The Oakland Raiders are very realistically the worst organization in the NFL, not in terms of wins and losses, but in terms of how they are run. There is widespread sentiment throughout the league that Mark Davis, the successor to father Al Davis as the main leader of the franchise, is too tyrannical. Unlike his father, Mark Davis does not know a lot about football. Al was a visionary in that regard, but Mark is not the same person, and he doesn’t have the same knowledge base or the same feel for how to revolutionize the game. Al Davis saw the future by emphasizing the passing game that’s so central to pro football today. Mark doesn’t have much of a clue. He has surrounded himself with a general manager, Reggie McKenzie, and a head coach, Dennis Allen, who both seem lost and unable to do much of anything. The Raiders are a nowhere team, but we’ll see if they can change course this season.
Strengths
The Raiders can at times hold down a weak offense. They have a defense that kept the team in contention for three or four quarters against Kansas City (on the road) and thrashed the San Diego Chargers at home. Oakland was good enough to take bad teams, or also good teams playing poorly, and create a fair fight due to its defense. This much credit should be given to Oakland, but not much of anything more.
Weaknesses
The Raiders’ weaknesses, befitting a team buried deeply in last place in the AFC West, are numerous. The Raiders have been a black hole in front of the cheering section named The Black Hole for a long time in Oakland. Fans clad in black and gray spikes and all other sorts of haunting outfits have not had anything to cheer about because there’s been no quarterback to lead the offense. The Raiders made the Super Bowl with Rich Gannon at quarterback over a decade ago, and they haven’t had anyone who could replace Gannon ever since. A mediocre rotation of quarterbacks this season offers no real promise that this organization can turn things around. There’s no offense to speak of, and the defense gets ripped when it goes up against an elite quarterback such as Peyton Manning, or even a solid one such as Nick Foles of Philadelphia.
Schedule
The Raiders will have a tough time in the AFC West, so they’ll need to find wins elsewhere. Their NFC games, though, are against the NFC West, which means they have to play three teams that won at least 10 games last season: Seattle, San Francisco, and Arizona, plus a St. Louis team that might finish with a winning record in the coming season. The Raiders play other AFC games outside their division against the New York Jets, Houston, New England, Miami, Cleveland, and Buffalo. The Raiders could pick off Houston, Cleveland and Buffalo from that group.
Outlook
Being a terrible team, the Raiders are on a lost ark, to use an Indiana Jones wordplay. This team has maybe one or two strengths and dozens of weaknesses. No NFL team can succeed under those conditions. Take the under.
Pick: Under 4.5
