Josh Mcdaniel’s new regime head coaching the Las Vegas Raiders held a much higher amount of hope to do better than a 1-4 start going into the bye week. After an outstanding preseason with a flawless record, every Raider fan was excited going into the season. According to Fan Duel, an online sports betting company, the Raiders ranked at the number 12 spot amongst all NFL teams at the start of the season. During the first game of the season, Mcdaniels could not live up to the hype with a mediocre start to the first game of the season after failing to keep pace with the Los Angeles Charges leading to a 0-1 start for the season. The loss is not a major turning point as the Charges have an extremely well-put-together team with many star players. However after another outstanding game against the Arizona Cardinals, where the Raiders created a 17-point lead going into halftime. After the offense and defense slowly broke down throughout the second half of the game the Cardinals brought the once 17-point lead down to a tied game with no time remaining in the fourth quarter. This brought the game to an overtime extension that would lead to the Cardinals getting stuffed after 4 consecutive plays that gained close to no yardage. However, after marching down to a very promising field position for the Raiders wide receiver, Hunter Renfrow got hit on a check-down play and lost the ball. Byron Murphy Jr., a Cardinal defensive back, recovered the ball and returned it for a fumble-six. This critical play cost the Raiders their second game of the season.
The season started with a bleak outlook after only two games and this prediction carried on after a 24-22 loss to the Tennesse Titans. The Raiders could not click on either side of the ball until after allowing a 24-10 lead to form. Almost mirroring the Cardinals the previous week the Raiders almost came back from their deficit but unfortunately, they failed to convert a game-tying 2-pt conversion attempt. This third straight loss put the Raiders out of every analyst mind’s for any hope of playoff contention. The upcoming game against the Denver Broncos created a do-or-die game for the rest of the Raider’s season. The team truly felt this and we’re ready to play their hearts out after finally earning their first win of the season with a final score of 32-23. The main difference in play style to allow the Raiders to hold onto the lead for most of the game had the Raiders feeding running back Josh Jacobs who carried the ball 28 times for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns. Another factor that boosted the Raider’s odds of winning skyrocketed after a fumble-six caused by the Raider defense against Melvin Gordon III, Broncos running back, after he ran the ball for a short gain up the middle of the field. This win gave many fans a newfound hope for the Mcdaniels era of head coaching. However with the dominating Kansas City Chiefs following the game against the Broncos many fans felt concerned with how the outcome of the game would look. However, to many viewer’s surprise, the Raiders almost kept pace with the Chiefs for most of the game up until a vital 2-pt attempt conversion the Chief’s defense stopped to end the game early for the Raiders as a PAT kick would have tied the game instead of a failed 2-pt losing the game. Although the decision did not pan out how the Raiders would have wanted, the numbers surprisingly backed Mcdaniel’s side for once and gave many fans closure about the loss. Going into the Bye Week, many fans could agree that a need for a vital change persisted somewhere in either the head coaching position or front office but unfortunately, no changes came about to improve the team. After the Chiefs game, many fan pages across social media believed the next 6-7 games could be all winnable games that could easily leave the Raiders a hopeful 7-4 going into their next game with the Los Angeles Chargers. This prediction started to pave its path with a 38-20 win against the Houston Texans. Josh Jacobs again played outstandingly, scoring 143 yards and 3 touchdowns with only 20 attempts throughout the game. This performance by Jacobs solidified him as a top-five running back in the NFL. Unfortunately, the Raiders decided to play like absolute trash the following week against the New Orleans Saints getting blown out with a final score of 24-0. Going into week nine of the season many fans completely lost hope in the Raiders after having a very talented roster go 2-5. The Jacksonville Jaguars game seemed no different after an explosive first half for the Raiders gaining a 10-point lead before halftime and completely falling apart the second half of the game allowing 17 unanswered points to complete a loss against them.