He looked like a prize coming out of college and then getting to be a franchise QB in Cincinatti. I think we got him when he was declining. You never know when a QB declines, whether it's before age 30, around age 30, or if you are very lucky 35-ish. I don't know if I want to take a chance on a 32 year old QB to somehow fall into the groove like a Stabler, Plunkett, or Gannon. I say let's get a great QB from the beginning and have him stay with the team a long time like Favre or Brady. I don't believe in loyalty to a player over the good of a whole team. The Niners did great with Walsh and Siefert because they not only used talent, but kept the team young and put (still) great players out to pasture before they declined. If anything, it was a just in time inventory or first in first out type of thing.
If the Raiders get their D up to par with playing clean and not having so many penalties, then that will go a long way towards getting a better record. I don't fault them on their spirit or sheer aggressiveness since they have that down. It's fine tuning which could take a couple of seasons and as we know no great offense or defense was built overnight.
My ultimate dream is to see Oakland go against SF in the Super Bowl. We had our dream World Series, dampened by the earthquake, so if the stars are lined up right, we could get both Bay Area teams in the Super Bowl. After the Gannon period, Oakland had some rebuilding years, and for a long, long time after Young, SF has been in a constant rebuilding phase. If picks and luck (lack of injuries) line up, then Oakland and SF can make the playoffs together for the next few years.
