Why are people sleeping on the RAIDERS this year?

[VanS]

1 hour ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

This better be the one...

Don't worry.  The Raiders are one of the teams I feel best about this season (in terms of surpassing expectations).

They'll be in the playoffs.  We're just gonna have to wait and see what they do once they are there.

[Soko]

11 minutes ago, VanS said:

Jon Gruden is a Super Bowl winning head coach.  I don't know why people are treating him like a joke.

He's gonna be good this year.

So is Gary Kubiak. So is Brian Billick. So is Barry Switzer.

[Forge]

2 hours ago, Yin-Yang said:

So is Gary Kubiak. So is Brian Billick. So is Barry Switzer.

Meanwhile schottenheimer and Reid got zilch. A lack of a ring doesn't make them bad coaches in the same way a ring doesn't make gruden or any of those guys good ones. 

[Danand]

Are people sleeping on the Raiders? Or is it just natural scepticism after several including me bought into them as a potential 12-4 playoff contender last year?

I see Raiders as a team with a high ceiling and low floor on their roster. Their starting 22 can do some significant damage if healthy and play up to the potential, and their dline could be really fun to watch, but they have to prove as many other teams, that they can put it together this year.

In a middle of a road division, they could very well get into the playoffs, but I can easily understand why many see them as a middle of the pack team who will have to fight the Chargers for a division win.

[PFM18]

After the expectations that were put on them by many last season, and the perception of them not meeting those high expectations. People seem to have now drastically lowered them this season along with the fact that they hired a head coach who hasn't been on the sideline for about a decade and their best defensive player holding out.

Make no mistake though. The Raiders are still a dangerous team and can certainly challenge in the division. As others have said there's too many question marks about the AFC West. 

The Chargers should be the favourites this season but how many times has it been said that the Chargers should have a great year only for them to fall short of expectation? Not making the playoffs when they had the talent to do so. I'd still pick the Chargers to win the division but they have shown they can flatter to deceive before.

KC and Denver both have QB questions. Who knows which Case Keenum we're going to get in Mile High whereas PMII is showing upside in preseason, but the consensus is he will need time to become the starting QB the Chiefs want him to be. 

The point is the AFC West could be a very open division, and with a performing Carr, a motivated Gruden and potentially a happy Khalil Mack, the Raiders can compete.

Let's not forget that this is also the Raiders last season in Oakland, and with them knowing that it may give them that little bit extra motivation to have a successful season before they leave the Black Hole and go on to Las Vegas. 

[Bolts223]

5 hours ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

I'm not taking it personally. We discuss football here. I'm trying to understand the reasoning behind your arguments and I don't see substance to many of these arguments. Much like the Mack trade rumors.

Like cmon man, you said our backfield is weak, but you've given no backing to these claims. I actually think the backfield is one of the strongest parts of the team.

In all fairness the Raiders still probably have only the third best backfield in the division. Not only are Hunt and Gordon a step above Lynch at this point in his career, but the Chargers also have a pretty good complimentary back in Ekeler.

 

 

[Elky]

Oakland is actually one of the worst teams in the league. Gruden was a joke hire and Derek Carr is nothing special. They're about to be without one of the top pass rushers in the league because of Gruden.

[Bolts223]

Anyways to address the main point of this post: 

The Raiders being hyped up so much going into last season was never really justified to begin with. 2016 was an extremely fluky season and the Raiders went something ridiculous like 9-2 in one score games.  People kind of excused the pathetic playoff showing against the Texans with not having Carr in that game, but nothing can excuse your defense being lit up by Brock Osweiler. And sure enough, the Raiders defense was bad in 2017 just as it was in 2016, but without the offense coming up with miraculous plays to win close games. 

This isn't to say that the Raiders couldn't be a playoff team this year, they absolutely could. But they have way more question marks than either the Chargers or Chiefs do going into this season. The former having the best roster and the best QB in the division, the latter having the best Head Coach and being a consistent playoff team for most of the decade.

 

 

[SilverNBlackFan]

6 hours ago, game3525 said:

The Raiders were never a 12 win caliber team. They were really a 9 win team that had an unsustainable record in close games in 2016 and teams like that always regress the following year. They aren't as bad as they were last year, but they are an 8-8 team IMO. Could they win the division? Sure, it wouldn't be crazy, but I wouldn't put money on it. 

This is true. We weren't that good of a team in 2016, but superstar performances by Derek Carr and Mack week after week carried us to 12 wins. Last years regression was predictable but it was worse than I expected. We undoubtedly had one of the worst coaching staffs in the league last year. Todd 4thDown-ing turned a top 6 offense into a joke, it was awful. 

The biggest question will be if Gruden can get Derek Carr back into form. I myself have called Carr overrated before, but I dont believe he is the skittish pedestrian QB we saw last year.  Gruden is the first offensive minded coach hes had in his career, and their relationship is annoying because it's been so rosy and sunshiny thus far. I expect the offense to be alot better. And even though i have hated alot of the roster moves Gruden has made, I think its comical how many people think the game has passed Gruden by. The guy is arguably the most connected coach in the league. People took Grudens 1998 comment and ran with it.

The defense will be improved because Gunther is a substantially better coach than Ken Norton. Schematically, the Raiders defense will be exponentially better, more organized and better coached. But to be real, we just dont have enough talent on that side of the ball to be anything more than average at best. And that's not even taking into account that Mack might be gone...

I have us at 8 wins right now.  This is still the Chiefs division. Andy Reid is one of the best regular season coaches of all time and I believe Patrick Mahomes will be a star.

[TecmoSuperJoe]

2 hours ago, PFM18 said:

Let's not forget that this is also the Raiders last season in Oakland, and with them knowing that it may give them that little bit extra motivation to have a successful season before they leave the Black Hole and go on to Las Vegas. 

I'd say players only care as long as they get paid. Don't see them doing a solid for Oakland, just because it's Oakland. If anything, they'll be excited to go to Vegas.

[PFM18]

19 minutes ago, PapaShogun said:

I'd say players only care as long as they get paid. Don't see them doing a solid for Oakland, just because it's Oakland. If anything, they'll be excited to go to Vegas.

I'd hope Beast Mode would be fired up to have a good year, not only because its the last season for the Raiders in Oakland, but may be his too.

Unless he's going to Vegas too?

[TecmoSuperJoe]

1 hour ago, PFM18 said:

I'd hope Beast Mode would be fired up to have a good year, not only because its the last season for the Raiders in Oakland, but may be his too.

Unless he's going to Vegas too?

Yeah, but he's just one player. A 32 year old runningback. I'm just saying I don't see the Raiders having their last season in Oakland making any kind of difference. Didn't help the Browns before they left Cleveland. Didn't help the Chargers before they left San Diego. Didn't help the Colts before they left Baltimore. 

[PFM18]

8 minutes ago, PapaShogun said:

Yeah, but he's just one player. A 32 year old runningback. I'm just saying I don't see the Raiders having their last season in Oakland making any kind of difference. Didn't help the Browns before they left Cleveland. Didn't help the Chargers before they left San Diego. Didn't help the Colts before they left Baltimore. 

There's a difference in that the Chargers and Colts didn't know they were moving. It sort of just happened.

I take the point though. It could easily not make the slightest bit of difference. I suppose as a fan you hope things like that means something to the players and it just gives them more motivation.

Still think the Raiders will be more competitive than a lot of people have them being. 

[jvmillion83]

This is one of the hardest divisions to predict but it's not out of the realm for Oakland to bounce back and go like 11-5.   People forget that Carr was not fully back from his '16 injury and lost some significant preseason work in preparation for the '17 season and also suffered that back injury that kept him out for two games.  Many are writing him off for last year but he wasn't fully healthy during the season.   Now he's had a full off season of preparation and also gets one of the best QB tutors in the league with Greg Olson.  Crabtree's gone but Jordy Nelson albeit older is still a very good receiver.  It was only two years ago that Carr was an MVP candidate heading into the last month of the season when he suffered that injury against the Colts and many are sleeping heavily on him right now.  If they get Mack signed, they'll be competing atop the AFC West in December.

 

[tom cody]

Can't see them being a contender this yr. Gruden looks over his head as a coach in 2018, Mack could be traded as well. Carr doesn't look the same either post injury.