Ditto (speaking as an Oakland resident but a Charger fan 
)
Looks like the Titans are going to give them a run for their money. I had the game on TV yesterday while doing other things, but I did manage to hear the announcer say at halftime “I think that’s the worst half of football I’ve ever seen in the NFL.”
Sad. I was a big fan during their 70’s/early 80’s heyday, but this is completely beyond the
pale. Al Davis has clearly lost whatever genius brain cells he used to have. Now that I have
a hometown team (Jags) the Raiders’ loss of prestige doesn’t bother me as much as it might,
but it still blows.
Oakland plays Cleveland, Houston and the Jets and has a 50/50 chance of beating each of those teams, so their expected wins stands at 1.50.
At least Oakland still has the Raiderettes, who are always worth watching. Browns and Jets fans don’t have pretty cheerleaders to drool over 
I may have to take this back.
How the hell have we regressed after having had such a good offseason and continuity of coaching?
28 - 6 This week. The over/under for the Raiders first TD of the year is week 5.
The Raiders took some injuries this week. Robert “Turnstyle” Gallery and Brooks both went down. Both injuries would seem to improve the team, however.
The Titans look really bad too, but the Raiders don’t play them this year.
Q: (possibly rhetorical, not sure if there is a definitive answer) Just how big of a dick is Jeff George, that the team would choose to go with the three losers they currently have at QB than add him to the roster?
They have Cleveland (0-2), Houston (0-2), Arizona (1-1), KC (0-2) at home.
Even if they ONLY had a 50-50 chance to win each of those, that puts them at a 1 in 16 chance to go 0-16. They have games with San Fran and St Lou. No great shakes, but when you add it all up, it looks unlikely they can’t pull 1 out. It’s hard – after seeing them play for two weeks – to imagine that they could win 4 though.
I’d worry a lot more about going 0-16 if I were the Texans.
Agree it will be hard- they at least have a decent defense to hold the scores down. The Texans and Titans, on the other hand, look totally inept on both sides of the ball- don’t be fooled by the Texans point total against the Colts!
Assuming they have a 25% chance to win in the Cleveland, Houston, and Jets games and only a 10% chance against everyone else, the chances of them going winless (since there’s only 14 games left) is
P(no wins) = (1-.25)^3 * (1-.10)^(14-3) = 13%
EG, they’d be a 7.5:1 underdog to go 0-16.
The expected number of wins is
Predicted wins = .253 + .10(14-3) = 1.85
So using my model (which is probably a worst case scenario) we predict a 2-14 season for Oakland.
Using a more realistic model (40% against Cleveland, Houston, NY, 20% against anyone else), the probability of 0 wins is
P(no wins) = (1-.40)^3 * (1-.20)^(14-3) = 1.85%
EG, they’d be a 53:1 underdog to go 0-16.
The expected number of wins is
Predicted wins = .403 + .20(14-3) = 3.4
And since Art Shell and Aaron Brooks are collaborating on this, I’ll take the under a make a final prediction for 3-13.
I leave you with a link to Bill Simmons’s column about how horrible Art Shell is. Enjoy!
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If the Niners can go 4-12 last year, the Raiders should get 2 wins this year.
You say “ONLY” as if you were being conservative. You’re not. You’re assuming that they’re not the underdog in any of those games. Their chances to win each of those games is less than 50%, except perhaps the Texans.
I wonder if Moss will dismember Brooks in week four.
Even the saddest teams in recent NFL history have managed to win ONE game. They get very determined and their opponents overlook them, which probably helps. I don’t think the Raiders will do it. By the way, they’re not the only team in the league that hasn’t managed a touchdown so far. Tampa Bay got shut out in week one and put up all of three points in week two. Nobody expects them to go 0-16 because they can play defense, but that’s sad.
Oh man. Sublime.
This is the first time in my 4000+ posting history that I’m making a “spit out coffee need to clean monitor” post. Feel free to look it up.
In Oakland, Raiders sack you!
…no…wait a minute…no they don’t…hm…
I heard all the hype about how LaMont Jordan was going to be a fantasy stud this year now that Art Shell has brought back the old school mentality to Oakland. He was as high as top 10 on many fantasy big boards so I took him in the second round.
I doubt I’ll even play him again this season. It’s SOOOOO worth it though…
Man oh man, I didn’t realize they were THAT bad. The Ravens looked like they were beating a practice squad.
I am pretty sure Oakland could win 6 games. In the CFL. That’s an 18-game schedule, too.
You mean: “In Oakland, Raiders sack themselves!”
They lost to the otherwise winless Browns at home last week and now they got murdered by the pretty bad 49ers.
Go! Go! Go!
Trade Moss for a quarterback, now, and they might win one. It almost makes me cry seeing the best receiver probably ever catching 2 passes for 12 yards. Get this man to someone who can get him the ball!!