The Raiders have been on the wrong end of the two most argued-about plays in playoff history, and somehow that fits them. The Immaculate Reception in 1972 went against them. The Tuck Rule in January 2002 went against them, the snowy night that launched the Patriots and buried Oakland. If there is a controversial call in a January game, the silver and black are usually standing on the losing side of it, glaring.

The dynasty years

It was not all grievance. The Raiders won three Super Bowls across the 1970s and 1980s, a franchise of brawlers and outlaws who were genuinely great in January for a long stretch. There was the Sea of Hands win over Miami, the Holy Roller, a whole catalog of wild postseason theater. For a couple of decades they were one of the most dangerous January teams alive.

The long wandering

Lately it has been lean. The franchise has moved from Oakland to Los Angeles to Oakland again to Las Vegas, and the January appearances have grown rare, the most recent a wild-card exit a few seasons back. The lore is enormous. The recent postseason record is thin.

Three trophies, a stack of the strangest plays the playoffs have produced, and a current drought that does not match the history. Raiders fans, your franchise authored January chaos and absorbed it in equal measure. Nobody wears the grievances better. The trophies are real, and so is the wait for the next deep run.