What they WON'T say is that the Tuck Rule was correctly applied... and that although they could have changed it at any time, they kept it on the books for another 13 years
That doesn't exactly affirm that the Raiders got "cheated" out of a Super Bowl appearance.
(Despite the Patriots benefiting from a correctly applied rule at the time, I actually think it's best they just got rid of the rule. Though these guys can't agree on what constitutes a catch - so determining what constitutes a fumble was always going to be a challenge for them.)
Well, they DID say that. But for the most part it looked like Raiders fans complaining. You know, that was their
one big chance this millennium, and they fell apart after that play and everything was different and they knew right after that play they
had to lose, it was that important, you know, then that
one play caused Gruden to go to TB and hand their asses to them
again...
The tuck rule play, the gift that keeps on giving. They talked about other times it had been called that season, in the past, in subsequent seasons... but it was still the Raiders' fans POV that they lost because it was a call based on a rule THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE ANYMORE... proof positive that they woulda shoulda coulda won it.
Okay, I can buy it. Now after that play, how did that play cause them to fold the rest of the game? How did it cause Barrett Robbins to skip the SB and party in Tijuana the next year? How were they
forced to send Chuckie to the Bucs?
And what's your excuse(s) since then?
12 is still playing, and didn't win another game, ever, due to the tuck rule. That's just one (correct) call that effed up the lives of Raiders fans, and clearly it turned their self-perception from league-defying bad boys to charity cases in their own minds.
Woulda coulda shoulda and 5 bucks will get you a cup of starbucks.