Coming off the double-divisional-loss, I retreated to contemplate - in silence and stillness - about the Raiders' situation. I discovered, what to many will only be obvious, that Oakland's successes and failures can be accounted for with remarkable ease. The Raiders have won every* game played against an inferior rushing attack - one rated 17th or worse) regardless of the opponent's passing ranking.  Just as significantly, the Raiders have lost every game played against  a superior rushing offense - one rated 16th or better. 

The Data:

Games Oakland Won

Denver (pre-Tebow)  20 - 23 

#19 rushing offense ... #2 passing offense (ranking after  4 preseason games)

New York J's  24 - 34

#25 rushing offense ... 22nd passing offense [current ranking]

 Houston  20 - 25

#3 rushing offense (Note:  Ben Tate d/n play, Arian Foster played with injured hamstring) ... 14th passing offense [Id. etc.] ... * this is the only exception to the study's decisive results and the conclusions that flow.

Cleveland  17 - 24

31st rushing offense ... #25 passing offense

San Diego 17 - 24  

#19 rushing offense .... #4 passing offense

Games Oakland Lost

Buffalo 38 - 35

#7 rushing offense ... #15 passing offense

New England  31 - 19

#16 rushing offense ...  #1 passing offense

Kansas City  28 - 0

#10 rushing offense ... #27 passing offense

Denver  38 - 24

#5 rushing offense ...  #31 passing offense

Remaining games

Minnesota

#4  rushing offense ... #29 passing offense [present ranking]

Projected loss (deal with it as well as you can); Adrian Peterson is league's 4th leading rusher and Oakland cannot stop an even mediocre rushing attack.  

 Chicago

#11 rushing offense ... #19 passing [Id. etc.]

Projected loss (another tough one slips through our fingers - Matt Forte' is the #2 rusher in the league and the Raiders cannot stop a dominant rushing attack)

 Miami

#15 rushing offense ... #24 passing offense

Projected loss but on cusp that our superior Offense should make up for.

 Green Bay

#20 rushing offense ... #3 passing offense

Projected Win (We match well against G.B. and should shock them at Lambo)

Detroit

#27 rushing offense .... #10 passing offense

Projected Win (Another win that many will consider "an upset" when, in fact, the Raiders match-up well and should beat the Lions.)

 Kansas City

#10 rushing offense ... #27 passing offense

Projected loss

San Diego

#19 rushing offense ... #4 passing offense

Projected Win

Conclusion: Raiders finish 9-7

Our greatest obstacle and, in truth, our nemesis is our own inability to stop the rush ... as was the case last year, the year before, and was the case back to the dawn of our darkness.