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Oakland Raiders' two-point play may be turning point to relevance

By Ira Miller, The Sports Xchange
Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) looks up at the scoreboard during play against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans September 11, 2016. Photo by AJ Sisco/UPI
1 of 3 | Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) looks up at the scoreboard during play against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans September 11, 2016. Photo by AJ Sisco/UPI | License Photo

The Oakland Raiders never have been considered a trend-setter in the NFL. That may be about to change.

Oakland's history always has been about going its own way. The Raiders did not belong to a scouting group. They were frequently the "1" in 31-1 votes among the teams on NFL issues. They emphasized the long ball in an NFL era that could be summarized as "dink-and-dunk."

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Al Davis, the Raiders' late boss, was best known for his "just win, baby," comment, but the Raiders' football philosophy could best have been summed up by another of Davis' favorite sayings.

In an era when we often heard people talk about team offenses that took what the defense gave them, Davis used to say, "We don't take what the defense gives us; we take whatever the hell we want."

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Well, they took what they wanted in the season opener at New Orleans and don't be surprised a few years from now if we all look back on that moment as a significant turning point in the NFL's power hierarchy.

Teams just don't go for two to win at the end of a game when by kicking the extra point they'll go to overtime. Coaches are too conservative and also too concerned about the criticism they would get if the two-point play fails and they lose. Kicking the point is the safe way.

Jack Del Rio apparently is done with safe.

The two-point play that won the opener for the Raiders was not just a game-winner. It was a message to the entire NFL. The Raiders are back. These are not your "same, old Raiders" that have been wandering in the wilderness since Davis fired Jon Gruden a decade and a half ago.

But in making the transition from the league's bottom rung to its top echelon, the Raiders have demonstrated something they rarely did when Davis was alive.

Patience.

Al's son, Mark Davis, now runs the team. Unlike Al, Mark is not a football lifer, not in the sense of a coach, scout, team executive, someone whose entire being was wrapped up in the game. And, because of that, he is more open than Al ever was -- and much, more patient.

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In his later years, Al Davis resisted advice. He already knew everything he ever wanted to know, and no one could point him in another direction, which is one reason he got rid of Gruden, who was the team's best coach in the last quarter-century.

Al died late in 2011. Three months later, Mark named Reggie McKenzie as the team's general manager. McKenzie is now well into his fifth year running the franchise, an eternity in the Raiders' old days. Mark Davis knew he did not know enough football to run the team and he delegated, something that was anathema to Al. The Raiders have not had a winning season since 2002, but last year, the first under Del Rio, they went 7-9 and now they appear poised to become winners.

And while Mark Davis never will be known as a football genius, like Al, he was smart enough to know what he didn't know, and that's why he consulted people like Hall of Famers (and ex-Raiders) John Madden and Ron Wolf upon taking over the franchise.

Wolf suggested McKenzie, who worked for him in Green Bay.

Now, to get back to that Al Davis philosophy -- take what you want, not what the defense gives you -- he got that idea growing up in Brooklyn where the Branch Rickey Brooklyn Dodgers used to drive opponents to distraction by stealing bases. Translated to football, that meant speed, speed and more speed, and it explained Al Davis' fascination with fast players and deep passers. He wanted opponents to have to defend the whole field against the Raiders, which went against the NFL's trend toward zone defenses and short passes.

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That philosophy now has come full circle with Del Rio's decision in the opener to play for the win instead of for overtime, even as the talking heads on television criticized him -- even after his success -- for eschewing the higher-percentage play.

Well, here's the thing.

A year or two years from now, or maybe even later this season, we all will look back on that two-point conversion as the play that made the Raiders relevant again. It is amazing how, frequently, we can look back on a single play as the moment that changed a season or a team's history.

Across the Bay from Oakland, the 49ers still revere "The Catch," the Dwight Clark touchdown that helped the 49ers win their first NFC championship and ignited a dynasty that led to five Super Bowl victories. And it was also in San Francisco where the New York Giants, trailing the 49ers, 17-0, began a comeback in a 1986 game when Mark Bavaro caught a pass and dragged seven 49ers' defenders along with him for a 31-yard gain. It's still considered the best play in Giants' history, led to a 21-17 victory, and ignited a Super Bowl run.

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Not saying the Raiders are Super Bowl bound. Not yet. But it may not be that far off, and when it does happen, they'll still be talking about that two-point conversion.

Ira Miller is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the National Football League for more than five decades and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He is a national columnist for The Sports Xchange.

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