Drought in Bay Area

With the water and budget droughts troubling the Bay Area, some may find solace in the hope of an end to the football drought. Both formerly esteemed NFL franchises of the Bay Area, the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders, have been wallowing in failure since 2002. Seven years ago the Oakland Raiders lost in Super Bowl XXXVII and the 49ers were defeated in the Divisional (2nd) Round. Is this finally the year where the Raiders and/or 49ers post a winning record on the way to the playoffs?

If the debate were which team has been worse since 2002 , the nod goes to Oakland whose highest win total since 2002 has been five. The Niners aren't significantly better with seven games being the most they have won since '02. It is far more probable that San Francisco will achieve a winning record in the upcoming season. Returning after a mediocore 7-9 campagin which saw the 49ers win four of their last five games, the expectations for '09 are to be a winning team. Head Coach Mike Singletary is entering his first full season as Coach and has the bar for success set high. With the 49ers buying in to their coach's philosophy and system look for them to post a winning record this year. However, there are many question marks on this team and it will require more than a strong willed head coach to answer them. The major question mark shadowing above this team's success is how effective can Quarterback Shaun Hill be this year? Although Hill has a winning record as a stater (5-3) he is still unproven and inexperienced in his new role as a full season starter.

The 49ers are also going to need a strong defense to be successful this season, as they look to 2007's Defensive Rookie of the Year (Patrick Willis) to anchor the defensive effort. Willis is entering his third year in the NFL and has already been elected to two Pro Bowls. Recording 315 tackles in two years (including 18 in one game) to establish himself as the dominant young Linebacker of the NFL. If the Niners can play tough defense, run the ball with Frank Gore, and get solid Quarterback play they will win between nine and eleven games. All of these facets of the game will be required as San Francisco has a very difficult schedule which pairs them against the NFC Super Bowl representative Arizona Cardinals twice. Also along the road they will twice face a rejuvenated Seahawks team and several playoff teams from the 2008 season. Teams who made last year's playoffs including the Colts, Titans, Eagles, Falcons, and Vikings will play against the Niners. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Bay the Raiders face a far more challenging road ahead of themselves.

The Oakland Raiders have compiled the worst record in the NFL over the last six seasons. On the way to this abysmal 24-72 record, the Raiders have blown through five head coaches and five Quarterbacks. Eighty year old owner Al Davis seems in utter denial of the fact that his team has won 33% of their 96 games since the Super Bowl appearance in 2002. In 2007 Davis said that he will not retire until the Raiders win two more NFL Championships. Every team's goal should be to win the Super Bowl, but the Raiders need to learn to crawl before than can walk again. The focus for a team that has been this terrible in recent years needs to be on winning more games than you lose. To even consider the Raiders a playoff team is a wild prediction, let alone Super Bowl contenders. If they were to improve on their 2008 season mark of 5-11, the Raiders would need to answer many challenges. The biggest concern for the Raiders has to be the starting Quarterback position. With the first overall pick in the 2007 draft Oakland selected QB JaMarcus Russell to be the future of the franchise. After a contract dispute and long hold out Russell appeared in four games that year throwing two touchdowns and four interceptions. In 2007 he started 15 games and showed some signs of progress with a 13-8 touchdown to interception ratio, but this improvement did little to help the Raiders weak offense. This team will go where JaMarcus can take them, which is unfortunately not very far. The back up QB is thirty nine year old Jeff Garcia who gives the Raiders a much better chance to win. If Russell struggles don't be surprised to see the four time Pro Bowl Garcia get behind the wheel.

Garcia has taken three different teams to the Postseason, and gives you a veteran presence at the Quarterback position. Garcia joins the Raiders with 26 career rushing touchdowns and a 4.6 yards per carry average maing him a legitimate threat to run as well as pass the football. Now the only question is how much does Jeff Garcia have left in the tank? Can he stay healthy at age 39? The advantage of Russell is his immense size and arm strength compared to Garcia who is not known for a strong arm, but more so his competitive fire, mobility, and leadership. The Raiders will need to solve their Quarterback controversy before anything else can be determined. The lack of a passing game has been the major failing point for this team over the last 6 years, and without it the Raiders will not win more than five games again.

On defense they have the best Cornerback in the NFL, (Nnamdi Asomugha) a strong linebacking corp led by Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard, and a solid Defensive line headed by newly acquired Greg Ellis. Oakland's best skill on offense is the ability to run the ball, which believe it or not they can and will do. With 2007's 1,000 yard rusher Justin Fargas and speedster Darren McFadden the Raiders have a dymanic running attack which they can and will employ this season. Unfortunately for the Raiders their passing game is so miserable that their defense is always on the field getting tired and exposed. Then on offense opposing teams load up against the run because they are not convinced they need to fear a pass play. It all comes down the fact whether or not the young unproven receiving corp can meld with an emerging star in JaMarcus Russell, or join Jeff Garcia for an improbable run in the winter of his career. The chances of Russell living up to his number one draft pick name or Garcia finding the fountain of youth are low. If anyone ends the winning football drought in the Bay Area it will be the 49ers.