Raiders Looking to Get Out of Their Own Way

The Las Vegas Raiders had high hopes coming out of their bye week with five games remaining and an outside shot at a playoff berth. Those hopes took a significant blow on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.

Las Vegas entered the bye week on a two-game losing streak. Interim Coach Antonio Pierce shared his feelings about the team's recent performance.

"It hurt," Pierce said. "It was disappointing. It was unexpected. I thought we did a good job during the bye week, self-scouting, looking at ourselves, looking at the opponent. I thought I did the same.

"I thought we did a decent job preparing. Obviously, that didn't show up. And whenever you're shut out, and the game is played where the defense is pretty much dominating the game, it can go either way."

Pierce points to Las Vegas' second-half meltdowns as the critical issue in their three-game losing streak.

"Look, we could have won that game, 3-0," Pierce said. "It didn't happen. But it's disappointing to let opportunities slip away. And again, it is what it is, but you look at the last three losses in the fourth quarter, 20-13, 21-17, 0-0, to start.

"We talked about finishing the fourth quarter and we've got to do better there, but obviously, it was a rough night."

The season has been filled with missed opportunities for the Raiders. That was again the case for the Silver and Black on Sunday.

"It was very clear, it was evident," Pierce said. "Opportunities were there in the first quarter, especially offensively. We hurt ourselves with penalties. Then, we get down to red zone, ans penalty, turnover.

"Then defensively at the end of the game, doing a really good job for the most part. Everybody saw it, but we just needed one more stop. One more stop, and we didn't get it."

"We were close, but obviously, it wasn't good enough. And special teams had a big punt return, and a penalty knocked us out of it right there at the 30-yard line. So again, like I told the guys, the Raiders beat the Raiders."

There some are issues with the Raiders that cannot be fixed until after the season. However, with four games left in the regular season, Las Vegas will have to find a way to stop beating themselves in close football games.

Considering the Raiders beat themselves the last time they played the Los Angeles Chargers, Thursday night would be an excellent time for the Raiders to stop beating the Raiders.

The Silver and Black will turn around quickly and host their AFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, on Thursday, December 14, at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST.

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