Las Vegas Raiders vs Philadelphia Eagles Week 7: Studs and Duds
Duds – The Raiders haters
Since this was a dominant win from start to finish, it would be annoyingly nitpicky to look for a dud among the players and coaches. Just about everything went right except for Josh Jacobs leaving the game in the second quarter and Daniel Carlson missing an extra point.
So with that in mind, the only real duds this week were the Raiders haters that thought the team would spiral out of control after Gruden’s resignation. They thought that this team would tank after losing the head coach and didn’t realize how much better an experience was on the roster and coaching staff who could right the ship.
Instead of going in a tailspin, it could be argued that this team has looked better in the past two weeks than it has in the first five. The offense has been more creative and explosive, and the defense has kept on chugging along with the physical play and opportunistic playmaking.
They now go into the bye week at 5-2 ahead of a tough stretch that involves visits to New York and Dallas and two home dates against Cincinnati and Kansas City.
The Raiders have started the last two years hot but have faded down the stretch and they will hope to avoid the same fate this year. There are concerns of course but without the specter of Jon Gruden’s scandal and his massive personality weighing down the team, perhaps they can avoid those issues and break their postseason slump to really shut up the haters.