Raiders hire Art Shell as HC

[MaineDolFan]

It's pathetic and wrong that Art Shell hasn't been coaching.  He should have been a lot of teams first choice.  You'll see an immediate improvement with the Raiders.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

I honestly don't have strong enough feelings about our ugly cousins on the other side of the Bay ro wager anything on it...besides, after the 400 poop bets that everyone made after I resurrected the ancient wager makes me think it was best left in the ground.

I will be gravedigging this thread though...because Shell will flop like a big old flounder this time around. Al Davis has zero patience for HC's who don't win immediately, and Shell will get ousted before he has any real chance to win in the NFL's toughest division.

NFL's toughest division???  I beg to differ.  Last I saw, the AFC East was the toughest all around.  Don't hang it up just because the Bills and Jets finished with sorry records this year. 

[Sunstroke]

NFL's toughest division??? I beg to differ. Last I saw, the AFC East was the toughest all around. Don't hang it up just because the Bills and Jets finished with sorry records this year.

Denver, Kansas City and San Diego make the AFC West the toughest conference in the NFL "right now." The Jets suck, the Bills suck and the AFC East is second as far as divisional brutality goes.

[Dave Gray]

NFL's toughest division??? I beg to differ. Last I saw, the AFC East was the toughest all around. Don't hang it up just because the Bills and Jets finished with sorry records this year.

Dude...you're nuts.  We had one playoff team.  The Bills sucked, the Jets sucked, the Pats were disappointing, and we overachieved, but missed the playoffs.

[Spider-Dan]

I'd actually say that the AFC North was better, too.

CLE/BAL were better than NYJ/BUF.
CIN/PIT were better than MIA/NE.

In fact, if you want to look at total division records:

AFCW 37-29
NFCE 37-30
AFCN 38-31
NFCS 35-33
AFCS 32-34
NFCW 30-37
NFCN 29-36
AFCE 28-36

Maybe we've had a good division in the past, but certainly not this year.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Dude...you're nuts.  We had one playoff team.  The Bills sucked, the Jets sucked, the Pats were disappointing, and we overachieved, but missed the playoffs.

You're talking about only this year though.  I'm talking about the past 8 years.

Maybe we've had a good division in the past, but certainly not this year.

I agree.  But you've got to look at things over an elongated period of time, not just this year. 

[Dave Gray]

I see, Tommy.

I agree that we were the best division from top to bottom for a few years, there.

[Sunstroke]

I agree that we were the best division from top to bottom for a few years, there.

It's not even a question any more...the AFC West is the toughest division in football NOW. It was last season and it sure looks like it will be this coming season as well. I can't argue with Spider's pimping the NFC North, and I'd say that "right now," the NFC East is tougher than the AFC East, overall as well.

Over the last 6-7 years, I won't argue with the AFC East being the toughest...but not any more.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

...besides, after the 400 poop bets that everyone made after I resurrected the ancient wager makes me think it was best left in the ground.

What's so bad about that???  Poop bets are what made the end of the season extremely interesting.  There is nothing wrong with several poop bets going on at once.