USA Today has the Raiders going 3-14

[SuperRaider]

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/nf ... 037657007/

[KillerRaider30]

3-14...14-3 who the frigg knows.

We as serious fans have no clue.

Either way? Great.
A top 5 pick would go a long way at solving some large personal problems and having a winning season would insure we're being coached in the right direction.

[Viper]

Picking in the top 12-15 range is close to mid pack - average. With every year teams coveting a franchise Qb, it’s plausible a very good player falls in that range.

Picking in that range would mean progress that obviously leads to more wins. The kind of stuff we all crave. The exact thing that gets us into the playoffs, maybe not this season but hopefully soon. A good coaching staff with a plan and vision can do something with that pick.

The sooner Mendoza starts, the better. Cousins is not the long term plan but, I could find it acceptable if he doesn’t start the first 3-4 games. Anything more than that is wasted time with an asset that is potentially our franchise leader. We need to know.

[Be_Easy_25]

I didn’t have us going 3-14 last year, so whatever.

We have more talent last year. The coaching staff should be better than last year.

[Hellbound]

There is no chance but, landing Smith would be the cat's ass. Being a Buckeyes fan, I can tell you he's the best WR coming out of college in a long time.

Cam Coleman wouldn't be a bad consolation prize but agreed with Smith being better prospect and he also has a very good chance to go 1 overall

[raidersince63]

You can't just pick a random number of games before FM should start. He appears to be our future but he will start when management truly believes he's ready and the time is right, and not until. Yeah, we may tell ourselves that we know how good this team will be but the fact is, we don't know.

This time last year many thought we would be better, but obviously we were worse. This year we also have undergone a ton of changes but until we have proven it on the field during the regular season, we are still in the "hope" stage.

As for me, I'll put my trust in the management who actually know what goes on behind the scenes and really do know the truth about our players. Though I do believe we will have more wins than last year, I would rather simply see improvement on both sides of the ball, an offense that entertains and a defense that does what it's supposed to do.

[raiders93]

Cam Coleman wouldn't be a bad consolation prize but agreed with Smith being better prospect and he also has a very good chance to go 1 overall

Early to say but barring a really underwhelming season from a few guys… this looks like it’ll be QB heavy at the top. Moore, manning, sayin, Carr. Funny enough yahoos most recent mock has us landing smith at 5.

[raidersince63]

Early to say but barring a really underwhelming season from a few guys… this looks like it’ll be QB heavy at the top. Moore, manning, sayin, Carr. Funny enough yahoos most recent mock has us landing smith at 5.

I'd definitely add Trinidad Chambliss to that list.

[16 to 88]

Let's face it, we have a young team, a new staff and are rebuilding yet again hopefully for the last time in a very, very long time.

Chiefs twice
Broncos twice
Chargers Twice
Seahawks (SB champions)
Rams (NFC championship game)
49ers ( WC winners/divisional losers)
Patriots (SB losers)
Bills (WC winners/divisional losers)

That's 11 games against good teams last year that all made the playoffs.

Saints (road)
Titans
Cardinals (road)
Browns (road)
Jets (road)
Dolphins

That's 6 games against the bottom half of the league with 4 of those game on the road. The game against the Browns on November 29th, so that could end up being a cold weather game. I think we are much improved and better than a 3 win team and of course other teams don't always look the same the very next year. I think we can pick off some games from the 11 playoff teams and win more than 3 from the other 6.

[raiders93]

Let's face it, we have a young team, a new staff and are rebuilding yet again hopefully for the last time in a very, very long time.

Chiefs twice
Broncos twice
Chargers Twice
Seahawks (SB champions)
Rams (NFC championship game)
49ers ( WC winners/divisional losers)
Patriots (SB losers)
Bills (WC winners/divisional losers)

That's 11 games against good teams last year that all made the playoffs.

Saints (road)
Titans
Cardinals (road)
Browns (road)
Jets (road)
Dolphins

That's 6 games against the bottom half of the league with 4 of those game on the road. The game against the Browns on November 29th, so that could end up being a cold weather game. I think we are much improved and better than a 3 win team and of course other teams don't always look the same the very next year. I think we can pick off some games from the 11 playoff teams and win more than 3 from the other 6.

Your logic makes sense.

For me I’d say I just have no idea what to expect from us.

Could I see an upside scenario, where the team is better coached with better QB play and better schemes + a defence that benefits from some additions? Yeah I could see that.

Could I see a downside scenario where we have a lot of the same problems as last year - o-line still bad, passing weapons still bad… offence still struggling to get a ground game going because of it? Yeah I could see that scenario too.

For me im viewing this season purely as a directional one.

If we go 3-14… but mendo and Kubiak look like the guys, the things we addressed (line, d) look better, the draft class yields some budding stars…. The fact that we finished badly won’t look like a failure - it’ll almost look like we’re cheating bc that team with potentially a Jeremiah smith and 60 million in free agency looks like a powerhouse next year.

Contrarily, if we go 6-11 but it’s off ugly wins against the bottom 6 teams… but Mendo looks mediocre, we’re looking at bad free agent contracts and the draft class looks like duds… that’s far more concerning than the 3-14 season where it looks like we’ve got a foundation.

[Opoponax50]

We'll be better because we have one of the best play callers in the league at HC and an NFL level O-line coach.

As for the schedule, it's the same every year. Teams that were good last year can fall apart fast and some teams end up improving to the point where they're in playoff contention. Some good teams may suffer from the injury bug.

Or we could suck again. That's always a possibility.

My hope is that we're not thinking about the draft until December.

[RaiderandBulldog]

[islandboy]

We are getting our panties in a wad over an opinion piece?

My panties have been in a wad since Barrett decided to go Tijuana.

[raiders93]

We'll be better because we have one of the best play callers in the league at HC and an NFL level O-line coach.

As for the schedule, it's the same every year. Teams that were good last year can fall apart fast and some teams end up improving to the point where they're in playoff contention. Some good teams may suffer from the injury bug.

Or we could suck again. That's always a possibility.

My hope is that we're not thinking about the draft until December.

Fair. For me honestly Mendoza above all else - can he validate or at least make us feel confident we’ve found our guy.

Beyond that - can we get something resembling a quality viewing product. I mean last year with Geno being Geno while Jeanty breaks 5 tackles to get a 0 yard run. The year before with Gardner and Aiden…. The McDaniels year with Jimmy G herniating discs to get a ball to the sideline.

It’s year I honestly don’t care how many we win. But give me something like the lions first year with Goff. Sure they won 3 games but that was the start of the cardiac cats. They weren’t there yet but hell if they weren’t at least fun to watch before they were good.

[ELCAraiderfan]

My panties have been in a wad since Barrett decided to go Tijuana.

So its your fault for the last 25 years!

Pull those old panties out bro and put some new ones on or go commando, we want a contending team this year and going forward.