WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT THE RAIDERS?
I’ll be honest. The Raiders surprised the hell out of me this year. Even with all of the Antonio Brown drama and this being the final year they’d be in Oakland, the Raiders were in playoff contention until the final play of week 17. No one thought that’d be the case for the black and silver in 2019.
But, when push came to shove, the Raiders bought into their own hype and once people actually gave them attention, they faltered. We saw that when they barely beat the then-winless Bengals, got blown out by the Jets, and were decimated by the Chiefs.
The Raiders had to win and hope that a lot of other things went their way in order to make the playoffs this year and step one didn’t happen, which was win their game. Even if they had, the Titans and Jaguars winning put a dent in their plans, so winning didn’t matter as much.
Perhaps that’s why Jon Gruden opted to go for two to close out their regular season finale against the Broncos rather than go for the tie. But, the move failed, and the Raiders ended their final season as the Oakland Raiders with a record of 7-9 after their 16-15 loss to Denver.
Still, 7-9 is so much better than what many of us had anticipated for the Raiders this season. No one is certain on whether Derek Carr will be making the move to Las Vegas with the team, but the Raiders still have plenty of talent to build around.
Two of my favorite Raiders from 2019 – Josh Jacobs and Maxx Crosby. Jacobs is a sensational running back and won them a lot of their games this year while Crosby was a dominant pass rusher, who could help them out tremendously on defense.
So while 2019 ended on a sour note, the Raiders – who are officially the Las Vegas Raiders now- have a chance to start fresh when they take the field in 2020.