The Las Vegas Raiders have played their first 12 games of the 2020 NFL season and are now 7-5, here are the standouts from the third quarter of the season.
Last season, it took the Las Vegas Raiders until Week 16 to get to seven wins, but after Sunday’s dramatic win over the New York Jets, they reached that milestone after just 12 weeks. This improvement in the team’s record and overall level of play has been driven by a few different factors, but primarily due to an infusion of talent and depth across the board.
In the first quarter of the season, the Raiders went 2-2 with big wins against two NFC South opponents but fell short against two AFC East opponents that punished them with their dynamic offenses. The second quarter was the highlight of the season so far, as the Raiders went 3-1 including a trend-defying win against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, and a gutsy win in terrible weather over the Cleveland Browns.
The third and most recent quarter of the season had its highs and lows, as the Raiders blew out the Denver Broncos, but also got embarrassed by the Atlanta Falcons just two weeks later. Sandwiched between those games was a nail-biter against the Chiefs, where one defensive mistake cost Las Vegas the game in the game’s final moments.
Against the Jets last week, the Raiders possibly saved their season with a dramatic victory in the final seconds of the game and finished the third quarter with a 2-2 record. The work is not done yet as the fourth quarter of the season looms large as the Raiders make their playoff push but before we look forward let’s hand out some accolades for the best players in Silver and Black in the third quarter of the season.