Just win baby

Let's go, Raiders! Finally, as of Sunday 1/9/2022 the Las Vegas Raiders have punched their ticket to the 2021-2022 NFL playoffs. The Raiders clinched their Wildcard spot in an insane OT win over the LA Chargers. Just a quick refresher for context of how this could have played out. Either team wins they eliminate the loser from the playoffs and the Steelers get in. They tie and they both get in, but the Steelers are eliminated from the playoffs. At first the Raiders seemed like they had this game in the bag, until Justin Herbert decided he just didn't feel like losing that night. Multiple 4th and long conversions in the last 5 minutes of the game, and a touchdown in literally the last seconds to tie the game for overtime. Both teams get field goals and now it's Raiders ball. The Raiders are running down the clock running the ball, and according to Carr and Bisaccia they were prepared to just take the tie. That was until LA called a time out, so the Raiders decided to just go for the game winning kick and take playoff ticket if LA didn't want to tie.

As Dana White once said " ... Vince (McMahon) couldn't have wrote a better script for this whole thing". Seriously, if you didn't watch this game I'll be posting the highlights below. If you told me this game was 100% scripted I'd actually believe you, the story line was just perfect.

2021-2022 Regular Season

The amount of off season drama and even trauma this team had to face was absolutely absurd. From John Gruden, to Henry Ruggs, and of course just trying to deal with covid the raiders have faced a ton of adversity, especially off the field.

At first all the drama was taking a toll on the team after their incredible 3-0 season start. The team went 1-5 in November/December, but after week 14 being 6-7 the Raiders decided they had enough losing and went on a 4 game winning streak to finish the season. No matter what the Raiders would not go down without a fight. The Raiders finished with a regular season record was 10-7. the over/under for the season was 8 wins. Boy am I glad that I bet the over for the season.

Last time the Raiders have been to the playoffs

Finally Derick Carr gets to see the playoffs with his own two eyes. The last time the Raiders had a post season run was 2016-2017. They finished the regular season 12-4. Unfortunately that year was the year Carr broke his leg in week 16. The Raiders played against the Houston Texans, where they lost 27-14. Losing Carr was a huge blow, but thankfully this time that's not the case.

Strengths:

So what are the Raiders strengths? Just to name a few: passing completion percentage. special teams, intangibles. The intangibles, specifically heart is what I want to focus on the most. As mentioned above especially towards the end of the regular season this team would not go down without a fight.

Weaknesses:

Unfortunately the Raiders happen to have a ton of flaws. Run game, passing defense, interceptions, red zone offense/defense, 3rd and long conversions, health. I don't know what needs do be done in the red zone, maybe someone can just create a force field of some kind but the Raiders need to find a way to actually play some defense and stop plays in the red zone. And no disrespect to defense guys like: Crosby, Perryman, and Nassib. But the defense is still deeply concerning.

X-Factor

There are two main X-factors for the Raiders. There names are Derick Carr and Rich Bisaccia.

Let's see if Carr can rise to the occasion in his first ever post-season appearance. Bias aside Carr is a very underrated quarterback and it's a shame the team's records over the years don't reflect Carr's abilities. Carr is a great leader, great talent, and great motivator.

I'm also very intrigued to see how Bisaccia responds to the challenge of trying to coach his very first playoff game, can he find a way to keep the magic going? Will he find a way to keep other coaches on their toes, since he's so green? We'll have to wait and see.

Predictions for this post-season

With everything this team has accomplished while facing a ridiculous amount of obstacles, it's hard to just count them out. There's just something about the Raiders where they just won't go away. Sure I have a bit of bias since I'm a Raiders fan and I threw some money on them to win the Super Bowl because the odds were so high, but how can you count us out? I know we can beat Cincinnati but after that I have no idea.

And hey before I forget, fun fact. The 1981 Raiders were the first ever wildcard to win the Super Bowl. So maybe lightning can strike twice.

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