Oakland Raiders: Turning The Ship Around

Ah, what fun occurs with a wacky weekend.

Oakland, who won against the Jets, turned out to be the only team to win in the AFC West this weekend. Could call it an interesting development, considering for some time, Denver was supposed to have walked away with the division by now.

Denver, still in the lead, got stuffed in New England, by a suddenly inspired Patriots team. San Diego, in second place, discovered what we learned: playing in Buffalo, isn't easy. And well.....Kansas City is looking at signing Duante Culpepper, if that's a newsworthy announcement....

But here's the news. Oakland is not in the cellar. In fact, Oakland is now one game back in the wild card slot, which is a traffic jam of teams with three wins, and one four win team, the Patriots.

Or, if you're ambitious, Oakland is two games behind Denver, if we want all the cookies.

Some things do bode well for us, in this case. First of all, we play all three clubs again, later this season. Denver, right now, has lost three of four games. San Diego, has a pattern of every other game looking like Norv Turner's Redskins, and LT is still running like....well, Troy Davis.

And the Chiefs? Until they figure things out, this might be the team that gives the Bengals their first win of the season.

Our remaining opponents, have had their shares of ups and downs.

In order, we have:

Baltimore Ravens 

In Baltimore, we'll be playing Joe Flacco. And a very, very strong defense. However, this is the same club that got torched by Indy, and lost close games to the Titans and the Steelers.

Atlanta Falcons 

Here's a club that many thought would be a bit dysfunctional, after last year's disaster-piece theatre. Instead, Matt Ryan has righted this ship, and has the Falcons at 4-2. Our advantage? He's coming to Oakland.

Carolina Panthers

The Panthers have had a rollercoaster last three weeks. They torched the Chiefs, lost the next week badly to Tampa Bay, then rebounded to clobber the Saints. Again, welcome to Oakland, Jake.

Miami Dolphins 

Last year, Oakland took this road trip, and proceeded to reward the loyal fans with a win, and a mini-black hole opened up in the stadium. Miami's wildcat seemed to lose a little bite, last week, as they got beat by the Ravens.

Denver Broncos 

This was where Oakland's season started, but this time, it's in Denver. This might be to our advantage, because now that we know their weaknesses, we can exploit them....and not worry about trying to pass to targets that can't catch.

Kansas City Chiefs 

Again, this isn't going to be pretty....can you say season sweep?

San Diego Chargers 

Chargers, by this time, will be so sick of airline food, they'll wanna petition the league for a full season on the west coast. Oakland coming to town, might look like a walk....but i'm still opting for a split. After all, we gave away our win...they can too.

New England Patriots 

This game, I feel will be our litmus test. Sure, the Patriots game got a lot easier with Brady out, and now that Harrison's joined the injured society....winning, with them visiting, could help send off the last games properly.

Houston Texans 

Could be a shocker, in Oakland. Will this be our first win against the Texans? This team started out 0-4, but has rebounded for two wins. One against Miami, one against the Lions.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

Last game out there, and with Gruden in the way....I can't imagine Gruden would like anything more, but stopping us from getting into the playoffs....even if he's got home field locked up in the playoffs, he wouldn't be keen on playing it soft.

Final thoughts, is that for us to get in, we will either need 8-8, with some help, 9-7, for a wild card, or 10-6, for the division. We're already at 2-4, so going 8-2 would be difficult. But considering what injuries have occurred....not impossible. We'll see.