Oakland Raiders: Five Thoughts from Week 10

The Raiders may not be that far away from being truly competitive

Nov 15, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; An Oakland Raiders cheerleader from the Raiderettes performs during a timeout against the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth quarter at O.co Coliseum. The Vikings defeated the Raiders 30-14. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Two weeks ago, playoff talk was full steam ahead. Not only from the fanbase, but the national media actually started to show the Raiders some love.

Even in Vegas, Oakland was actually being favored in games, and not only that, but the majority of bets were still being placed on them.

But 10 games into the season is a good enough sample size to show that the team is much improved, but they need some more help before it can be considered truly competitive.

Consistency is one thing that hasn’t been there for the Raiders this season, for better or worst.

For example, Oakland rattled off back to back wins, but then fell flat against the Bears, who were ranked 32nd in ESPN’s Power Rankings at the time.

After that, the Raiders played the Broncos extremely tough and probably should have won that game, but fell just short. Then they destroyed the Chargers and handled the Jets before dropping two straight games to the Steelers and Vikings.

The Minnesota game in particular was a great measuring stick for Oakland. The Vikings look like a Top 5 team right now, and they outmatched the Raiders in every facet on Sunday.

That isn’t anything to be overly frustrated about, either. The Raiders didn’t have too many detrimental mistakes, which is promising. It was more of a case of one team being more talented than the other.

And again, nothing to be overly frustrated about. The team competed until the end, but just couldn’t get over the hump.

As opposed to many years in the past, there are much fewer holes to fill on the roster. The secondary is in huge need of help, they need to improve on the right side of the offensive line, they need a middle linebacker, and then they need depth.

That’s a far cry from the lengthy list of team needs of Raiders teams in the recent past.

Other than what was mentioned, they really don’t need a whole lot. Improvements at any position are always welcomed, but there is a quality amount of young talent on this football team.

If the young players can keep improving, if McKenzie can add one more solid draft and FA class, then this is a playoff team.