NFL Schedule Preview: Oakland Raiders
By Chris Smith
It’s 59 days until the new NFL season begins but for a football mad guy like me that’s just too long so I’ve taken it upon myself to go over each NFL schedule and try and predict for all of you what may happen once the season rolls around.
We have another double-header of schedules for you today as we finish off the AFC West. First off we check out the Oakland Raiders who went 8-8 in 2011. Here’s how I think their season will go:
- Week 1 vs San Diego Chargers – Win
- Week 2 at Miami Dolphins – Win
- Week 3 vs Pittsburgh Steelers – Loss
- Week 4 at Denver Broncos – Loss
- Week 5 BYE
- Week 6 at Atlanta Falcons – Win
- Week 7 vs Jacksonville Jaguars – Loss
- Week 8 at Kansas City Chiefs – Loss
- Week 9 vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Win
- Week 10 at Baltimore Ravens – Win
- Week 11 vs New Orleans Saints – Loss
- Week 12 at Cincinnati Bengals – Loss
- Week 13 vs Cleveland Browns – Loss
- Week 14 vs Denver Broncos – Loss
- Week 15 vs Kansas City Chiefs –Loss
- Week 16 at Carolina Panthers – Win
- Week 17 at San Diego Chargers – Loss
Overall Record for the Oakland Raiders in 2012: 6-10
The Raiders have one of the roughest early season schedules in the league this year as four of their first five opponents are the Steelers, Chargers, Broncos and Falcons but overall this schedule is one of the easiest in the league in 2012. Problem is that the Raiders are in rebuilding mode after having to make cuts this offseason to get under the salary cap but also paying for the Carson Palmer trade and other such moves which almost stopped the team from having any draft picks at all this year.
The one recurring theme of this year’s schedule is that they find themselves up against a majority of defensive minded teams and this spells bad news when you have Carson Palmer under center who has shown a tendency to make bad decisions in the later part of his career. I expect this team to struggle all season although if Darren McFadden can stay healthy he should keep a lot of games close.
Be sure to check back with NFL Spin Zone this evening when we wrap up the AFC West schedules and preview the Denver Broncos.
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