Raiders Fan: “Jon Gruden Is The Reason We Suck.”

Some Raiders fan, who was apparently taking the day off from stabbing tourists and beating his wife, took the time to pen an article explaining why Jon Gruden is the source of all their misery.

...the soft focus of hindsight combined with Gruden's charisma and Chuckie persona make it easy to miss that the seeds for the recent disasters were planted during his tenure as head coach.

Gruden was traded after the 2001 season. Six full seasons, four head coaches, and a huge cache of high draft picks have passed since Gruden roamed the home sidelines of that hideous stadium. And yet, somehow, it's still all his fault. Any chance it could have been Monty Burns Al Davis, the man who demands total control over all personnel decisions for the Raiders?

The easy cop out is to blame Al, as he is the one who is most responsible for player acquisition. Jon Gruden also was big on that philosophy, as was Bruce Allen. (more on him in a moment.) To show that it was not just Al, but Gruden's inability to develop younger players, just take a look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Gruden. It took him bringing in Jeff Garcia to fill the role of Rich Gannon and get the Bucs back in the playoffs.

I'll be the first one to tell you that Gruden's track record for developing young quarterbacks isn't the best. But don't act like he doesn't try. Chris Simms was the guy who led the Bucs to the playoffs in 2005. And when Simms went down in 2006, he turned to a rookie to start 11 games before he finally realized he sucked and turned to another veteran, Tim Rattay. Gruden just works better with veteran quarterbacks. You all loved it when Gannon was winning games.

Bruce Allen was adept at getting the Raiders under the cap for the current season, but the problem was that it was creating a disaster down the line. The Raiders had dead money from Gannon's contract on the books until last year.

Funny, he's working wonders in Tampa. Maybe he just wanted to stick it to you before he left. The Raiders are pretty easy to hate.

The whole thing reads like the author was given the topic and told to justify it. None of it holds together because it just isn't true. The Raiders in 2001 weren't in a "building for the future" mode. They were in a "we only need one more piece of the puzzle to make it to the Super Bowl" mode. And sure enough, you did make it the next year. Good for you! It worked out exactly as Gruden was planning it when he was with the Raiders. And when he left, you got well-compensated for him. That was his legacy to you. The fact that you pissed away two first rounders and two second rounders in addition to your normal draft allotment isn't his fault. It's your's. Deal.

And fuck you for using a Rush lyric in your article. I think Neil Peart had more in mind when he was penning that song than the sorry state of the Raidaaahhs.