A win on Sunday will keep the Oakland Raiders slim playoff hopes alive
By Brad Weiss
It may be a long shot, but the Oakland Raiders can keep their playoff hopes alive with a win against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 15.
The Oakland Raiders need to win on Sunday if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive. Heading into their Week 15 matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Silver and Black must find a way to get to 7-7, and then sit back and hope some other teams in front of them falter through the next three weeks.
Sitting at 6-7, the Raiders are a long shot to earn one of the final two playoff spots, but they have three winnable games ahead, and their competition has a much tougher schedule. Still, this is a Raiders team that has played terrible in recent weeks, so even a win against this Jaguars team is not a foregone conclusion in Week 15.
Jacksonville has also struggled mightily recently, and are a team that is slated for wholesale changes in the offseason. Quarterback Gardner Minshew has once again taken over for Nick Foles, but he has not played the brand of football he did early in the season, and this Jaguars offense is really struggling right now.
Both teams are having their issues on the defensive side of the ball, so my expectation is that the offenses are able to move the ball in this one. Derek Carr has always played well inside the Coliseum, and with a rowdy Oakland crowd behind him in Week 15, I like him to have at least two touchdown passes in this one.
Being the last home game era in Oakland, Sunday’s game will hold a lot of emotion, but the Raiders team has to just focus on winning the game, and giving themselves a chance to play in January. They have not helped themselves at all in recent weeks, but anything can happen, and they just need to hold up their side of the bargain Sunday.
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Sure, the chances the Raiders make the playoffs in their final season in Oakland are slim, but all you can ask for is a chance this late in the season. The Raiders had a great chance to extend their season ten games in, sitting at 6-4, but after three straight losses, they are in must-win, and get help mode with three games remaining.