Las Vegas Raiders Playoff Hopes Continue to Sink
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The Las Vegas Raiders have dug themselves in a hole, a very deep hole early in the season.
They entered the season having high expectations of reaching the playoffs and making a deep run under new Raiders Head Coach, Josh McDaniels.
Instead, the Raiders open the season 0-3, and have their chances of making the postseason diminish week after week.
But what if I told you there’s still a chance of the Silver and Black making the postseason.
Since 2002, 98 teams have started 0-3, only one of them made the playoffs (2018 Houston Texans).
That was before the new 14 playoff teams format, which means the Raiders can benefit from the extra game.
In an analysis done by the New York Times, the Raiders lowered their chances of making the playoffs to 17 percent from 24 percent, the third worst in the NFL.
But unlike the bottom two teams, they have the talent to make a run to the postseason.
Trading for wide receiver Davante Adams and signing defensive end Chandler Jones anticipated the Raiders starting 3-0 instead of 0-3.
Adams' production has faded away towards the second half of the last two games, while Jones has yet to record a sack, but the results may come if they continue to pull through.
"Stay the course," Adams said of the slow start. "Keep grinding and doing what we're doing. We just need to tweak a few things. I mean, they made a couple more better plays than us today (Sunday), and this is three games that came down to the wire. You've just got to find a better way to start and learn how to finish out some of these games."
The Raiders return home as favorites for their week four matchup against divisional rival, the Denver Broncos.
According to the stimulator by the Times, if the Raiders fall to 0-4, their chance to make the playoffs continue to fall to 11 percent, and if they win, it increases to 23 percent.
Remarkably, there has been only one team in NFL history to start the season 0-4 and make the playoffs, and that was then the 1992 San Diego Chargers.
So it would be a huge turnaround and lift if the Raiders plan on salvaging the rest of the season.
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