Oakland Raiders Need One Key Ingredient To Give Themselves A Chance

The Oakland Raiders looked like a beaten team before the first snap in Denver – but one key ingredient can give them a better shot in Houston.

It was over before it ever began. The Oakland Raiders lost the regular season finale – and the AFC West title along with it – in Denver long before they ever got around to actually playing the game. And that’s because they looked like a vastly different team than we’ve seen over the last six or seven weeks of the season.

Yeah, losing Derek Carr makes them a different team. Absolutely. The explosive and dynamic offense we’ve seen all season long was going to be vastly different with Matt McGloin and/or Connor Cook under center. We get that. But there is far more to it than that.

The Raiders didn’t just look like a different offensive unit with Carr on the shelf. They looked like an entirely different team with him out of the lineup. Based on how poorly the Raiders fared in all phases of the game against the Broncos, you might be tempted to think that Carr plays every position on the field – on both sides of the ball.

The Raiders couldn’t run the ball. The offensive line looked as porous as they have all year. The defense couldn’t get a stop to save their lives. Denver gashed them on the ground for nearly 150 yards and even Trevor Siemian looked like a competent quarterback.

But other than that, things went totally swimmingly for the Raiders.

You would expect – in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic injury like that – for the team to deflate and feel pretty sucker punched. And the Raiders certainly looked the part against Indianapolis. They allowed the Colts to come back from a 19 point hole to close to eight points.

Fortunately for the Raiders, the defense got it together enough – and time ran out – preventing the Colts from snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

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But with a week to prepare and so much riding on that game in Denver, the Raiders came out and still looked like they were absolutely reeling without Carr. They looked flat. Disjointed. Uninspired. Simply put, from the opening snap to the final whistle, this looked like a team that was already beaten, expected to lose, and was just going through the motions.

Unless the Raiders want to be a one and done playoff team, they’re going to have to rally together amd believe that they can find a way to win without their spiritual and emotional leader on the field.

What this team needs more than anything right now, is a big boost of confidence.

The conditions are not ideal, to be sure. Heading into a playoff game with their third string quarterback – and a rookie no less – under center, you couldn’t dream up more adverse conditions if you tried. But this offensie line is still a beast. The running game is potent. The defense can bring the hammer.

But these Raiders need to believe they can win without Carr on the field.

Against the Broncos, they didn’t look like a team that thought they could. They looked like a team that believed all of the experts and talking heads out there – that without Carr, they were done and their season was over. And rather than rally and fight together to prove everybody wrong, this team looked like they were content to roll over and accept their fate.

This Raiders team is the strongest, deepest, and most talented it’s been in more than a decade. They have playmakers all over the field on both sides of the ball. Carr is important to this team, obviously. But he’s also one man on a team of 53.

This team needs to come out Saturday in Houston with fire in their eyes and in their gut. They need to rally together and play with confidence. They need to believe that they can make plays even without Carr on the field. They need to believe in themselves and they need to believe in each other.

Confidence may not be enough to carry the day. It alone, won’t win the game for them. They will still have to make plays. But the more plays they make, the more their confidence will grow. The more plays they make, they can start to believe that hey, maybe they can win despite their circumstances.

Oakland’s situation is far from ideal and their odds are incredibly long. But if they come out and play some inspired football, if they play like their hair is on fire, they may make a real game of it. They may even shock the football world.

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One thing is certain, if they come out looking like they expect to lose – like they did in Denver – they’re going to lose and lose badly. This team needs to come out and play with some confidence and sense of purpose. Their playmakers need to remember that they’re playmakers and then go out and – well – make some plays.

It’s them against the world at this point, so they might as well take heart in one another. If they can do that, who knows what might happen for this squad? And if nothing else, playing with some swagger, playing with some grit and fire — even if it turns out to not be enough to win a game — will allow them to walk off the field with their heads held high.