The Oakland Raiders have been a very dysfunctional franchise and are currently the laughing stock of the league. This season looks to continue the tradition of underperforming, as they are currently 0 – 6, their worst start in 52 years. The team is currently ranked 32nd in offense, 22nd in defense and are on the brink of moving to Los Angeles for a second time.
In his latest league rankings, Yahoo writer Frank Schwab raised a good question, will the Raiders go 0 – 16 on the season? The chances of this actually happening, no matter how bad the team is, are still pretty slim. The only teams in NFL history to ever go a whole season without a win are the ’76 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the ’08 Detroit Lions. What really are the chances the Raiders actually have an imperfect season?
When looking at the Raiders upcoming schedule, they have a tough road ahead:
Week 8 – At Cleveland Browns
Week 9 – At Seattle Seahawks
Week 10 – vs. Denver Broncos
Week 11 – At San Diego Chargers
Week 12 – vs. Kansas City Chiefs (Thursday Night)
Week 13 – At St. Louis Rams
Week 14 – vs. San Francisco 49ers
Week 15 – At Kansas City Chiefs
Week 16 – vs. Buffalo Bills
Week 17 – At Denver Broncos
The Raiders will be going into the “Dawg Pound” against a Browns team that will be ready to destroy them after getting humiliated against the Jaguars. The Seahawks are not the same team they were last year, but does anyone expect the Raiders to go into one of the loudest playing environments and actually beat a decent Seahawks team? No.
The Raiders then play division rivals the next three weeks in the Broncos, Chargers, and Chiefs. The Broncos have Peyton Manning, one of the best offensive weapons in the league. The Chiefs have one the most effective running backs in the league with Jamaal Charles. The Raiders usually play a little tougher against the Chargers, but this will be a road game in San Diego.
On to St. Louis, and we all saw that Jeff Fisher still has some plays up his sleeves to get the job done against the Seahawks. The 49ers come to town for the “Battle of the Bay” and even with all of the talk about Jim Harbaugh being forced out at the end of the season, the 49ers are still winning. As a sidebar, have you ever seen a team that’s winning actually want to get rid of their head coach?
The Raiders then play the Bills in Oakland. This one could be winnable, even though the Bills are currently in the Wild Card race and only one game behind the Patriots for the division lead. Their offense consists of Kyle Orton, who is just an average quarterback, C.J. Spiller is out for the rest of the season after sustaining an injury during Sunday’s win over the Vikings, and will have to rely on Fred Jackson who should be back from his injury he sustained on Sunday as well. The Bills are looking for their first winning record since 1999 and this game could be a must win for them. Oakland then finishes out the season at Mile High.
Realistically, the Raiders are walking a fine line between 3-13 or 0-16, and football being football, results could skew either way come season’s end. Their best chances of that elusive W based on current form look to be against the Browns, Rams, or the Bills. The problem for the Raiders under that scenario is that 2 of those games come on the road, and the bottom line is that they have a lot of work ahead for them if they are to avoid joining the Buccaneers and the Lions in the infamous Winless Seasons group.
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