Oakland Raiders

It's almost sad to see how far this franchise has fallen. Just five seasons removed from a Super Bowl berth, the Oakland Raiders have become one of the jokes of the league, a team whose NFL odds at the start of the season are always in triple digits.

The old Raider tradition of bringing in grizzled veterans and squeezing the last few ounces of production out of them isn't working anymore. And recent drafts haven't provided enough talent to make up the difference. The bottom line is that since losing Super Bowl XXXVII to Tampa in January 2003, Oakland is 19-61. Keep in mind that New England won 16 regular-season games last year alone.

The Raiders went 4-12 last season, their first under head coach Lane Kiffin, which was double their win total from the previous year. Playing the likes of Daunte Culpepper and Josh McCown at quarterback, Oakland ranked just 25th in total offense last season at 295 YPG. But they did manage to rank sixth in the league in rushing at 130 YPG. However, any possibility of a ground-game advantage was eliminated by the defense allowing 146 YPG rushing, which ranked second-worst in the league.

Overall, the Silver and Black ranked 22nd in total defense at 342 YPG, 26th in total yardage at -47 YPG, and 28th in both sacks with 27 and turnovers at -11. But their running game did allow the Raiders to hold a +2:52 average time-of-possession advantage, fifth-best in the league.

Oakland only went 6-10 vs. the NFL betting lines last year, and just 2-6 ATS at home. And the totals went 10-5-1 in Raiders games last season, which averaged 43 total points.

Oakland went through one of the bigger sets of personnel changes in the league over the offseason, letting Culpepper, McCown, WR Jerry Porter, RB Dominic Rhodes and several others go. They also added two new starters to the offensive line, and DE Greg Spires, CB DeAngelo Hall and S Gibril Wilson to the defense. The Raiders also used the fourth overall pick in the draft to get talented RB Darren McFadden out of Arkansas.

Kiffin is still the coach, although that could become a week-to-week situation at any time. But more instability on the sidelines is not what this team needs. Oakland should concentrate on running the ball, bringing QB JaMarcus Russell along easy, and finding a way to stop the run on defense.

A .500 mark this season seems a big stretch, but with just four games vs. teams that made the playoffs last year, six wins seems reasonable.