Oakland Raiders: 2017 first quarter report card
By John Buhler
The Oakland Raiders are 2-2 through the first four games of the 2017 NFL season. Let’s take some time to hand out grades on their first quarter report card.
As the calendar has turned from September and into October, we are now entering Week 5 of the 2017 NFL season. Teams are now starting to go on their respective bye weeks and we’ve had enough of a sample size to draw some conclusions about all NFL teams, including the Oakland Raiders.
The Raiders are 2-2 on the year. They won their first two games of the season over the Tennessee Titans 26-16 in Nashville and at home versus the New York Jets, 45-20. Those two wins had the NFL clamoring that the Raiders were one of the three or four best teams in football. However, the Silver and Black have dropped two in a row to fall back to .500 on the year.
The Raiders’ two losses are a primetime blowout to the Washington Redskins on Sunday Night Football 27-10 in Landover and a close defeat on the road to the division rival Denver Broncos, 16-10. With those two consecutive defeats fresh in everyone’s mind, is Oakland even seen as a top-10 heading into the second quarter of the season?
Before we start to get ready for Week 5’s home game versus the Baltimore Ravens, let’s take a few minutes to hand out some grades on Oakland’s 2017 first quarter report card. What areas have been strengths for this team and where can Oakland find ways to improve? Here are the grades for the offense, defense, special teams and coaching for the Silver and Black.