The Raiders circled the calendar and their perfect homestand has them geared up for playoff contention
By Jimmy Durkin Nov 17, 2019
As much as you may want to, you can never start counting wins in the NFL. The league just doesn’t work that way. A winless team with a rookie quarterback is still dangerous. A three-game homestand against mediocre to bad opponents is no reason to take a deep breath.
But still …
There was no way for the Raiders to look at their three-game homestand that concluded with Sunday’s 17-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals and think about anything else but a sweep. For a team that survived six weeks without a home game, the chance to clean up at the Coliseum against the Lions, Chargers and Bengals — teams that are now a combined 7-22-1 — was something they couldn’t ignore.
Heading into this more forgiving stretch, quarterback Derek Carr looked at the schedule and realized the Raiders had an opportunity to raise the stakes on their season.
“We demanded that we won every one of those games here at home and we protected this place, because this is a special place,” he said Sunday. “And we did that.”
Yes, they did. Sunday’s win over the Bengals wasn’t a dazzling display of dominance that has the league picturing a deep playoff run. But it doesn’t matter. Stacking wins is all that matters and suddenly the Raiders are 6-4 and could actually take over sole possession of first place if the Chargers can beat the Chiefs on Monday night.
“We’re able to find ways to win,” Gruden said after another celebratory trip to the Black Hole. “There’s an old saying around here, ‘Just win, baby.’ We’ve fought our hearts out to put ourselves in a 6-4 position. That doesn’t mean anything. We’ve got a lot of respect for the Jets and a lot of work to do.”
If the Raiders can extend their winning streak to four next week on the road against the Jets, they’ll be no worse than tied for first place with the Chiefs as they head to Arrowhead on Dec. 1. And that’ll ensure that this November run will keep the Raiders a contender into December. And the atmosphere for the final two scheduled games at the Coliseum against the Titans (Dec. 8) and Jaguars (Dec. 15) will be electric.
“We don’t have many games left here at this stadium that are promised,” Carr said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before we can hope for anything else. And right now, I’ve learned in my six years — which is a long time at one place — in my six years, there’s been a lot of things that have happened. I’ve seen a lot of different coaching styles, I’ve seen a lot of different players, I’ve seen a lot of different moods, I’ve seen a lot of different characteristics. I’ve seen a lot of things. And the thing I can say about this team is the people that were brought in by Mr. (Mike) Mayock and Coach Gruden love football, they love each other and they work extremely hard. And I will take that over the most talented guys any day of the week. I think that that’s what this year has taught me is the closer a team can be, the higher level of execution on the details that a team can have, that is what wins in this league.”
The Raiders won Sunday because rookie defensive end Maxx Crosby had four sacks, rookie cornerback Trayvon Mullen had the game-clinching interception, rookie running back Josh Jacobs ran for 112 yards, rookie tight end Foster Moreau caught his third touchdown pass of the year and … there’s a bit of a theme going here.
Carr was also effective, outside of his one interception, completing 25 of 29 passes for 292 yards and a touchdown. He also had his second career rushing touchdown. The Raiders are blending the veterans with the youth that is portending a bright future.
And yet, Carr and Jacobs both lamented after the game what they weren’t able to do. The points that were left out there when Jacobs fumbled in the red zone or one of the Bengals’ three sacks stalled out a drive.
“We could have had more,” Carr said. “Honestly, that’s how I feel. I left the game and I get our stat book and I looked at it and I was like, they look pretty, but I could have played better. I’m hard on myself. I think that’s the standard that Coach Gruden puts on me. … I felt like I left a couple of plays out there.”
The silver lining is that style points don’t matter. A blowout win over the now 0-10 Bengals would’ve looked nice, but they count all the same. And the standings simply show that the Raiders are strongly in the postseason mix. Which is a delightful surprise to some.
“I am definitely surprised,” guard Richie Incognito said. “When I first got here, I was looking around and I knew the team was going up, I just didn’t realize it was going this fast.
“We’ve got a great mix of young and old guys. Maxx Crosby today coming up with four sacks, Clelin Ferrell flashing. The whole defense is playing well. It’s exciting. To be in the playoff hunt and play games that matter in November and December, that makes this very exciting. I’m excited to be a part of this team.”
There was a good vibe around the Raiders even when they lost their Week 8 game to the Texans. Deshaun Watson was a magician in the fourth quarter and the Raiders couldn’t rally or get a defensive stop to beat a fellow playoff contender. But they were 3-4 despite that six-week journey that took them from Minnesota to Indianapolis to London to a bye week, and then to Green Bay and Houston. There was a feeling that things could’ve gone a little better, but they could’ve been a lot worse and the Raiders were sitting in a pretty solid position.
“You knew before the season that the travel schedule was going to be nuts,” Incognito said. “I think we talked about it so much and made such a spectacle out of it that guys just embraced it. We knew Friday at 1 o’clock we were getting on that plane. We didn’t know where the hell we were going, but we’re going to play a game. We had always circled these three games. You know, we’re going to come home and we’re going to get those three wins. To do that is exciting. That really just shows the trajectory of this team going up.”
Gruden deserves much of the credit for that galvanizing. He created a “the-world-is-against-us” vibe with that travel schedule, a mood he’s still pushing.
“We played not only on the road, we played in foreign countries and across the world, it seemed like every week,” Gruden said Sunday. “And we came back and we did what we had to do if we wanted to try to get in this thing. We still have a long way to go. We’re building our team. I’m going to keep emphasizing that. We’re not a finished product by any stretch, but we’re competing hard and we’re finding ways to win.”
The pressure is still relatively low on this team. The star power is low, even if the win total keeps growing.
“My favorite thing about our team is our ‘Madden’ ratings are really low but we’re pretty good at football,” Carr said. “We got good coaches. We got good guys that compete their tails off. We’ve got guys that work extremely hard and we believe in our coaches and we believe in our system and we believe in each other.”
The Raiders weren’t expected to be in playoff contention, but here they are. Perhaps they can continue to surprise.
“Now we have to go on the road again, but when we get back home, hopefully there’s still some things that we need to be playing for,” Carr said. “I hope that our fans are excited when we come back, but I hope they also make a couple trips with us and turn some of those stadiums into Silver and Black.”
