Worst. Team. Ever?

Okay, there's a bunch of other 0-2 teams and the Bucs' offense has looked just as God-awful. Well, this is where context grabs a crown and becomes king. All of this could be explained away if say the Raiders hired some young genius with a brand new system and program that's taking a few weeks to take hold. Instead, we have a team with a couple over-the-hill has-beens who were never that good anyways installing an antiquated system and program that who knows when it will take hold. In what will be one of the most heard punch lines of the NFL season, the Raiders offensive coordinator was last seen running a Bed & Breakfast in Idaho. These are the things that do not install confidence. Especially when the most notable aspect of the Offensive game plan is an antiquated maneuver that was obvious to everyone from the get-go as not workable.

But it's not just that. The starting QB, a QB never known to be that great to begin with, is injured. Jerry Porter is being benched due to insubordination and was seen laughing on the sidelines in last Monday's blow out. When the Ravens got their safety, the Raiders center was seen falling completely backwards and sitting on his ass while Walters ran for his life. And while Randy Moss has only made a few enigmatic quotes about what was going on, he's got major crack-up potential. This is not the stuff of Superbowl contenders.

And then there's Art Shell, a proud, proud man and consummate professional who is slowly turning into comedy gold. Does his expression change? What's he writing in his notebook? What is he listening to over his headphones? Is he even paying attention?

We are talking the Raiders here, a team that goes down and goes down in all sorts of flames. They mutinied against Joe Bugel and they mutinied against Bill Callahan. There were rumblings of mutiny under Norv's regime, but it never quite happened. Hell, even their last great moment, their Superbowl appearance against the Bucs, was a spectacular flame out. They got blown out, they lost to their old coach, and their center was in Tijuana the night before the game. This is what the Raiders do.

Okay, so let's put this in perspective a bit. First off, the Raiders have played two teams that right now are looking like serious Superbowl contenders-- the Chargers and the Ravens. Of course, they could look that good because they played the Raiders, but it should be pretty obvious that both teams are really good. Second of all, it's a long season. Anything could happen over 16 games and there's been teams much, much worse that didn't pull an O-fer. We could be wrong and the NFL history extends for a long, long time, but the only team that failed to win a game all season is the infamous 1976 Bucaneers. Now that was a bad team.

Let's go to the schedule. After a bye week, the Raiders play another 0-2 team, the Browns. The Browns are considered an up-and-coming team but they're still more on the coming than the up. On December 3rd, they play the Texans, a team the 49ers beat up on last year and a team so bad they didn't draft Reggie Bush. There last two games are against the Jets and the Chiefs, two teams that right now are looking like they'll be playing out the string then. Also coming up are two games against the Broncos, another team off to a lousy start and about to have a QB controversy. So in other words, there are still some games left for the Raiders to blow it and win.

And yes, the Raiders do have too much talent to be this bad. Randy Moss is still one of the best receivers in the game and Lamont Jordan one of the upper echelon RBs. Brooks isn't as bad as say the Browns' Charlie Frye or Kerry Collins. So, in other words, we don't think 0-16 will happen. We're thinking more like 3-13.

Which is better than nothing, right?