After a frisky start to the season, the Las Vegas Raiders have regressed significantly over the last three games. They have gone back and forth on their quarterback situation, the defense has regressed, and they have looked lifeless on both sides of the ball at times during a three-game losing streak that has dropped them to 2-5.
With the team clearly out of a competitive window, many fans and pundits are speculating that the Raiders should tank to try to secure a quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft, or acquire another top prospect at the top of the draft.
Despite that notion, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce insists that the team is still focused on winning games and turning this season around, according to Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.
“We’re not tanking,” Pierce said, per Gutierrez. “We’re not trying to lose games to do anything better for the future. Hell, we’re trying to be the best team we can and right now, we’re not a good team.”
The Raiders lost quarterback Aidan O’Connell to a broken thumb on Sunday, and recently benched starter Gardner Minshew had to come in the game to replace him. O’Connell is now on injured reserve and will miss 4-6 weeks of action before returning. The Raiders’ next chance to right the ship will come on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
How can the Raiders turn things around?
After trading Davante Adams and losing three games in a row, the vibes around the Raiders at the moment aren’t great. They’re down to 2-5, they just lost their starting quarterback and the schedule in front of them looks very daunting.
Most discussions about the Raiders start with the quarterback play, which is understandable given the fact that the quarterback play has been bad. Neither Aidan O’Connell nor Gardner Minshew have been able to give the Raiders quality play from that position this year, but that’s far from the team’s only problem.
The running game has been hideous in Las Vegas. The Raiders are currently ranked 30th in the NFL in rushing yards per game, and their stable of backs has not been able to generate any consistent success in that facet of the game. Without the ability to run the ball, Minshew and O’Connell are being asked to operate in obvious passing situations, which is not their strong suit. Now, they are having to do that without a true No. 1 receiver.
The defense has also taken a massive step back this season. Patrick Graham’s unit kept the Raiders in a lot of football games down the stretch of last season after Josh McDaniels was fired, but the Raiders have regressed into a bottom-10 run defense and a bottom-5 scoring defense. They just don’t have the weapons on offense to keep up if that’s going to be the case.
Turning things around this season seems like an impossible task at this point. So, while Raiders fans wait for the offseason, they can watch Brock Bowers and hope that he has a quarterback to throw him the ball soon.
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