Raiders coach Tony Sparano has tried a few different things to spark the team to their first victory since he took over for the fired Dennis Allen, but none of them have worked to this point.
Rather than bury another ball on Monday, Sparano decided it was better to give his team a chance to get away from the game. Sparano gave the Raiders players Monday off, although he explained he’d planned it before he knew that the Raiders would be coming into the week after their ninth loss in as many tries this season.
“It’s not a result of what happened,” Sparano said, via the Contra Costa Times. “I kind of figured that’s the way you guys would spin it, but it’s not. I knew in my mind this was going to be a players’ day off, no matter what. I would have liked to call it a ‘Victory Monday,’ but I knew either way I needed to give them a day off to heal up and stop for gas.”
The Raiders make a quick turnaround from this week’s game against the Chargers to a Week 12 Thursday night game against the Chiefs, something that played into the decision to take a step back as the week got underway. The change in schedule might not result in the first victory of the season, but nothing else has worked so it’s worth a shot.
