The Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders will meet in Week 3 in a battle between a pair of 0-2 teams that desperately need a win.
The Titans’ start has been ugly. First, they lost to one of the worst teams in the NFL the last five years, the New York Giants, in Week 1, and then they were crushed by the Buffalo Bills in Week 2, 41-7.
Las Vegas’ start has been almost as ugly. After dropping their Week 1 contest versus the Los Angeles Chargers, the Raiders coughed up a 20-0 halftime lead and lost in overtime to the Arizona Cardinals, 29-23.
While things are looking bleak for both teams as far as making the playoffs is concerned after an 0-2 start, there is still hope. However, that slim hope gets even slimmer for the team that falls to 0-3 after this game.
Let’s take a look at that and more ahead of Titans-Raiders on Sunday.
Raiders are favored
According to Tipico Sportsbook, the Raiders are 2.5-point road favorites over the Titans for Week 3. The over/under is set at 45.5.
The Titans are 0-2 against the spread but have hit the over in one of their games, although the Bills did all the work to get there. The Raiders are 0-2 against the spread, also, but have failed to hit the over in both games.
History of 0-2 and 0-3 teams making the playoffs
Not only are the Titans and Raiders both 0-2, but they also sit in the cellar of their respective divisions.
An 0-2 start normally doesn’t favor teams making the playoffs, but since 1990 30 of the 265 teams to start with that record have made the playoffs, according to CBS Sports.
Three of those 30 have won the Super Bowl, including the 1993 Dallas Cowboys, the 2001 New England Patriots Patriots and the 2007 Giants.
An 0-3 start is even worse, of course. Six teams to start with that record have made the playoffs since 1981 when the New York Jets first did it. The last time it happened came in 2018, when the Houston Texans started 0-4.
The Titans are in a better position to overcome such a bad start to make the playoffs, as their division is awful. The Raiders, on the other hand, might be playing in the best division in football, leaving them less margin for error.
Head-to-head history
The Raiders hold a 26-21 all-time regular-season advantage over the Titans/Oilers, and a 4-0 mark in the playoffs.
The last time these two teams faced was in 2019, when the Titans beat the then-Oakland Raiders, 42-21, on the strength of a monster game from A.J. Brown. The Raiders had won the previous three meetings dating back to 2015, though.
Jayon Brown revenge game
Linebacker Jayon Brown, who was a former fifth-round pick of the Titans in 2017 and spent five years with the team, will be facing his former mates for the first time since the two sides parted ways this offseason.
After showing immense promise early on in his career, especially as a coverage linebacker, Brown’s time in Nashville was derailed by injury, inconsistency, and the emergence of other linebackers on the team.
Brown went on to sign with the Raiders, inking a one-year deal worth $1.25 million. Though two games (one start) with Las Vegas, Brown has 12 tackles.
Titans riddled with injuries
Much like last season, the Titans have been ravaged by injuries thus far in 2022. Tennessee has 10 players on injured reserve already, another two sitting on the PUP list, and another 10 players on their injury report.
The biggest loss of the bunch is outside linebacker Harold Landry, who was lost for the season with a torn ACL. Tennessee may have also lost its left tackle, Taylor Lewan, who may be out for the season, also.
Meanwhile, the Raiders have been a bit more fortunate. Granted they have six players on IR and nine on their first injury report of the week, but none are as important to the Raiders as the aforementioned players are to the Titans.
