Everyone pulled together around Mark Davis, Al's son, in honor of his father's single-minded pursuit: a Super Bowl. "Everyone just wanted to finish the job he started," Mark Davis said. "I think maybe he even pushed himself too hard after the stroke to get it."
While everyone did pull around the Davis family, the Raiders' success in 2007 can be directly correlated to two men: Calvin Johnson and David Carr. Carr was only barely more protected than he was in Houston, despite Carr's famous claim after the second preseason game in Oakland that any Powder Puff offensive line would have held the pocket better than the Texans' o-line unit.
However, he gained confidence in the pocket from Calvin Johnson, who looked like the second coming of Michael Irvin with his ability to catch any ball thrown near him. The Raiders offense exploded, dragging the rest of the team to a 9-7 record and an unexpected playoff berth.
From there, Johnson shone even brighter, culminating in an AFC Championship game performance in Denver (187 yds, 4 TDs) that was all the more impressive because of the groin pull he incurred in the second quarter. Unfortunately for Johnson, the injury turned him into a spectator-in-pads for Super Bowl XLII. "That was tough. It was just a bad time," Johnson sighed.
Since then, the Raiders have gone 9-7, 4-12, 8-8. However, Johnson's career has only gone up. He has never achieved less than 1,200 receiving yards in any year. He nearly pulled off the receiving TD record in 2009 with a 5 TD day in the last game of the season.
Carr and Johnson have become inseparable both on and off the field. Their impromptu version of "Ebony and Ivory" on the plane to New York in 2009 was the most popular video on Joost for three weeks.
They'll be even more marketable, of course, when the franchise continues its yo-yo trip through California, becoming the Los Angeles Raiders yet again in 2012. Davis' passing likely removed the final emotional obstacle to re-opening the Los Angeles market for the Raiders.
"Oh, yeah," Johnson beamed. "I love the fans in Oakland, man. This city is great. Still, man... L.A."
Read Matt Sussman's "Calvin Johnson The Bust"
Article comments
1 - pst78
This seemed to be way more about Al Davis than Calvin Johnson, maybe it should be retitled as AL Davis's eulogy.