FanHouse Rich Gannon

Rich Gannon was the MVP of the 2002 NFL season, leading Oakland to an AFC championship and Super Bowl berth. That's where things began to unravel between Gannon and the Raiders, though.

Gannon threw five interceptions in a Super Bowl XXXVII loss to Tampa Bay, then suffered serious injuries in 2003 and 2004. And now the Raiders don't even want him in the same building -- according to the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland team officials have banned Gannon from participating in pregame television production meetings with his CBS crew, a direct violation of NFL policy.

"Rich Gannon is not welcome here," Raiders executive John Herrera told the Chronicle. "We told CBS we did not want him in our building, we did not want him to be part of our production meeting, and that's where it sits."

This should go over well: former NFL quarterback Rich Gannon ranks the NFC East quarterbacks and he thinks Tony Romo is the best of the bunch. It's hard to get worked up about such lists since they have absolutely no bearing on how the season will unfold. But that's not the point, at least for fans of the Eagles, Giants and Redskins.

Anyway, here's what Gannon said on Sirius NFL Radio (via the Dallas Morning News' Todd Archer):

Falcons quarterback -- and 2008 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year -- Matt Ryan is in Tampa for Super Bowl Week, and he took time out from hawking Axe Hair products to talk to FanHouse about preparing for the draft, his breakout rookie season, as well as some thoughts on the Cardinals and the Steelers.

Ryan Wilson: Hey, Matt, thanks for taking time out to talk. First of all, congratulations on Rookie of the Year.

Matt Ryan: I appreciate that, thank you.

RW: Let's just go through a few things here because I know you're busy down there in Tampa, because I guess Axe Hair doesn't sell itself.

This is rich: former Raiders quarterback-turned-CBS-analyst Rich Gannon (HE'S NOT A HATER!) offered some interesting thoughts on the state of the Al Davis All-Stars a few days ahead of the New England-Oakland game, and most of them were about second-year quarterback JaMarcus Russell.

Specifically, he's a little worried about the big guy:

Recently, when former Raiders have spoken out about the current situation in Oakland, their words have been harsh, and for the most part negative. So it was quite a surprise -- to me, anyway -- to see Tim Brown proclaim that he would absolutely love to take a job with the struggling franchise. Seriously.

This brings the number of people who are currently willing to work for Al Davis to two: Tim Brown and Matt Snyder (surely you haven't forgotten this).

From Jerry McDonald of the Contra Costa Times (via PFT):

"It would take me about two seconds to make that decision. At some point, home is home, and even though I reside in Dallas, Dallas is not home for me when it comes to the NFL. The love I get when I'm in Oakland, that's home for me. I realize that, and if the Raiders ever asked me to do anything in the front office, certainly I would jump at the opportunity because I do think, not just my presence in Oakland, but in some of the decision making as far as what's happening with coaches and players that come in, I think I could be very instrumental in helping in that area."

If nothing else, the ongoing soap opera unfolding before our eyes in Oakland has produced some rather humorous comments from former Raiders, and led to a lot of people piling on owner Al Davis, which apparently, is very easy to do. The latest person to jump on the pile? Former pro bowl quarterback Rich Gannon, who didn't exactly sugarcoat what he thought of the current climate in Oakland.

ProFootballTalk offers some of Gannon's criticisms during his appearance on Sirius NFL Radio.

"And they have problems, there's no question. It's an organization that is going through a very difficult period. It's an organization, in my opinion, that is dysfunctional. They have a lot of issues

Gannon continued by saying, "it's not a tough place to work, it's an impossible place to work," and then spent some time talking about how much success former coaches such as Jon Gruden and Mike Shanahan had after they were forced out of the Raiders' Head Coaching position.

I suspected things were pretty bad in the Raiders organization, but apparently it's worse than anybody not forced to work there ever imagined. Yahoo.com's Jason Cole has a revealing account of the absurdity of it all, and he makes what should be an obvious point about head coach-for-the-moment Lane Kiffin's situation.

The scuttlebutt has Kiffin getting canned any minute now, although the Raiders' convincing win in Kansas City last week may have bought him some time. Thing is, maybe Kiffin doesn't want the job as much as owner Al Davis doesn't want him to have it.

"That's the funny part about people asking if he's worried about getting fired," said a source close to Kiffin. "He's worried that he might be stuck there the whole season."

And then there's this revelation:

Last month, I pointed out an NFL.com column courtesy of Adam Schefter that suggested that Vikings fifth-round pick John David Booty "could have the chance to prove he was another player who slipped further than he should have." I'm unconvinced, but then again, I don't make a living evaluating NFL players.

Former Vikings quarterback Rich Gannon is excited about Tarvaris Jackson, and he thinks 2008 could be his year. Not everybody is as high on Jackson as Gannon, which has fueled speculation about Booty emerging as the starter at some point next season.

The Star Tribune's Judd Zulgad squashes that notion in a recent Vikings Blog Q & A. When asked about Booty supplanting Jackson, Zulgad writes:

Nope. This is Tarvaris Jackson's job to lose and if anybody is going to challenge him short term it's going to be Gus Frerotte. Booty might be familiar with the West Coast offense from his days at USC but he isn't ready to step in at the NFL level. Keep in mind, it's May and these 24-hour football networks need something to talk about.

Former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon is jazzed about Tarvaris Jackson and his prospects for a great 2008 season. That would put him in the minority among the Vikings faithful, but fans are a skeptical lot by nature.

"I'm excited. ... I got a chance to watch some film and sit down with [coach Brad] Childress and really look at him, and talk about him, and evaluate him," said Gannon.

"I think he's made great strides. I think he's a very athletic guy, very gifted, and the big thing for him this year is just consistency."

Childress has also made it clear than Jackson needs to improve his decision-making, but I'm pretty sure he never said he was "excited" about the third-year quarterback. Maybe cautiously optimistic is a better characterization.

Whatever, Gannon, a one-time Vikings quarterback before hitting it big in Oakland, warns that Jackson is still very early in his career and has a long way to go in his development. Again, nothing new there, but Gannon did offer Jackson some good advice:

The 42 Stops to Super Bowl XLII is a series that will feature stories, stats and interesting trivia that you can use to act smart as you prepare for Super Bowl XLII.

New England's Tom Brady is the 2007 Associated Press MVP. Quite the honor. However, it doesn't ensure postseason success. Twenty MVP's failed to get their team to the Super Bowl. Of the 21 that did, just 10 won the game.

Yes, the NFL MVP is just 10-11 in Super Bowl play. The last two MVPs to make the Super Bowl ... Oakland's Rich Gannon and St. Louis' Kurt Warner ... lost the game.

This doesn't mean that those 11 losing MVPs had bad games. Brett Favre threw for 256 yds and 3 TDs against Denver in Super Bowl XXXII. Several others just had marginal games that weren't enough.

Some did stink up the joint. Gannon threw five interceptions against Tampa. Thurman Thomas rushed for just 19 yds against Washington. Boomer Esiason completed just 11 of 25 passes for 144 yds and a pick against the Niners. John Elway was just 14-of-38 and threw 3 interceptions against Washington.

After the jump, check out the history of the MVP in Super Bowls: