Top 10 Oakland Raiders Quarterbacks of All-Time
4. Rich Gannon, 1999-2004
W-L Record: 49-32
Playoff W-L Record: 4-3
Passing Stats: 17,585 yards, 62.6% completion rate, 114 TD’s, 50 INT’s
Rich Gannon is far and away the best Raider quarterback since the team returned to Oakland in 1995, and indeed the best Raider quarterback in the last 30 years, and I doubt that is much in dispute among Raider fans or anyone who is familiar with the team’s history. Rich Gannon was the last Raider quarterback to lead the team to the playoffs, lead the team to a playoff win, and lead the team to a conference title, and the quarterback of the last Raider team to play in a Super Bowl. He is also the last Raider quarterback to be named an NFL MVP or appear in a Pro Bowl. He is the Raider quarterback fans have all pined for as the Raiders have struggled for the last 12 years.
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Gannon of course was not a lifelong Raider, spending over a decade in the NFL before arriving in Oakland. He started his career in Minnesota, made a one-year stop in Washington, and then spent four years with the rival Chiefs before becoming Jon Gruden’s starting QB at the age of 33. But like many a journeyman player, he played his best football in Silver & Black. In 74 career starts with the Raiders over six seasons, he managed to compile enough passing yards to be second all-time in Raider history behind only Ken Stabler. He threw enough touchdowns to be in third place behind only Stabler and Daryle Lamonica. He threw only 50 interceptions: a 2% interception rate that is on par with Jeff George and Derek Carr in Raider history. He had a 4-3 record as a starter in playoff games. He started all 64 regular season games and all seven playoff games over his first four years as a Raider, was named to four consecutive Pro Bowls, was a two-time first team All-Pro, and was the MVP of the NFL in 2002.
Gannon led the Raiders through their last great period, and in doing so managed incredible statistical achievement while leading Jon Gruden and Bill Callahan’s exotic version of the West Coast offense – getting away from the vertical game that Al Davis was so keen on. Despite his amazing accomplishments, he really only had a four-year run with the Raiders: his last two years in Oakland he started only 10 games of which the team only won four. He never won a league championship with the Raiders, falling short in his one Super Bowl appearance, and thus can’t quite qualify for the top three signal-callers in the history of the Silver and Black.