I’m not trying to Doom and gloom us. I legit think this team is WAY better than before. This team actually has heart again, not something I’ve seen from the Raiders since…well without trying to be a broken record, 2016 and also 2021 (after Gruden). Looking at the remaining schedule this team honestly could go at the least 7-10, to 11-6 at the most.

I very much doubt we win out, I think the team is good but not THAT good. I want to take a guess and say we finish at 9-8. I think we lose to the Dolphins and Chiefs next, we surprise the Vikings and get back our win against the Chargers, lose to the Chiefs again, and then win out the remainder of the season. But really any of those games can go either way. The rest of the schedule is not a cake walk at all. We sadly easily could lose to the Chargers again. The Broncos may FINALLY beat us once again. I mean they beat the Chiefs for crying out loud.

Until we decisively beat the Chiefs I just can’t say we’ll split wins with them and definitely not beating them both times. The Chargers are the Chargers. Yeah they whooped us earlier this year but I think this newfound energy the team has will be the deciding factor. And the Broncos are the Broncos. I 99% think that’s another win, but as I said above they did beat the Chiefs so…anything is possible against division rivals.

But really this post isn’t so much about the Raiders as it is about the AFC in general. Sadly, the AFCN is just THAT division this year. I’ve looked at their remaining schedules and, well I know any given Sunday is said for a reason but like…they all have easy fucking schedules remaining AND they’re all on top of the AFC and have the Wild card spots as of now locked in. Even if we finish above .500, or have 10 wins, I sadly am not sure if that will be enough this season. Nevermind the fact that before McD’s firing I 100% figured this season was a wash. I’m HOPING beyond hope this team pulls off the miracle again and repeats 2021, but idk. A lot of factors need to go right for us to pull it off. We need to play better than the other teams, and we need to hope at LEAST one of the AFCN teams starts to fail opening up the last wildcard slot. And I haven’t even MENTIONED the Bills…or the Jags/Texans. The AFC is freaking stacked with talent this year and the Wild card race is so close and yet so far away.

All in all it will definitely be disappointing if we finish above .500 and miss the playoffs. Infuriating actually because then that will mean if we didn’t have McD as our HC starting this year maybe we had a better shot. If we didn’t start with JimmyG and instead had AOC starting all year maybe we had a shot. Or on the flip side maybe all this had to happen for us to get here. We can shit on McD all we want BUT without him we don’t have AP right now as our HC. If we finish out above .500 I have to think Mark doesn’t make the same mistake twice and we roll with AP and company next year.

I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t think much of AOC. A QB drafted in the 4th round? Usually doesn’t pan out. I figured even if JimmyG failed and we switched to him the season was a wash and we’d be in line for Caleb Williams and that’s what I was hoping for as the best scenario out of this season. Instead here I am thinking about the playoffs…after seeing the post comparing the QBs who have faced the Jets defense this year and seeing OUR boy at the top, above Mahomes, Hurts and Allen…yeah alright I was definitely wrong about AOC. Maybe he is the guy long term. And maybe, just maybe, next year if everything goes the way I hope it does, instead of hoping for a repeat of 2021 where we luck into the playoffs like i am for this season, we can finally have a repeat of 2016 and definitively and firmly make the playoffs, no questions asked.

Just Win Baby!