Oakland Raiders: Five Things That Must Happen Against New England

The Oakland Raiders square off with the New England Patriots in Mexico City and to give themselves a chance to win this ballgame, a few things need to happen.

Oh, how times have changed for the Oakland Raiders. In the span of just a couple of months, they’ve gone from the sexy pick to challenge Tom Brady and the New England Patriots for AFC supremacy, to a team that’s scuffling and fighting just to stay alive in the playoff picture.

But, that’s what a 4-5 record, a defense with more holes than a pasta strainer, and a stretch of games where your offense can’t score even two touchdowns a game will buy you.

Although they’ve had some inspired moments, overall, not a lot has gone right for the Raiders this season. Offensively, they’ve gone through periods where they couldn’t move the ball or find the endzone with a GPS. Defensively, they’ve been absolutely shredded by the likes of Josh McCown, Trevor Siemian, and in the latest bit of disgrace, Jay Cutler.

We knew going into the season that the Raiders were going to be – how does one put this kindly? – defensively challenged. But, we didn’t expect them to be as bad as they have been. Nor did we expect them to claim a dubious bit of history by being the only team in NFL history, to go without a single interception through their first nine games of a given season.

As rough as it’s been to this point for the Silver and Black, all hope is not lost. In the parity-riddled AFC, there is still plenty of reason to believe. Oakland has caught some breaks against would-be playoff contenders.

Now, it’s up to them to capitalize on the good fortune that’s come their way.

A win against New England would be enormous and could really help build some momentum that can help catapult them through the back half of their schedule. But to notch that win over the Patriots, the Raiders are going to have to perform and a few things will need to happen…