The miss heard round Raider Nation. (Photo: YardBarker.com)

Back in 1999, the Oakland Raiders missed the playoffs with a record of 8-8. Of those 8 losses, 4 were decided by three points or less.

Something had to be done.

So, with the 17^th pick of 2000 NFL Draft, Al Davis pulled vintage Davis move. He drafted a kicker…in the first round. Not just any kicker, mind you. Sebastian Janikowski was the man tapped by Bobby Bowden to reverse the wide right trend that had haunted his Florida State Seminoles against their bitter rivals the University of Miami Hurricanes.

The sports world laughed that a team would use a first round pick on a kicker. Al Davis saw a weapon capable of making 8-8 seasons into 12-4 finishes.

Sure enough, the next season the Raiders went to the top of the AFC West. The Silver and Black won 12 games in the regular season before eventually coming up just short in the AFC title game against the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.

Now, nobody is going to argue that the man with the mega leg affectionately known as Seabass was the reason why the Raiders went from mediocre to masterful. But you had better believe that Al Davis got the last laugh once Janikowski started booming kicks that had footballs popping up on radars at local airports. 10 years later, Janikowski became the all-time leading scorer in franchise history, which is really saying something when you consider the long line of men who have proudly worn the Silver and Black and can now can be found in the halls of Canton.

As faithful Raider fans, we’ve seen Seabass drill 57-yard game winners as calmly as chipping in an extra point. We bore witness to perhaps the most amazing kick in NFL history, a 61-yard missile launched in the frigid cold of a Cleveland winter. We’ve even seen the ridiculous 76-yard misfire that Lane Kiffin so arrogantly attempted during his short tenure in the East Bay.

Unfortunately, we’ve also seen Jano miss about as horribly as Matt Millen on draft day.

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