Oakland Raiders: It’s Far Too Early To Call It A Must-Win, But…

The Oakland Raiders are in the Mile High City for a divisional game – one that carries bigger implications than a game in week four usually would.

The Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos are both coming off humbling losses in week three. Denver stumbled their way to a 10-point loss to Tyrod Taylor and the Buffalo Bills, while Oakland came out completely flat before bumbling their way to a 17-point loss in the nation’s capital.

Suffice it to say, given the fact that one team will finish Sunday 3-1 and the other will drop to 2-2, both teams will be highly motivated to pull out a win.

It’s not going to be easy for Oakland. Last week’s ugly loss in Washington exposed some real issues this team has – but had been able to pretty effectively mask through the first two games of the season. Kirk Cousins and Washington’s offense lit the Oakland defense up for 27 points and 472 yards of total offense.

And they did it without their top two offensive weapons – tight end Jordan Reed and running back Robert Kelley – both out with injury.

Yeah, Oakland’s game with Washington – effectively over before it ever really began – was reminiscent of those heady days of Dennis Allen when you could pencil the Raiders in for about three or four wins a season.

And now, the Raiders are in Denver for a tough divisional match-up with a longtime, hated arch-rival. No rest for the wicked, eh?

Ordinarily, a game this early in the season shouldn’t be called a must-win. And we won’t call it a must-win here. But – you’d probably safe in calling this game a, “you-really-don’t-wanna-lose-this-one.”

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The game is important not just because the Raiders need to wash the horrid taste out of their collective mouths leftover from that Sunday night debacle – but because this is a divisional game. And if you want to win the division – a long-stated goal of HC Jack Del Rio‘s Squad – it’s important to, you know, win your division games.

With the Chiefs off to a fast 3-0 start, the winner of this game will keep pace atop the division. And the loser is going to have to make up a little ground. From Oakland’s perspective, this game should loom all the larger, given that the Broncos and Chiefs have already notched wins inside the AFC West – both teams have already defeated Philip Rivers and the Chargers.

Going down by a pair of games to the Broncos inside the division isn’t a good look and isn’t how this Raiders squad wants to start off the season.

For two weeks, the Raiders looked like a team that had some issues, but a solid team overall. A team capable of living up to the hype, and a team that looked more than able to make another run to the postseason this year.

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That all came to a crashing halt in Washington as the proverbial wheels fell off and everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.

Which makes this early season game with Denver a little more important than it normally would be. For a number of different reasons. It’s a tough hill to climb, but the Raiders are going to have to go into the Mile High City and find a way to come out of it with a W.

It’s going to take solid contribution from all three phases of the game – offense, defense, and special teams. It’s going to take them coming out with energy, vigor, and ready to punch somebody in the metaphorical mouth – or, you know, the polar opposite of how they came out in Washington last Sunday.

Maybe it’s far too early in the season to call this game a “must-win” – but, it kinda is.