Silver Minings: Are the Raiders stuck in a rut?

Over the last few years, the Raiders have essentially been in “no mans land.” They haven’t been consistently good, but they also haven’t consistently been one of the worst teams in the NFL.

They won 12 games back in 2016, but that is their only double digit win total since 2002. The Raiders won eight games last year, something they’ve done twice since 2011. Are they in a rut? Bleacher Report thinks so.

In their article, they mentioned how when Jon Gruden took over as the head coach, he said that the team was going to turn things around. Well, after three years, we’re still waiting on that turnaround.

“I’m just so thrilled to be back here,” Gruden said, per Will Reeve Jr. of Raiders Wire. “I hope people understand the emotion inside of me. I feel unfinished business. I also feel a lot of loyalty, and I feel a lot of responsibility to get the Raiders going again. And it’s been a while since we’ve consistently performed at a high level. And that’s really all I care about. I’m gonna do everything I can to help this team get right again.”

In 2020, the Raiders went 8-8 and were in the playoff hunt all year. Unfortunately, they fell short right at the end. The year prior, they were 7-9 and were a borderline Wild Card team. Battling for a playoff spot is exciting, but not when you fall short every year.

The Raiders are just in a tough position overall. They’re in the same division with arguably the best team in football (Chiefs) and the Chargers and Broncos look to be two competitive teams in 2021.

Yet again, it looks like Vegas will fall short of the playoffs. However, their roster looks good enough to potentially compete for a playoff spot again, but who wants to finish with another seven win season?

In other Raiders’ links:

• Is Cliff Branch the most underrated receiver in NFL history? Kenny King of Just Blog Baby shares his thoughts.
• Alan Snel of LV Sports Biz talks about the morning after: Las Vegas recovers from Garth, Conor and giant venue crowds.