The Las Vegas Raiders will look to keep their slim playoff hopes alive against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 15. Here are three bold predictions.
The Las Vegas Raiders haven’t done anything bold this season since beating the Kansas City Chiefs on the road in Week 5. For the second straight year, the Raiders have seemingly played themselves out of playoff contention and need a lot of outside help just to even have a shot. Weeks ago, the Raiders were going into the Week 11 game at home against Kansas City sitting at 6-3, and feeling really good about themselves. Maybe too good.
Since then, they have lost three of the last four games, two of which were blowouts, and the lone win was a walk-off touchdown against the New York Jets. This year, it has actually cost somebody their job, as defensive coordinator Paul Guenther was fired Sunday after the game, and defensive line coach Rod Marinelli has taken over in the interim.
The Raiders have performed so terribly these past three games that it cannot be assumed any game left on this schedule will be an easy win, despite playing the bottom two teams in the division. That being said, having the offense that the Raiders do, and with the offensive line being almost completely healthy with Trent Brown returning on Sunday, they can still put up enough points to win.
Derek Carr talked a lot about being tired of the disrespect of the Raiders as a team and his teammates, and right now, he has the opportunity to take care of business and help this team to a playoff spot. They will need to play well in all three phases against the Chargers, especially on a short week.
With that said, here are some bold predictions for the Thursday night matchup.