It’s a great time for the bye

I had planned to write about how the Raiders gave another one away. I was going to discuss that the season is slipping away with the 4^th quarter giveaways and the continued Coach Kiffin speculation. But, I’m going a different route. This season is far from over.

The bye week gets here at the absolute perfect time. The Raiders are reeling, blowing two very winnable games to Buffalo and San Diego. The second hurts a little worse because it was the Chargers and because it was a 15-0 lead. There is a silver (and black) lining, though.

The Raiders held their own without three of their stars either playing or playing to their normal levels due to injury (Asomugha, McFadden, and Fargas).  Yes, they still lost the game. But I’m trying to find the positives here. For the first time in a long time, there are actually some positives.

For the 3^rd consecutive game, they were in a position to win. It’s been a long, long time since anyone could say that. It’s a fixable issue. You can’t fix being down 35-3 in the 4^th quarter of every game. You can fix closing games, though.

I’m chalking this up to “they’ve never been here before” syndrome. A team that is used to losing generally finds a way to lose. But, eventually, they’ll win one of these nail biters. Then they’ll win another (you see a pattern here?). I mentioned the ease of schedule in my last post. The opportunity is certainly there to get the ship righted. Of course that all changes if Kiffin is gone (you know my feelings on that topic).  

If anything, it’s going to be a very interesting two weeks.