Raiders facing most well-prepared opponents of late

The Raiders had their bye week in week four and are now in the midst of a stretch of games that are not in their favor from a preparedness standpoint.

The first game out of their week off had the Raiders making their second of five trips from coast to coast when they traveled to Atlanta to face the Falcons. Sure the Raiders had the advantage of coming off a bye week and the game was far more competitive because of it. But in the end, the tough Falcons team got the better of the match-up.

Over the next three games the Raiders would face two teams coming off a bye and a third team with a nine day week. They already faced the Jaguars last week who were fresh off a bye and the extra time to prepare had the NFL's worst defense looking pretty stout against the Raiders and took a 20-6 lead before the Raiders changed things up and came back to win in OT.

Next week could prove to be even more difficult as the Raiders travel to Kansas City to face the rival Chiefs coming off a bye. The Chiefs have a revamped defense which included former Raider, Stanford Routt. You can be sure they will be plenty ready to face the Raiders with an extra week to prepare and rest.

The following week, the Raiders face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who will be coming off a long week. They play on Thursday night this week which means they will have nine days with which to rest up and gameplan for the Raiders. At least it isn't another East coast trip. That comes the following week when they travel to Baltimore to face the Ravens.

Let's review East Coast trip to face undefeated Falcons, two teams off a bye, one team with a long week, then another East Coast trip to face the Ravens. That was not a kind bit of scheduling.