Oakland Raiders: Predicting The Regular Season Win-Loss Record

Week 9 @ Miami Dolphins

It won’t be surprising if HC Jack Del Rio keeps the team on the East Coast after playing Buffalo, since their week nine matchup is in Miami.

Miami is – or maybe was – a team on the rise. And one that’s already been rattled by injuries – most notably, to quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Even without Tannehill though, Miami’s offense is electric on paper. They’ve got a dynamic running back in Jay Ajayi who ran for almost 1,300 yards last season. They’ve also got explosive receivers in Jarvis Landry, DeVante Parker, and Kenny Stills – the three of whom combined for 2,600 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns in 2016.

The only thing that should give Dolphins fans pause for concern is that it’s Jay Cutler, not Tannehill at the controls of this offense.

Cutler, though much maligned throughout his career, is a 62 percent passer who’s thrown for more than 32,000 yards and 200 touchdowns. And in 2015, when Dolphns HC Adam Gase was Chicago’s offensive coordinator, Cutler threw for more than 3,600 yards and 21 touchdowns on 64 percent passing.

But this is a defense, ranked twenty-ninth overall last year, who gives up a lot of yards on the ground and points, at just a tick under 24 per game.

Oakland should find room to maneuver and put some point on the board. And an offense that has some players but doesn’t quite have the spark it did with Tannehill under center, isn’t going to be able to keep up.

Raiders: 28: Dolphins: 20 (Record 8-1)

Week 10 – Bye Week

The bye comes at an opportune time as the Raiders need to rest and regroup before embarking on the Murderer’s Row that is the back half of their 2017 season.

Week 11 New England Patriots (in Estadio Azteca, Mexico)

For the second consecutive year, the Raiders have given up a home game to play a “home game” in Mexico City. Last year, they battled the Houston Texans and pulled out a win. This year, they drew the short straw by pulling Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

In the short term, the Patriots will be hobbled a bit by the loss of Brady’s favorite target – Julian Edelman. But by week ten, New England should be back up and rolling along again.

Over the course of the offseason, the Patriots loaded up to make a run at back-to-back Super Bowl titles, adding weapons like Brandin Cooks and Phillip Dorsett to an offense that ranked fourth overall in 2016.

Losing Edelman is going to hurt, no question. But if there is one offensive unit in the league that can absorb a loss like that and not skip a beat, it’s New England’s.

Because their offense is so dynamic, the Raiders will hang tough for a while, but they’re going to take some lumps in this game.

Patriots: 35 Raiders: 24 (Record 8-2)

Week 12 Denver Broncos

Coming off a humbling loss to the Patriots, HC Jack Del Rio needs to have his troops fired up and ready to roll. It’s Broncos week, after all.

Assuming Trevor Siemian is still starting at this point, the second game in the season series should play out much like the first one all the way back in week four did – with a Raiders win.

The question is, by how much?

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If Siemian is still starting, it might be closer than if Paxton Lynch is under center for Denver. Of the two, Siemian is the more polished passer. Though, going by what we’ve seen out of the pair so far, neither looks to be like the solution in Denver.

And Denver’s defense won’t be able to cover for the team’s offensive shortcomings.

Look for the Raiders to vent some of their frustation over their loss to New England against this Broncos team.

Broncos 17 Raiders 28 (Record 9-2)

Week 13 New York Giants

The Raiders get a week thirteen matchup with the other New York team – the one that might be good this year.

Oakland’s corners – Sean Smith and David Amerson – match up pretty well with the Giants’ bigger receiving duo of Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall, physically speaking. And if they can muscle up on those two, they’ll give themselves a puncher’s chance of keeping a potent passing game quiet.

But the Giants also have a solid defensive unit. This is a unit that was ranked tenth overall and at just under 18 points per game, were the second stingiest unit in the NFL. Moving the ball and scoring points is going to be tough for the Raiders.

Oakland’s offensive line is going to get a test in the form of pass rushing monsters Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon. Between the two, they had 15.5 sacks on the year. This line is going to need to be on point to keep Carr clean.

In the end though, it’s going to be the stingier defensive unit that carries the day in a tough, low-scoring affair.

Giants: 21 Raiders: 17 (Record 9-3)