Listen, I’m all in on the once a Raider, always a Raider train. There’s something about the Raiders brand and colors that is an eternal way of carrying yourself. The love and support Raiders Nation extends to the players goes beyond their career.
Except Antonio Brown. I don’t care if he is on a redemption tour texting Jon Gruden or reaching out to Derek Carr. Dude never played an actual game as a Raiders.
I don’t care if he was the star of hard knocks or last year’s offseason. His feet were too busy healing to ever be of real use for us.
Not to mention, Brown’s accusations of sexual assault, misconduct and all the other off field antics. Sure, people are due process. Yes, mentally ill people should get help. I’m not sure where Brown falls on either of those spectrum but I don’t really care because he is not a Raider in my eyes. The ghost of Al Davis and Jack Tatum should stiff arm him every time he reaches for anything with the Raiders shield on it.
Brown was supposed to be the star of our offense. An offense setup to compete for the Wild Card. They did anyways without his dynamic playmaking or him carrying the bulk of the load and doing the junk underneath work. He let us down, went to the Patriots and laughed in our face. The worst part is, he tried to sue us for our money and didn’t even finish the season with the Patriots or on an NFL roster. Again, a slap or spit or whatever disrespect to the face of the Raiders.
The point is, Antonio Brown was never a Raiders and he needs to stop pretending he was. He should donate whatever free gear he has left from the team last year. Each time he wears it, he is disrespecting the greatness of all the people who wear that iconic symbol every Saturday for decades.
For what it is worth, Randy Moss actually played a few seasons as a Raider. We all remember him saying he wasn’t a Raider before Monday night. Guys like Warren Sapp have had their beef with the fanbase. Many will take a big contract from the team and not talk about their time their even when they do get into Canton. It’s all good though, those guys earned that right having actually worn the Silver and Black. All those guys are more Raiders than A.B. ever was.
Either way, Antonio Brown shouldn’t be wearing Raiders gear. I know it’s just a hat or just fashion but he’s excommunicated from the fraternity of Raiders for sure. So please don’t comment once a Raiders, always a Raiders on the next troll pic Brown posts anywhere near the elements of the Raiders brand.
17 Games
Everybody wants to talk about 17 games as the NFL and NFLPA workout a new contract. That’s cool and all but the two-sides should stop playing and workout a deal for 18-games. We all know that’s what the NFL Owners want, more revenue. They’re gonna keep pushing towards a longer season.
The Players mine as well concede now before we have to change the record books again in ten years. It’s hard enough to add one game to the regular season. That’s why they haven’t messed with the schedules in decades. Thus, if you break what isn’t broken mine as well do it all the way.
The same thing goes for the preseason, the fourth game was already joke. The NFL makes players pay a regular gate price for a game that is usually reserved for the backups. That’s an easy game to cut or get rid of in an effort to concede the preseason in favor of more postseason action and an extra regular season week.
Again, coaches like Sean McVay and teams like the Rams already proved you don’t need any preseason action to begin with. So if you’re gonna change the preseason format that has been intact for a while mine as well cut it in half or get rid of it entirely. That’s what we actually want yet cutting one game just feels like easy and half-ass appeasement again.
Moreover, the new CBA as constructed would also add two more playoff teams total and one more game on each side of the bracket. If the goal is to add more playoff games and team, why don’t they actually do that by extending the field to 8 teams from each conference versus 6 like it is now or 7 under the new CBA.
All seven postseason seeds does is penalize the seven seed. Half of the drama about the division playoffs comes from two teams having a bye facing two teams who did not have a bye. Which team is healthier, hotter and more focused?
Usually it’s the divisional team off the bye. Now, that reward is reserved for only the best team from either conference. The NFL is literally creating a oligopoly each year with one team and everyone else fighting each other.
So again if the goal is to add more playoff teams and games, they should just do that by adding two more teams to the field and doing away with bye weeks period. That’s the winner take all postseason we actually want to see. Move us there instead of making us wait two decades and/or CBA negotiations in the process.
More Raiders Notes on the CBA
Never going to knock anything that might give current Raiders more and pension options or anything that would increase health and pension benefits for former Raiders period.
Lord knows, there are many prominent and lesser known players who gave their heads and bodies for the brand of football the Raiders have always played. Anything that helps them is good for the game of football and the brand of the NFL.
Moreover, there are expected revisions to how the league tests for THC and punishes people caught with the weed ingredient in their drug tests. Let’s not pretend that a team who has played in Cannabis capitals like the Bay and Los Angeles hasn’t had it’s fair share of closet smokers. I’m sure that will continue in Vegas which is gaining its own legal seen so again this is something could benefit for the Raiders.
Not to mention, the added details on players data is going to be good for players and teams. There’s a lot of uncertainty around that as wearables and analytics integrate into teams. The last thing we want is any MLB situation so hopefully players and teams will get educated on these fields. Although I’m not sure how the money splits.
There should also be some added language about gambling and gambling sponsorships since sports betting is league in a few states and Nevada now hosts an NFL team. I haven’t yet seen anything about that in reports around the CBA but there could be some since it might still get revised.