Former Raiders lament team's ineptitude

"The autumn wind is a Raider,

Pillaging just for fun.

He'll knock you 'round and upside down,

And laugh when he's conquered and won."

Phil Villapiano gets fired up when he hears "The Autumn Wind," the unofficial anthem of the Oakland Raiders. It's set to stirring music by NFL Films in 1974 for the Raiders' season highlight film. He was a star linebacker in the '70s, when John Madden coached them, Al Davis owned them and the rest of the NFL respected (and maybe hated/feared) them.

Villapiano watched on TV last Sunday as the Raiders lost 41-17 to the Denver Broncos.

"That game, man, it was sickening," says Villapiano, 65, now a sales executive in New Jersey.

Going into Sunday's game at the San Diego Chargers, the Raiders are 0-9 and bound for their 12th consecutive non-winning season.

"I never thought the Raiders could be this team, no matter what," Villapiano says. "I thought 8-8 could be the worst they would ever do. ... But somehow or another they've lost it and they just can't get it back."

Two 8-8 finishes (2010-2011) are the Raiders' best since the 2002 season when they lost in the Super Bowl to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coached by Jon Gruden, who a season earlier coached the Raiders before a pivotal falling out with Davis.

For a Raiders team that has made it to five Super Bowls and won three, the route back to winning isn't clear.

They're again looking for a head coach. They've had seven since 2002, not counting current interim Tony Sparano, elevated after Dennis Allen was fired following a 0-4 start this season.

Oakland's on track to get the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft. But it used the top pick disastrously in 2007 on quarterback Jamarcus Russell.

Davis, who coined the team motto "Just win, baby," died in 2011. The team is in the hands of his son Mark, who declined a USA TODAY Sports request for an interview.

The Raiders' lease at O.co Coliseum is up after this season. If efforts to put together a deal on a new stadium don't materialize, they might be the Los Angeles Raiders again, as they were from 1982 to 1994.

This year's team has a solid rookie group led by quarterback Derek Carr (a second-round draft pick who has started every game) and linebacker Khalil Mack (a first-round pick and star in the making).

"The energy level is like, honestly, like we're 9-0," says Carr, who has thrown for 13 touchdowns with nine interceptions. "Guys are running around and still striving to do whatever they can to make this thing right. ... It's going to happen one of these days, and I'll be excited to be part of it."

Though they lost by 24 last weekend to Denver, the Raiders have kept it close against teams such as the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks and in an earlier October meeting with San Diego.

But Al Davis' motto wasn't "Keep it respectable, baby" when the Raiders were winning three Super Bowls between the 1976 and 1983 seasons with stars such as Ken Stabler, Dave Casper, Cliff Branch, Jim Plunkett and Marcus Allen.

"Winning is what the Raiders are all about, and we want to get back to that status where it's all about winning," Mack said. "And there's no excuses for this or that and all these different things. We have to keep moving forward. You want to be perceived as a violent force and do anything to go get that win.

"And former players like Howie Long and all those guys — you want to uphold that standard and do anything possible for the team to get back that swagger."

Sparano, the former Miami Dolphins coach, buried a football on the practice field when he took over at 0-4. He said it symbolized the first four losses. Oakland's still in a hole.

"Our fans deserve better, our owner deserves better, everybody deserves better, I get it," Sparano said. "The guys that are paying the price are in that locker room, and they have to stay the course."

No end in sight

Gruden was under contract with the Raiders for 2002. Faced with the prospect of losing him with no compensation, Oakland traded him to Tampa Bay for a package that included first-round draft picks in 2002 and 2003 and $8 million.

"He (Gruden) was such a Raider fan. He loved the Raiders so much," Villapiano says. "After he left, something went wrong with the coaches. ... Then the draft picks went wrong. ... They never developed anybody from within, which used to be the old Raider way."

The coaches have included Bill Callahan, Norv Turner, Art Shell, Lane Kiffin, Tom Cable and Hue Jackson.

This was Dennis Allen's third season. The former Broncos defensive coordinator went 4-12 in each of his first two. Former Raiders linebacker Reggie McKenzie has been general manager since 2012.

"In fairness to Reggie and Dennis Allen, they stepped into a hornet's nest," says former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon, the 2002 league MVP and now an analyst with Sirius radio.

"And it's not an easy fix by any stretch. You add to the mix you have a first-time general manager and a first-time head coach, and I don't know that they really understood. ... They didn't understand why the team is struggling, and they didn't know how to fix it."

For this season, the Raiders brought in veteran defenders such as Justin Tuck, Antonio Smith, Carlos Rogers and LaMarr Woodley (out with a torn biceps). They rank 24th in defense.

"And there's no continuity," Gannon says. "(Cornerback) Charles Woodson is their best player on defense, and he's 38 years old. They have a lot of money to spend in free agency, so they signed a bunch of guys they thought would make them better. But they were guys who were kicked to the curb in the cities where they played.

"Then they made mistakes at the quarterback position. They went out and got Matt Flynn a year ago. That doesn't work out, and then you go and get Matt Schaub, and that doesn't work out."

Now what?

John Madden's not coming back. Last week, he predicted to USA TODAY Sports that Gruden won't be leaving the Monday Night Football broadcast booth, either.

Villapiano says the first test of whomever is coach will be to face facts.

He recalls Oakland rosters full of future Hall of Famers.

"It started right at the top with Al Davis and his mentality," Villapiano says. "If you weren't the best, you're out of here. If you missed a tackle, you're out of here. … When you made the team, he was your buddy. … Once you got there, it just kind of shined on the field."

What about Al Davis' role in his later years?

"I hate to ever say anything negative about Al Davis, because he put in so many wonderful, wonderful years," Villapiano says.

But he said Davis ultimately needed help running the football side. "And he didn't get any help," Villapiano says. "He needed another Ron Wolf … another Ken Herock (two former Raider personnel chiefs), great Raider guys that used to help Al Davis do his job.

"You go out to Oakland, those people will be in the parking lot, and they've got all those big, giant Escalades, all silver and black, and then they play that song. Oh my God, to hear it over and over again," he says.

Then come the games.

"The NFL is on such a great roll," Villapiano says.

"I just wish I could love watching my team."

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