The Athletic rightly predicts Las Vegas Raiders earn wild card berth
Why Kapadia feels the Raiders will clinch a playoff spot
Kapadia writes that this is how the Raiders can clinch a playoff berth:
"Rookie Henry Ruggs III provides much-needed speed to the offense and Derek Carr benefits from playing behind one of the league’s best lines, producing the best season of his career. Tight end Darren Waller makes the Pro Bowl and Josh Jacobs leads the league in rushing yards. Defensively, the influx of talent (Cory Littleton, Nick Kwiatkoski and Maliek Collins) pays off, and second-year players Clelin Ferrell and Maxx Crosby take big steps forward. Gruden and the Raiders cap off their first season in Las Vegas with a wild-card berth. Source: The Athletic"
All of these reasons are many of the same reasons that those following the team closely feel that 9 to 11 wins is a realistic range for the Raiders despite their tough schedule. The offense was already better than average in 2019 and will only benefit from the addition of Ruggs and the further development of Waller and Jacobs.
The defense is still a few pieces away from being a dominant unit, but if the offense is all it’s cracked up to be, then it simply needs to be average for the Raiders to compete. They were near the bottom of the league in nearly every category except for rushing yards allowed and still managed to squeeze out seven wins, and were robbed of an 8th against Jacksonville.
If the defense can be in the middle of the pack and force more turnovers, similar to the 2016 season, then a Wild Card berth is a very realistic proposition.
Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers would have been the third Wild Card team with an 8-8 record, so the Raiders would likely only need nine wins and some conference tiebreakers to latch on as the last seed. Of course, the preferred path would be to win the division ,and anything can happen between now and December, but the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West.
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Regardless of how they get in to the big dance, all that matters is that the Raiders make the playoffs and win a game or two to give the fans what they’ve been craving for nearly two decades.