Quick review: Worst Loss in all Raider history was XXXVII. Next was the 68 AFL Title, vs the Jets. Then, the 69 Title, vs KC. #4 was the 74 Title, vs PT, a week after S of H's. #5 was the Snow Job.

6. Week 13, 1986, vs PH, in LA, the Death of the Dynasty, the only regular season game to crack the top 10. Marcus' fumble in OT, just trying to move the hash for Bahr, returned by infamously SS Andre Waters all the way to our 1, tackled bravely, vainly by hustling Dokie Williams. A wild game. We sacked Cunningham 10 times, 3 by Pickel. 36 year old Plunk got dumped a half dozen, 3 by Reggie White. Jessie Hester caught 2 TD bombs, dropped a 3rd, had a 4th brought back. Cunningham threw 3 scorers to mercurial size/speed WR Mike Quick. PR TD each side, Fulton Walker and Greg Garrity. One snap before Bahr forced OT, Dokie caught a ball, R side endzone, belly outta bounds, legs in. We were 51-18 the last 4.5 years coming into this franchise changing affair, 13-26 after, til Shell took over in the 5th game of 89. Marcus LOST 5 more fumbles the last 3 games to close the year. 1986 is when The Feud with Al began. The week after Marcus' fumble in OT vs PH, just trying to move the hash, we were completely routed, 0-37 in SE, SNF, as embarrassing as 3-51 in BF in 90. We just folded. Missed postseason the rest of the decade.

7. Inaccurate Deception, 1972, in PT. TE Bob Moore got his head cracked open by a PT mob the nite before, there he is on the sideline, head all bandaged. A game as defensive, approaching 0-0, as any we've ever played. Like Al vs Stram, La Brea ball. 2 Gerela FG's, it was 0-6. Lamonica had the flu, stunk. Madden inserted Stabler, about 2:00 to go. Exactly 70 yards. Vs Curtain! Short, slow spirals to Chester, Siani, Stickum. To the 30. Stabler back, has time, backpedaling L, looking. Sees a lane. Takes off. Running room, to the 20. D's backs turned, to the 10. Hippie hair bouncing out the back his hat, the 5. Lunging, that Homer Simpson physique---TD! Holy Toledo! Cliffy, excited on the sideline, jumps vertical, hi as he can, violently thrusting his hi, happy knees to his chin. The Deception came 4th and 10, PT's 40 yard line, :05 on the clock. Those DL's you see hitting, harrying, harrasing Bradshaw, driving him backwarads, are Horace Jones, Thoms and Cline. We'd'a had to play the Undepheated Phish next, on the road, tall order, as the 73 Title showed. Still, in week 3 of 73, Madden stopped Shula's streak a game short, 12-7, at Cal, Berkeley, a Stram-ball rout, which was 12-0 late, on 4 Already Old FG's, and AFC player of the week performances from LB's Villipiano, Conners and Irons.

8. Lytle Fumble, 1977 AFC Tile, in DN. A week after G to the P. We were defending Champs. Tatum forced it, Mike McCoy recovered and was off and running. Still, we had our chances. In the long run, no answer for Crush, which was too good, even before Freddy got knocked out, Stickum's last game as starter. Crush stopped CD wide, which had so done-in MN the year before. Our O became Ghost, nought else. The superb blocking TE caught 5 TD's in his superlative 77 postseason. Extremely underrated vet WR Haven Moses burned Angry for 2 TD's, a long one, exploiting Skip Thomas (Death's last game), and a shorter one, beating rookie Lester, who rotated by series all game. TD passes to Moses from gimp kneed, cannon armed Craig Morton. At game's end, we couldn't move the ball. Then, the last 3:00, D couldn't stop the likes of Lonnie Perrin, who repeatedly ran Tooz's side. We'd'a given Landry a far better SB, I've always felt. Now, this mismatch vs Crush was all foreshadowed in week 5 of that year, 77, when Snake at home threw 7 int's vs Gradishar and his Orange friends (only one QB one time has thrown more than 7, Pat Harder in 1950 who tossed 8). That 7 int game is also the day DN's vet K'er Jim Turner caught a TD bomb from Norris Weese outta FG formation.

9. 1985, Div Round loss to NE, in LA. The 85 Raiders were in most phases the best team we ever had. Marcus was NFL MVP, 1759 yards rushing. Plus: Hayes and Haynes on the corners. Plus: Long, Alzado, Sean Jones, Townsend, Pickel up front. Plus: Marin and Millen, still effective, and super underrated stud SS Mike Davis, and his partner, young, ball hawking, nose-for-the-ball (but small) FS Van McElroy. Plus: Fulton Walker, 692 PR yards, new NFL Record, net, in only 12 games! Huge game turner, week after week contributing a big PR, in 1985. Plus: Guy's best year, at least placement wise, by far, dramatically hitting those coffin corner anglers, never a poocher, which had for a decade resulted in so many TB's, so many hi-arm-waving ref walk-outs to the 19, or so. Really, I remember. The 85 Raiders had it all. Marcus was wind. It's the year we switched to I, USC football, abandoning Split Backs, the formation of Noll, Landry, Shula, Madden, the lineup that WAS football from Lombardi's time, which so many modern fans, very sadly, have no appreciation of. But Lombardi's run O had completely different intentions, performed totally different tasks. Yes, the 85 Raiders were complete. Except---for Marc Wilson and his woeful WR's, Dokie and Jessie Hester. Which trio were the reasons we went to I in the first place, to hide those guys. The Feud began the next year when Al switched back, which Marcus didn't like. We went 12-4 in 85, top cede, when the Pats came here after our bye. We just showed up flat. Walker fumbled a P, which became a fast NE 6. And Sam Seale lost the H2 KO, recovered in our endzone by the same ST no-name who fell on the P. Wilson threw 3 picks, 2 of which Dokie failed even to try to break up. Oldsters will also recall Wilson's famous TO followed by a TO followed by a sack. Remember, Ditka/Ryan stood at the end of 85's road.

10. 1982, round 2 loss to NY, in LA. 82 was Strike Shortened, we were top cede, 8-1. Marcus was a rookie, already our best player. Long and Alzado first year starters. As was TC. We just showed up flat. Scatback Freeman McNeil outrushed #32. It was close. We opened Q3 thus---3 straight sacks (Alzado, Stork, Ruben Vaughn), followed by the Molester's block of a P, followed by a 50 yard TD, Plunk to Malcom Barnwell, 25 yard cross, R to L, came free, one of Barnwell's few real contributions to our story. But in Q4, Wes Walker barely beat bust 1981 #1 Ted Watts, wearing a cast on a wrist, a bomb inside the 10, setting up NY's winning points. In the last 2:00: LB Lance Mehl int'd Plunk, trying to force one in to Cliffy. Then, ex Jet Burgess Owens smacked a fumble from Freeman, which Stork coulda swooped and gone but fell on it instead. And LB Lance Mehl int'd Plunk again, trying to force one in to Cliffy. Devastating. The Killer B's woulda had to come to LA had we beat the underdog Jets. After that, the Redskins, Smurfs, Hogs and Riggo.

Professor Eyepatch