safe. He owes me an answering machine because he threw a TD late to beat the Raiders and I jumped up and accidentally knocked it on the floor and broke it. It was nearly brand new at the time.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
William, the Raiders never hit Brady on the head or went to the head, you can clearly see Woodson went for the ball. “And, you know we could have also stopped the Patriots too after the play and gone on to win.” That is a stupid statement to make because we did stop them and the officials fucked up the call and that gave life to the Patriots. I dont think your watching the same play the Raider Nation watch because you have it all wrong.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
LDizzle & Oregon Raider, John Elway did not start killing us until Shanahan went to Denver. Before that we owned him.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
i wouldn’t put the refs at #1 either, but they would make the list. i believe if you want to win you got to do everything you can to put yourself in position to win. that way if a bad call is against us it won’t cost us the game. i see bad calls on other teams as well. if you ask me we should get younger refs that have fresher eyes and legs so they can get a play right and get the hell ouy of the way when the play is headed towards them. till then the refs need to get off their knees cuz they’re blowwin’ the game.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Will they don’t even have good weed in New England, so what are you smokin? Everyone that’s not a Raider fan doesn’t like the Raiders and they all agree it was a fumble, except of course for Patriots fans. We made a great play to win and the refs take it out of our hands. Eddie George, LT, Marty, Shannahan, Marcus, and Brett Favre really burned us didn’t they?
May 14th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Hahaha nice article Pat couldnt agree with you more…
May 14th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Wtf are these dudes talking about? Roughing the passer against the Pats HELL NO THATS B.S… We clearly got cheated on national T.V!
May 15th, 2008 at 10:31 am
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May 15th, 2008 at 11:27 am
The LA Raiders owned john elway. Only when shanarat and Terell davis came along did elgay finally start beating the Raiders. Its pretty funny that mike40 whiner comes to this site everyday to talk his little nonsense. Its because there is zero action going on with 9ers. Its kind of like his bedroom at home. There is zero action going on there so his wife goes to a Raider bedroom for her satisfaction. Poor Mike. And Will Smith is the only person on the planet that has ever mentioned roughing the passer on the tuck play. What a joke. With the Refs its not always the bad calls. Its the non calls that they kill us with. How many players have come from other teams to the Raiders (Jerry Rice, Harvey Williams, Rod Woodson, Charlie Garner) and said they can’t believe the way the calls go now that they are Raiders. Jerry Rice said he always heard about it but thought it was nonsense until he came to the Raiders. How come John Gruden’s Bucs teams don’t get nearly as many penalties as his Raider teams did? Its funny to hear these morons say we are whining. Since when did speaking up against unfair bullshit become whining? Whining is what mike 9er does from the safety of his keyboard everyday.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
IS WILLIAM SMITH A RAIDER FAN OR WHAT?
I am a fan of football. I watch a lot of games. I have never seen as many bad calls made against one team in my 30 years of being a fan. The snow job isn’t the first itme the Raiders were denied a visit to the superbowl because of a bad call. Check the history for yourself. Check just how many times the Raiders have gone to the league because of bad calls where the league has said after the fact that, yeah, that was a bad call. Time and again, more so than others have bad call and no calls resulted in losses for the Raiders. I’ve watched game footage where guys were being held right in front of a ref and no call was made resulting in big plays for the other team. I believe, partly due to Al’s willingness to sue the NFL, the team has been treated like the red headed stepchild.
As far as the list goes, I think its a very good list. Marty, Mike Shanahan and LT are all people I’d like to see some revenge exacted on. Too bad Marty isn’t coaching any more. He made me hate KC even more. What a great rivalry those times were.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:38 am
I give Gruden a pass just cause he’s got charisma and duh, it would have been a little smart to change up some things in the offense Gruden created if you’re getting ready to face him in the superbowl. Callahan was an idiot.
May 19th, 2008 at 8:47 am
I may be dating myself but Jim Zorn was real killer. Others would be any QB that had mobility, the old Mile High Stadium, Franco Harris and any TV announcer that was not affiliated with the Raiders. We will RETURN!!
May 19th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Look at Marcus’ total ydg. after leaving the Raiders. Not just TDs.Marty would put Marcus in when the Chefs were 6 inches away from a TD your gramma could score,(he loved doing it against us in particular) to rack up Marcus’ stats. After Bo got here, Marcus would run about a yard and a half and then trip over some mysterious invisible object and fall down,(go back and look at the tapes) at the same time,putting on this act about how he was such a good soldier and how he was getting screwed by Al. Marcus wasn’t that impressive after leaving. He just happened to go to a rival that loved setting him up to look good and to make us look bad.
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