Silver Minings: Raiders’ season took a positive turn with the Week 15 win in Cleveland

As he reflected on the wild Las Vegas Raiders’ season this week, interim head coach Rich Bisaccia was asked if anything stood out about the season.

There is so much that went on this season, of course. However, Bisaccia highlighted the team’s Week 15 win at the Cleveland Browns. The game was delayed two days because of a huge COVID-19 outbreak on the Browns’ roster. the Raiders were about to leave to the airport when the game was delayed. Yet, they refocused and won 16-14 in the final seconds of the game.

To Bisaccia, that reaction to adversity symbolized the 2021 Raiders.

“I think they took a certain personal sense of team pride that they could do anything. And I think when we went to Cleveland after they changed the dates and they changed the days and they changed the time, and I think when we got through all that and we reset and got back on the plane and went up to Cleveland on a one day deal and they put themselves an opportunity to win the game and they won it,” Bisaccia said. “I think they came out of there thinking, ‘Geez, now we got this too to deal with.’ And I think they did that collectively, and I think we turned a corner a little bit on that particular game.”

That win was the first of four straight games the Raiders won that they absolutely needed to get to the playoffs. In a season full of memories that one certainly stood out.

In other Raiders’ links:

• This is good: Raiders’ fullback Alec Ingold joined former teammate Will Compton’s popular podcast to talk about the crazy season.
• Kiper Mock: In Mel Kiper’s first mock draft of the year for ESPN, he has the Raiders’ taking Clemson cornerback Andrew Booth. Another Clemson guy even after the Gruden-Mayock era is over?
• More mocks: The Athletic has the Raiders taking players from big programs in the first two rounds.
• Many eyes: The Raiders-Bengals game was the most watched Saturday afternoon Wild Card game since 1999.