Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

They’re done. This season is over before it started. The Oakland Raiders are officially rebuilding and in case you didn’t get Miami’s 35-13 memo let me fill you in on where our beloved Silver and Black stand.

This franchise was undergoing a makeover. We knew that. What remained to be seen was what type over overhaul we were talking.

Come to find out this is a Joan Rivers job. Better yet it’s Nick Cage and Travolta in Face Off.  We don’t recognize the face but this team seems very familiar. A little too familiar to all the other underachieving Raider teams we’ve become far too accustomed to in the last decade.

The Raiders once again were massacred in Miami. We should be used to this. If it feels familiar it’s because it happened less than a year ago. Makes you yearn for the days of Daunte Culpepper’s dominance in South Beach.

But that’s ancient history, just like this season. Yes, I am already putting 2012 in the rearview.

I’m not saying the Raiders are going to send Dennis Allen to Rod Marinelli infamy.  For all we know this team could finish with the first winning season since that Super Bowl we do not speak of. That being said, no matter how you slice it this is not a playoff team.

Yep, let’s face the facts. Fact of the matter is less than 15% of the teams that have ever started 0-2 have made the NFL playoffs. This Oakland team doesn’t look anything like a unit that will defy the odds. This Oakland teams looks unprepared. This Oakland team looks uninterested. This Oakland team looks like it’s done.

Stick a fork in it.

Reggie Bush ran all over the supposed new-look Oakland defense and made it look just like the same old Raiders run defense.

Greg Knapp has made Darren McFadden more useless than JaMarcus Russell with a hangover. The preseason is over. Knapp’s offense is officially terrible.

Yes, this season is already over. I’ll be watching every Sunday still. It’s what I’ll always do so long as the Silver and Black play on Sundays. So don’t get it twisted. It’s just that this year I’ll just be watching knowing this team has shut it down to rebuild for the future.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

I know. I know. It’s September. There is no such thing as a must win this early in the NFL season…or is there?

There is if you started the season 0-1. Typically teams that win on opening weekend have a statistically increased chance of making the playoffs.

There is definitely such a thing as a must win in September if you’re the Raiders and after today’s tussle in Miami you take on Pittsburgh, then travel to Denver and later head out to Atlanta.

And there is most certainly an increased sense of urgency when you realize that teams who begin the season 0-2 almost always find themselves watching football on the couch come January.

Today’s showdown in South Beach is as close to a must win as the Raiders will have this season. Let’s not kid ourselves. The Raiders’ season is already showing symptoms of unraveling. An 0-2 start would only add insult to a week filled with injury.

Let’s also not pretend like the Dolphins are among the NFL elite. Obviously this is still a team of professionals. It’s also a team building around a rookie QB in Ryan Tannehill. Last week the Raiders failed to intimidate an inexperienced rookie in Chargers left tackle Mike Harris. Now thy get a chance to show they’re learning from their mistakes.

When it comes to mistakes Dennis Allen made one of the all-time rookie mistakes in his failure to have a backup long snapper ready to go. Let’s hope he’s learned about the importance of details in the NFL.

Let’s also hope Coach Allen can instill a sense of urgency in his team today. All is not lost with an 0-2 start but nothing can be gained by having to play from behind this early in the season. Today could easily determine the difference between playing for pride or the playoffs. Make no mistake. This is a must win scenario and Oakland must know that. Otherwise they must be fooling themselves into thinking time is on their side. It isn’t. Not when only 12% of 0-2 teams make the playoffs. And certainly not when you look at what’s coming up in the schedule.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

On paper it would appear the Raiders landed a pretty manageable schedule for the 2012 season. Manageable only in the sense that they don’t play any back-to-backs on the road until the end of the season. As far as winning any of these games go…well…that’s a completely different story. One quick glance and you’ll notice the names of some pretty prominent NFL franchises. There is still plenty of business to be done before we start getting any idea of what Dennis Allen’s team will be looking like come September or any of the Oakland opposition for that matter.

While the Raiders won’t have to worry about any extended stays on the road they will have to contend with that problem that plagues all of us on the West Coast – adjusting to the three hour time difference when traveling east.

For the first time in franchise history the Raiders will be playing in the Eastern Time zone five times during the regular season. Typically West Coast teams don’t fare well when making the journey back east. So you can already see what type of a challenge Coach Allen is going to be up against.

Those five games are Week 2 in Miami, Week 6 in Atlanta, Week 10 in Baltimore, Week 12 in Cincinnati for Carson Palmer’s revenge game and Week 16 in Carolina.

Even more challenging is that three of those teams were in the playoffs with the other two being equally tough tests. Let’s not forget how the Dolphins did the silver and black last year in Miami and how much more improved the Cam Newton led Panthers might be.

But, again, this is all on paper. For all we know every one of these Eastern opponents could miss the postseason in 2012. For all we know the Raiders could be the best road team in the league in 2012. All we know right now is the Raiders have a full slate of games to get prepped for. We’ll start sweating the details once we have a 53-man roster in place.