Joey Bates’ 2019 win-loss prediction prior to the 2019 NFL Draft
The Raiders 2019 schedule is out, and it’s not pretty. The Raiders play in the toughest division in football, and on top of that the Raiders also will play away from home for five straight weeks this year, and travel more miles than any other team in the league.
Now, with all that being said, I think their record will improve from last year. The Raiders start off at home against two division rivals, and if they can steal one of these, I feel they’ll be in good shape.
Next comes the gauntlet.
They play at Minnesota, Indianapolis, London against the Chicago Bears, Green Bay, and finally Houston. They need to win at least two of these games in my opinion. That’ll put them, halfway through the season, at 3-4 or 4-4.
After this onslaught of road games, the schedule seems to get easier. They play a rebuilding Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, and New York Jets team during the back half of the year, as well as, now-full-time starter Nick Foles and the Jacksonville Jaguars. These are all winnable games, but we’ll see.
They finish the year on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos. I feel we’ll split the series against those two teams, but I just don’t know if we have enough firepower to overcome the Kansas City Chiefs. I feel that if they can stay healthy both physically and mentally, they might be able to make a Wild Card push, but honesty, playoffs look more a year away than just a draft away.
My pre-draft season prediction is that the Raiders can finish anywhere between 6-10 and 9-7, which would put me firmly at 7-9. The Raiders improve, but don’t get over the hump until Las Vegas.