The main reason the Oakland Raiders stocked their roster with older, quality veterans was to get to the Super Bowl. The second reason was that those veterans would know how to deal with Super Bowl week when the Raiders got there.
More experienced teams than the Raiders have been knocked off kilter by the dizzying crush of media, fans, family, friends and celebrity that accompanies Super Bowls. But after Sunday’s win over the Tennessee Titans in the AFC championship game, the Raiders’ locker room was notable for a lack of wild excitement, perhaps the best indication yet of what a glittering array of seniors means to Oakland.
“We’re not going to lose sight of why we’re here and what we’re trying to accomplish,” quarterback Rich Gannon said.
At 37, Gannon is heading to his first Super Bowl. His closest calls were conference finals with Minnesota in 1987 and Oakland in 2000.
The presence of an over-the-hill gang won’t help young players get motivated and emotionally charged for the game. In fact, the opposite is true. Avoiding jitters is the more difficult task for the players. The message they’ll hear all week is that life goes on outside of and after the Super Bowl.
“We played in 1995 [for Pittsburgh] and lost to Dallas and I went back to the hotel and went to sleep,” safety Rod Woodson said. “I didn’t lose sleep for four or five weeks. That’s reality. Someone has to win and someone has to lose. It takes a professional to lose with dignity.”
The Silver and Black added tints of gray to offense, defense and special teams, providing leaders in every area. Besides Gannon, who has started games for Minnesota, Washington, Kansas City and Oakland in his 14 seasons, they brought wide receiver Jerry Rice across the bay from San Francisco to go with 14-year veteran Tim Brown and mentor speed receiver Jerry Porter. Porter started 14 games for the Raiders and had 51 catches and nine touchdowns–as many as Rice (7) and Brown (2) combined.
Trace Armstrong, Sam Adams, Bill Romanowski and Woodson were signed over the last two seasons. They fit in with the rest of the locker room and with each other.
“It’s not just having veteran guys, it’s the guys you bring in,” said Armstrong, 37, on injured reserve with a ruptured groin. “The wrong guys can tear a team apart off the field. There has to be a fit with the type of people you bring together.”
Not only were the oldsters generally solid citizens, they could all play.
“The speed diminishes because I’m older,” Woodson acknowledged. “But the game is played at angles. If I can cut a guy off and get to the reception point, even though he runs a 4.2 [40-yard dash], I’m going to get there a little faster because my angle’s better.”
Owner Al Davis went after veterans who were successful elsewhere as well as ones who truly wanted to be Raiders.
“At the end of my time in Denver, I wanted to be a Raider,” said Romanowski, who won two Super Bowls with the rival Broncos.
“I knew I was going to be an Oakland Raider. It was just a feeling I had.”
Super Raiders
The Raiders, through free agency, acquired not only veteran help but veterans with Super Bowl experience on their NFL resumes.
PLAYER, POSITION AGE SUPER BOWL WITH
Sam Adams, DT 29 Baltimore
Anthony Dorsett, DB 29 Tennessee
Darrien Gordon, DB 32 San Diego
John Parrella, DT 33 Buffalo, San Diego
Jerry Rice, WR 40 San Francisco
Bill Romanowski, LB 36 San Francisco, Denver
Rod Woodson, DB 37 Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Baltimore
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