Just Finish Strong, Baby
Raiders looking to make run at playoffs
ATLANTA — The Las Vegas Raiders have positioned themselves to make a run at what would be just their second playoff appearance since reaching the Super Bowl during the 2002 season.
Of course, they’ve been here before.
A year ago, in their last year in Oakland, the Raiders entered the stretch run with a 6-4 records — the same mark they have heading into Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. But the team that now calls Las Vegas home stumbled to the finish, managing one win in its final six games while averaging a league-low 14.7 points during that span.
“We’re definitely a better team this year, but we have to — and I mean have to — finish this season better than we did last year,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “I’m hopeful and I believe that we will and I think that it’s different,”
This year feels much the same to the Falcons (3—7), who don’t have a whole lot to play for other than avoiding their third straight losing season.
Interim coach Raheem Morris is trying to stay positive, even after an ugly 24-9 loss to the New Orleans Saints last weekend.
“We had a couple of really good physical runs
early that we were not able to maintain, that we have to be able to maintain throughout the whole game in order to finish teams off the way we want to finish teams off,” Morris said. “We have to figure out how to do that better.”
The Raiders’ hopes of contending for the AFC West title took a huge blow last week with a 35-31 loss to Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes threw a 22yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce with 28 seconds to play for the winning score.
Coach Jon Gruden was in no mood to discuss comparisons to last year’s Raiders. He’s only looking ahead.
“This comparing stuff is for ESPN analysts. Those days are in my past,” said the former “Monday Night Football” commentator. “We have a long way to go. We’re making progress.”
BIG OPPORTUNITY
The Raiders have struggled getting to the quarterback, making the second fewest sacks in the league with 11. The only times they’ve had fewer sacks after 10 games in the Super Bowl era came in 2014 (10) and 2018 (9).
But after watching Atlanta’s Matt Ryan get sacked eight times last week by New Orleans, the Raiders are hoping to get some chances.
“You get excited about that,” defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins said. “We obviously have to go out and play the game. Just because one team had nine sacks or whatever amount they had, doesn’t mean we’ll have the same, too.”