Raiders 2024 schedule: Weeks 4 through 9 could make or break the season

The general consensus when the Raiders' 2024 opponents were announced earlier in the year was that this schedule would be among the toughest in the league, with a specific run of games standing out as particularly challenging. We can divide an 18-week season into three separate six-week segments.

The Raiders will undoubtedly face their toughest challenge this season from weeks 4 through 9.

Raiders face a gauntlet of teams from Week 4 through 9

WK 4 vs Cleveland WK 5 @ Denver WK 6 vs Pittsburgh WK 7 @ LA Rams WK 8 vs Kansas City WK 9 @ Cincinnati

Last year, these six teams combined for 59 wins, with four of the six qualifying for the postseason. The two teams that were excluded from the playoffs are Denver, a division rival with a new group hoping to leave their own imprint on the league, and Cincinnati, which missed the postseason by the narrowest of margins despite playing without their starting quarterback for half of the season.

Two of the six share the AFC West with the Raiders, while the other five are in the AFC. Since this difficult stretch comes early in the season, we will quickly ascertain just what to expect from this team.

In all likelihood, the Raiders will be in strong shape heading into their bye week if they have won four or five games. After the break, the schedule gets easier, with the final few games being very winnable.

Expectations of making the playoffs are very real.

As was the case last season, the AFC is up for grabs in 2024, and while the Chiefs are once again the favorite to win it all, they struggled a bit during last year's regular season. Las Vegas built up their roster to compete in 2024, especially on defense, but all eyes will be on whether or not the offense can hang with the best of the best in the conference.