Starting the season at 0-2 has historically been a death knell for NFL teams. But since the switch to a 17-game schedule, it makes it a bit easier to overcome.
The Raiders are now one of those 0-2 teams trying to overcome a tough start. So what are the chances of making it back to the postseason for the second consecutive season? Not great.
According to FiveThirtyEight, the Raiders have just a 16 percent chance of making the playoffs. However, the schedule plays a big part in that.
In a recent article by Bill Barnwell of ESPN, he wrote about the five NFL teams that started the season off at 0-2 and their chances of making the playoffs. While he believes the Raiders can be one of the teams that can overcome the slow start, they’ve got a difficult road ahead of them with their current schedule:
“The bigger concern is that playing below-average football with even average luck won’t cut it against a difficult schedule. ESPN’s Football Power Index projects the Raiders to face the league’s eighth-toughest schedule from here on out.
There’s a brief respite after their Week 6 bye, but before that point, they will travel to Tennessee in what feels like a must-win game for both teams, host Denver and take a trip to Kansas City to face a Chiefs team that beat them by an average of 33 points per game a year ago.”
The schedule is brutal for the Raiders, but none of that matters if they don’t start playing better. The defense needs to create more pressure on opposing quarterbacks and the offense needs to do a better job of sustaining drives.
The Raiders can certainly turn things around, despite a tough schedule. But first and foremost, they just need to play better. It seems simple, but that’s the reality for these 0-2 Raiders.
