On the positive side, the Raiders will not lose a game this weekend, but that’s only because it’s their bye week. On the better side, a glance at the team’s upcoming schedule shows a bunch of teams the Raiders should beat.
The Raiders are obviously reeling after a 1-4 start to the season, including a second-half collapse at Kansas City Monday night in a 30-29 loss. They’ve given up big leads and come back from deficits, but other than a win at home against the Denver Broncos — who have a lot of issues themselves — they’ve finished the games on the short end of the scoreline.
The early season schedule was challenging, facing teams that should be fighting for playoff spots when all is said and done. That schedule included all three AFC West division foes, including the two best teams on the road, along with the Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans.
A prognostication of the first five games probably would have them losing at Los Angeles, Tennesee and Kansas City and winning at home against the Cardinals and Broncos. So that’s 2-3, only one game off a reasonable expected pace.
Time to regroup
Now, the Raiders get a bye and then face a string of teams that are going to have a tough time finishing out of the basement of their respective divisions. First is the Houston Texans (1-3-1) at home on Oct. 23. Then they consecutive road games at New Orleans (2-3) and Jacksonville (2-3) and then return home on Nov. 11 to play Indianapolis (2-2-1).
So that’s four straight games against teams that currently don’t have winning records. Of course, all these teams can claim a better record than the Raiders. But let’s say they win three of those four, a reasonable result, and they’re back to .500 with seven games left to play. A four-game win streak is probably an expected result.
Derek Carr said in the post-game press conference Monday night that it takes time to get everyone on the same page with an entirely new system in place. For the Raiders sake, they better hope that’s the case. Now they have a week off to get in sync.
The first game after the break will be telling. Get it together and beat the Texans convincingly and it could lead to some momentum for a strong finish. So far, however, strong finishes haven’t really been the team’s forte.