Thankfully the Oakland Raiders avoided disaster against the Cincinnati Bengals, keeping them without a win on the year with a 17-10 victory. Here are three studs and three duds from Sunday’s contest.
It was much closer than it probably should have been, but the Oakland Raiders avoided a massive disaster in this trap game against the Bengals. The message from coach Jon Gruden this week was to not overlook their opponent, despite the zero they have in the win column. That is a fairly common message around the NFL as anything can happen on any given Sunday.
It seems like that message stuck as the Bengals came out and were much more competitive than many predicted they would be.
Despite moving their record to 6-4, this was by no means a convincing win for the Silver and Black. They should be blowing a winless team out of the water, not letting them hang around and keep the game within one score.
Nonetheless, a win is a win and now the Raiders are firmly in the playoff conversation as they currently hold the second Wild Card spot as they hold the tiebreaker over the Indianapolis Colts. As the team heads into the final six games of the season, let’s take a look at whose stock is going up, and whose is going down.