After starting the season 5-2, the Raiders have lost five of their last six games to fall to 6-7.
While Las Vegas has dealt with multiple unique circumstances this season, the franchise finds itself in a familiar situation. After a hot start, there’s a collapse. And while the club still has a chance to make the postseason, there aren’t many who feel like it will happen.
At least for this year’s team, quarterback Derek Carr said in his press conference this week that turnovers are a big problem for the offense. But there’s a larger element at play.
“[T]he main thing right now is that we’re too inconsistent,” Carr said. “The main thing is that we’re too much of this [up and down] instead of just doing the same thing right over and over again, and that’s as a whole. We’ve got to be better as a whole, and if we can be consistent, we’ve shown that we can put up a lot of points and put up a lot of yards against some really good teams.”
The only time the Raiders have done that in the last six games was against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. In the last five losses, Las Vegas hasn’t even reached 17 points.
Still, the Raiders aren’t out of it.
“Yeah, it’s nuts, right? It is a week-to-week game,” Carr said. “As I know, if anyone is just a fan of mine, it’s a week-to-week league that’s for sure because one day they love you and the next they hate you. They blame you for everything and then they praise you for stuff that really that wasn’t even me. If anyone knows that, I know that. But letting our team know that, to keep that mindset.
“Look, it doesn’t matter if we win by a whole bunch of points or if we lose by a whole bunch of points, you win by a close game or lose by a close game, you always move on to the next game. … I think that for us to know that we’re still right there and we have four AFC teams that we play, two in the division. It’s not going to be easy, but you’re telling me that we have a chance. The way that we’ve come to work is we do have a chance and that’s a fact. But we have to win football games, that’s all that matters.”
Given all the COVID-19 issues with the Browns, the Raiders should have a solid chance to win Saturday’s game. But if the offense continues to sputter, it will leave the door open for Cleveland to steal a victory.
