The Las Vegas Raiders need to keep moving forward. There is no time to sulk right now, despite the obvious agony of dealing with a shutout loss. Let’s not forget: Rome wasn’t built in a day.
For the 2022-23 Las Vegas Raiders, currently the inverse of where they were this time last season (5-2 to 2-5), they’re just trying to build a 2-bedroom home at this point. And that starts by pushing forward, not dwelling in the past.
This is an optimism piece, for whatever that’s worth. McDaniels is staying as the head coach, and Carr as the quarterback. Let’s just move past those two trigger points. Sure, McDaniels’ “every team loses” post-game comment was ignorant. But he is correct; the NFL is a week-by-week business, and the season doesn’t end in Week 8.
Is the Raiders’ schedule still “favorable”?
The Raiders still have a favorable schedule ahead of them. The talent is there, albeit in an imperfect balance. And the AFC is currently a mess. Yes, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars (which the Raiders have done 3 of the last 4 times against the Black and Teal) won’t fix their problems. But it would be a small step in the right direction.
Despite the aspirations for a deep playoff run before this year began, today’s reality is exactly what it was going into Week 15 last year: one game at a time. Obviously, this isn’t a Rich Bisaccia-led squad anymore. But it is a more talented squad, and one with a lot more games left to play than that gritty group.
Here’s a (possibly singular) positive amid the letdown that has been these first seven games: everybody has counted the Raiders out. The expectations are officially gone. Revel in that, because the Silver and Black seem to do better when people have written them off. A staple of the Patriot Way is “onto the next.” Or, most famously, “we’re on to Cincinnati.”
It’s on to Jacksonville. The Saints game is over; Dennis Allen served his revenge dish nearly 10 years in the making, and Alvin Kamara backed up his pre-game trash talk. Now, the pressure is off, and every member of the Raiders organization is seemingly pissed off. Maybe that’s what this team needs to truly find themselves in this wildly unpredictable NFL season.
We’re on to Jacksonville.
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*Top Photo: Benjamin Hegar/Las Vegas Review-Journal
