Vertical Limit

When the Raiders were still in Los Angeles, owner Al Davis, whose enemies’ list always included a large number of media types, banned Eric Noland of the Los Angeles Daily News from training camp because of Noland’s honest and incisive coverage.

Told that he would face a media boycott if he persisted in the ban, Davis replied, “Sometimes, you have to take a stand for yourself, your team and your country.”

Your country?

Davis soon relented on his banishment of Noland, but he never lost his view of the Raiders as Raider Nation. For 19 years, he lived in exile, isolated from the Super Bowl, pro football’s world stage.

When employees passed Davis in the hall during the off-season and wished him a good day, he barked back that it wouldn’t be a good day until his team, which has been in four Super Bowls, regained its past glory.

But Davis always seemed worlds apart from the rest of his sport. He feuded with fellow owners, went through coach after coach, stuck to the vertical passing game long after it was passe and favored aging veterans who seemed to wear out as the season wore on

But in Raider Nation, no one dared tell the emperor he wore no clothes.

Finally, in the last few seasons, with Jon Gruden as coach, the Raiders, rearmed and dangerous once again, appeared poised to return to the heights of power. But they always fell a bit short.

At the end of the 2000 season, they were stunned at home by the Baltimore Ravens, 16-3, in the AFC title game. Last season, in a divisional playoff game in the snow at Foxboro, Mass., they lost to the New England Patriots, 16-13, in overtime. Oakland’s window of opportunity slammed shut in a game best remembered for the infamous tuck play involving New England quarterback Tom Brady.

In the off-season, the Raiders, receiving compensation, allowed Gruden to leave for Tampa Bay, then promoted little-known assistant Bill Callahan to the head coaching job and put a team on the field that creaked with age, its top players 36 or older.

Oakland started off 4-0, but then lost its next four games. Had the geezers shown their age already, with the season only half over? Was Raider Nation running up the white flag a little early?

It didn’t look good. Ahead lay a Monday night game in Denver, where the Raiders hadn’t won since 1994, against the Broncos, to whom Oakland had lost seven straight.

Then the Raiders came up with perhaps the single most important play of the season.

In the first quarter, with the Raiders leading, 3-0, Denver took over for the first time and marched to the Oakland four-yard line.

Bronco Coach Mike Shanahan, who’d once coached the Raiders and had been fired by Davis, would have liked nothing better than to deliver the knockout blow to another Oakland season. A fifth loss might have done it.

Instead, Denver quarterback Brian Griese faded back and fired a pass into the hands of 37-year old Raider safety Rod Woodson, who raced 98 yards for a touchdown. From there, 36-year-old Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon took over, throwing three touchdown passes, two to 40-year-old receiver Jerry Rice, as the Raiders rolled to a 34-10 victory.

But it had begun with Woodson.

“That play was just getting in the red zone, reading the quarterback, being in the right situation at the right time,” said Woodson. “It’s catching the opportunities when they come your way as a defensive back. Is that the play that changed the season? I don’t know. If I made that play and, the rest of the game, we [played poorly], what does that do? It was a piece of the puzzle and every play is a piece of the puzzle.”

The rest of the season certainly wasn’t a puzzle to the Raiders. The victory over Denver was their first of seven in the final eight games. That gave them home-field advantage in the playoffs and a first-round bye.

Yes, they were old, but along with age came experience. Having failed to win a Super Bowl ring for so long, the team had bought some rings, eight in all, bringing in Woodson, Rice and linebacker Bill Romanowski. The 36-year-old Romanowski has been a part of four Super Bowl championships, two with the San Francisco 49ers and two with the Broncos. Rice won three times with the 49ers, and Woodson won with the Ravens two years ago, when Baltimore defeated the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV after shutting down the Raiders in Oakland.

With Callahan at the controls and the vertical passing game relegated to the history books, Gannon, at 36, became master of the multidimensional passing game -- long, short, overhand, sidearm, whatever worked. He completed a league-record 418 passes, led all quarterbacks with 4,689 yards passing, threw for more than 300 yards in a record 10 games and was named league MVP. Rice and 36-year-old Tim Brown combined for 173 catches and 2,141 yards.

With Romanowski and Woodson providing leadership, Oakland’s defense was third-best in the league against the rush and 11th overall.

And with a solid performance on the field to back it up, the old Raider swagger had the bite to match its bark.

When the New York Jets went to Oakland for the Raiders’ playoff opener, the Raiders, led by guard Frank Middleton, got in their faces before the game even began, turning the pregame warmup into the first scrimmage. Oakland won easily, 30-10. Hot young quarterback Chad Pennington of the Jets was put in his place and reminded to respect the Raider elders.

Then on Sunday, Oakland eliminated the Tennessee Titans in the AFC championship game, 41-24, removing the final obstacle to Davis’ triumphant return to power.

The flag of Raider Nation again flies at the Super Bowl. The emperor has returned, wearing silver and black.