The Oakland Raiders are 3-5 through their first eight games of the 2017 NFL season. Ready of not, it’s time to hand out some midseason grades for this team.
We still have one more game left on the Week 8 slate, Monday Night Football between the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs. For many teams, including the Oakland Raiders, half of their 2017 regular season games have been played.
With more than a healthy sample size of data, we can assess each team somewhat appropriately. The reality for the Raiders is that the 2017 team is a shell of what the 2016 team was. Oakland finds itself at a miserable 3-5 on the year and in last place in the AFC West.
The Raiders got off to a great start by winning its first two games of the year over the Tennessee Titans and the New York Jets. However, the Silver and Black have dropped five of six to fall almost completely out of the AFC playoff picture. Oakland’s lone win during this bad patch of games was at home on Thursday Night Football over the Kansas City Chiefs by a single point.
With so much optimism in this team’s sails heading into the season, it’s all but gone as we chart course into the second half. Let’s hand out some grades of the 2017 Raiders first half. This is not a report card Mom and Dad would proudly display on the fridge, it’s one that gets you grounded for a month.