Raiders tanking guide: The route to the No. 1 overall pick
By Levi Dombro
Strength of schedule matters
When two teams finish the season with the same record, a tiebreaker is used to determine who gets the higher pick in the following year's draft.
The first tiebreaker is strength of schedule. Basically, the weaker your opponents are, the higher pick you get in the draft.
Right now, the Raiders have played the toughest strength of schedule out of the two-win teams, which is why they have the fourth pick.
In order to continuing ascending, it would take a bit of help from the other teams around the league.
To make things simple, I've compiled a guide on the next slide of who to cheer for in Week 12 if you're focused on the Raiders moving up the draft board.
Essentially, these fans should be cheering against the teams that are on the Raiders schedule. As a reminder, the team faced off against the AFC West, AFC North and NFC South this season, as well as the Jaguars, Dolphins, and Rams.
There are a few teams on the Raiders' schedule that are also in the hunt for the top overall pick, like the Browns, Jaguars, Panthers and Saints. However, the Raiders can take matters into their own hands against two of those teams.
But by-and-large, it benefits the Raiders' draft stock to root for these teams to lose as many games as possible going forward because it lowers their strength of schedule.
By that same token, those fans should be cheering for the strength of schedule of other teams in the hunt for the first overall pick to increase.
In a sense, this means cheering for teams on the schedule of the Jaguars, Titans, and Giants.
Because the Jaguars and Titans both play in the AFC South, every win by an AFC South team is beneficial to the Raiders because it increases the strength of schedule for the Jaguars and Titans.
Cheering for the NFC East to win would also increase the Giants and Cowboys' strength of schedule, which is good for the Raiders.
An easy example to grasp this concept is by looking at Monday Night Football from Week 11. The Raiders entered Monday with the fourth pick, and the Giants trailed them with the fifth pick.
But because the Cowboys lost, it lowered the Giants' strength of schedule enough to put them ahead of the Raiders.
Two teams, seemingly unrelated to Las Vegas, were responsible for the team dropping a spot in the draft.
This is why it is important to cheer for the following outcomes in Week 12.