It's not a perception; it's the reality.
I'm confident in the ability of a lot of the Raiders, and think things COULD be great, but I'm a realist. Sometimes, when you grow up, you look at things differently.
I have NEVER knocked MY TEAM; my main beef is with the front office and AL DAVIS. Times have changed; the mindset of those in charge hasn't. You can't just trade for Moss and expect him to sprint down the field and catch every ball, and no team is going to figure out what's going on. You can't pay STARTERS money for a decent back-up (Jordan), and you cannot put a FULL LINE of AVERAGE players on the offensive line.
The talent, in most positions, is there. The WR's are stacked. QB should be pretty good; not great, but good enough until Jamarcus Russell is ready. RB is a lot better with Rhodes coming in and Bush hopefully will do what I feel he can do. TE is suspect, but could be a surprise.
Defense is better than expected, and shouldn't have much to worry about except possibly in the secondary, but that's to be seen.
I look at teams like the Patriots and Broncos, and even with a solid team, they're bringing in more talent. The Raiders (AL DAVIS) has consistantly proven to be 'stuck in the past'...and that's why coaches like Joe Gibbs can't make it, even with the talent around them. HE TOO, was/is stuck in the past, and with the talent on THAT TEAM (Washington), he's underachieved.
I've been a Raiders fan all my life (24 years) and never have I traded to a different team, never have I wanted to like another team. I've been a Raider through ups and down, good and bad, and that's how it'll always be.
Just because I don't live in fantasy land and have such stupid high hopes and false expectations doesn't make me less of a fan than tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb up there ^^^^.
I BELIEVE in my TEAM; I don't believe in the brass.
SIDENOTE: I also am not sold on Lane Kiffen...great mind, great COLLEGE ASSISSTANT coach, but this is the NFL...hope for the best, because I know he can do it, but he can't come in and expect to win all the time like at USC.