The Athletic rightly predicts Las Vegas Raiders earn wild card berth
Of the 20 teams that missed the playoffs last year, The Athletic predicts the Las Vegas Raiders will be one of the 14 teams to make it in 2020
The Las Vegas Raiders are in a new stadium, in a new city, in a new state, and if the hopes of Raider Nation come true, they will be one of the new teams in the 2020 NFL playoffs. 20 teams missed the playoffs in 2019 and the Raiders were one of the last to get eliminated as the Titans beat the Texans and the Silver and Black lost to the Denver Broncos in Week 17.
A disastrous four-game stretch is what ultimately ruined the Raiders’ playoff hopes last season, but there are several reasons to get excited about the possibility of making the playoffs in 2020. One of the reasons is simple math, as the NFL increased the number of playoff teams from 12 to 14 by adding a third wild card spot and only giving the top seed a first round bye.
Expanding the field would allow for more teams in 7-9 to 9-7 range to make the playoffs though the Raiders would have still missed the playoffs last season in this format.
The second reason why some believe the Raiders will make the playoffs, including The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia, is because they are a better team on paper than they were in 2019. Kapadia believes the Raiders have the seventh best chance of the 20 teams to make the playoffs and his reasoning is sound.