I miss Terrell Davis.
I miss his salute, his downfield style and, most of all, his dominance.
Denver Broncos football has seemingly disappeared, and the MVP running back I grew up watching is now a distant memory.
Instead of watching Davis, Clinton Portis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Reuben Droughns or Tatum Bell run over the rest of the league and the Oakland Raiders throughout the last 15 years, I had to watch Darren McFadden return the favor.
Giving up 59 points in an NFL game is nothing short of embarrassing, but giving up 59 points to the Oakland Raiders is like letting a Golden Retriever hit a jump shot (sorry, but Air Bud was a fraud).
This is the same Raider team that scored a total of 197 points in all of 2009-2010.
Fifty-nine points in one game against the Broncos versus 197 points throughout an entire season. It was also the most single-game points scored in the Raiders' 51-year history.
Oakland is much improved, and McFadden has finally proven why he was a top-five draft pick, but it should never happen in a rivalry game, and it especially should never happen in Denver.
There is no room for any excuses.
JaMarcus “he who loves sandwiches” Russell no longer wears the silver and black, and Al Davis may remain in charge, but his ever-sagging turkey neck hasn’t impeded on the team's success in 2010.
This leaves me with two theories to believe in: either the Broncos are dead in the water and second-year head coach Josh McDaniels’ ego can’t be deflated, or the Oakland Raiders are finally ready to dig themselves out of the bottom of the AFC West.
Because I sometimes blindly put my faith into the Broncos organization, I will have to go with the latter. The Raiders are for real.
One shanked field goal from 32 yards out is all that has kept this team from having a winning record heading into the eighth week of the season.
Over 325 rushing yards in Sunday’s game is intimidating, McFadden’s 10.3 yards per carry average in that game is even scarier, and the spiked out Raider fan in row three still looks like he would run me over on a Harley.
Eight painful years (for Raiders fans, not for me) after reaching the Super Bowl, the Oakland Raiders can no longer be laughed at.
No longer are their fans just goofy old men with painted faces. Now they accompany a team that can shove the ball down your throat on Sunday’s.
And no longer is traveling to the Bay Area, well, excluding games in San Francisco, a guaranteed victory for visiting teams.
Oakland hasn’t finished better than third in the division or won more than five games in a season since 2002. But this is looking like the year it all changes.
The AFC West division has seen its leaders rotate between Denver, San Diego and Kansas City, but it might finally include that fourth team.
As for my Broncos, I can only hope that this season finishes with some sort of dignity, or at least a decent game in Oakland on Dec. 19.
I hate to say it, but silver and black is back, and it makes me miss Terrell Davis and the mile high salute that much more.
Reach the columnist at nathan.meacham@asu.edu
