Though the Oakland Raiders didn’t do a ton of winning in 2017, it’s time to hand out a few awards to the guys that deserve some recognition the most.
Frankly, the sooner we can move on from the 2017 NFL season, the better we will feel about the Oakland Raiders. It was a massively disappointing year, as the team was six wins worse, missed the playoffs and saw head coach Jack Del Rio fired minutes after Week 17’s road loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
We will remember the 2017 campaign as the year that wasn’t. Oakland has serious Super Bowl LII aspirations. At varying points of the offseason, we sometimes convinced ourselves that the Raiders were possibly the biggest threat to the New England Patriots in the AFC. Instead, the Raiders got shelled by the Evil Empire 33-8 down in Mexico City coming after a bye.
Going into the 2017 season, we knew that Oakland would have to lean on its passing game to win high-scoring ball games, as the defense lacked the personnel to carry the team. Too bad first-year offensive coordinator Todd Downing was over his skis when it came to play calling. Derek Carr‘s regression and our stone-handed receiving corps didn’t help anybody’s cause either.
That being said, we have had enough time to sit back and try to extract something positive from this lost year from the Raiders. Believe it or not, some guys played well the whole year. It was just bad football around them that honestly marred it. So what we’re going to do is hand out a few well-deserved team awards to the guys that have rightfully earned them. Let’s get to it!