Raiders look to keep rolling

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders got their season back on track with a three-game homestand sweep.

They’re hitting the road again this weekend, traveling to the East Coast to take on Sam Darnold and the rejuvenated New York Jets.

“These little road trips are nothing now,” Carr said. “We’re flying all the way across to New York and we’re like, that’s half the flight from what we are used to, and it’ll be good for us.”

The Raiders (6-4) are 1-3 on the road this season, having won at Indianapolis but lost at Minnesota, Green Bay and Houston. They also won a “home” game in London last month in the middle of a stretch in which they played five straight games away from Oakland. So, Jon Gruden’s group has this traveling thing down.

“It’s so funny, talking to our guys, we have a good routine of little games we play together, little team bonding things that we do,” Carr said. “Some of the guys are like,M`an! We get to go on the road this week!’ because they’re excited to bond some more and play some of our little games that we play.

“And that’s the makings of a group that gets along and loves being around each other.”

The Raiders’ victories over Detroit, the Los Angeles Chargers and Cincinnati marked their first sweep of a three-game homestand since1980. Oakland’s 17-10 win against the winless Bengals last week matched the fewest points it has allowed in the past six seasons.

A win Sunday at MetLife Stadium would set up a showdown for first place in the AFC West next week at Kansas City. But first the Raiders have to take care of a Jets squad that has won two in a row and has some newfound confidence after wins over the Giants and Washington.

The Jets (3-7) haven’t won three straight since Weeks 3-5 of the 2017 season.

“We can’t let off of the gas,” linebacker Jordan Jenkins said.

The Raiders can owe much of their success to the performance of their rookie class, led by firstround running back Josh Jacobs, whose 1,067 yards from scrimmage are the ninth most for a Raiders player through 10 games.

Fourth-round defensive end Maxx Crosby is coming off a four-sack game; No. 4 overall pick Clelin Ferrell had 2 1⁄ sacks two

2 weeks ago; fourth-round tight end Foster Moreau has four TD catches; and fifth-round receiver Hunter Renfrow has 33 catches and two TDs.

The Raiders have the most yards from scrimmage (1,676), TDs (14), yards rushing (937), receptions (73) and sacks (10) from the rookie class, and are the first team since sacks became an official stat in 1982 to get at least 10 TDs and 10 sacks from rookies in the first 10 games of season.

“We try to put more on them every week,” Gruden said. “We’re not limiting anything. I think that’s the key for their development.”