It’s an odd position to be in. Knowing that each positive play by the Raiders bring them closer to…losing the top pick in the draft.
Obviously these players have no quit in them. Neither do the coaches. They care about winning their individual rep, each drive, and coming out with a W.
But for the franchise, getting a quarterback of the future is a top priority. Or I should say THE top priority.
So, when they take the field against a team like the Jaguars, with a 3-11 record, it’s in the franchise’s best interest to come out on the losing side.
They didn’t do that Sunday in Las Vegas. In a rough game to watch between two really bad teams, it was the Jaguars who out-terribled the Raiders.
They had two fumbles in the first half alone, both recovered by the Raiders. And one after they had moved into scoring range. The result was a 13-7 Raiders lead at the half.
How bad was it? How much were each team trying to hand it to the other team?
Well, the Raiders didn’t convert a third down until midway through the third quarter. And yet still somehow had a six-point lead.
The two teams would swap touchdowns in the third and fourth quarter, but the Raiders went for two and missed to make it a five-point Raiders lead at 19-14.
The morning slate saw three of the five teams the Raiders will content with for a top pick lose their games With the fourth (Partiots) facing the 11-3 Bills in the afternoon.
That means the win drops them from contention for the top pick to outside the top five. And for a team desperate for one of the top QB’s in this draft, that’s just not good enough.
There are still three games left in the season, but this win over a bad team makes it an uphill climb to get in range of that top pick.
It came down to one drive for the Jaguars. With just over minute left, it looked for a moment like the Jaguars may holding penalty on 4th and one brought up 4th and 11. And the Jaguars couldn’t pick it up.
The Raiders kneeled out the clock and thus ended their ten-game losing streak with a 19-14 win over the Jagurs.
With the win, the Raiders improve to 3-12 on the season. Behind the 2-13 Giants and tied in the win column with four other teams, some of which have lower strength of schedule than they do.
