In the 2021 NFL season, the Raiders got out to a 3-0 and 5-2 start. Only one more victory in 2022 will get the Las Vegas franchise into the AFC playoffs for the first time.
If the Raiders can beat the Chiefs in Week 18, they will secure a wild-card playoff spot and advance to the playoffs leading up to Super Bowl 56.
What Do The Raiders Need To Make The Playoffs
Las Vegas either needs to make its own luck or roll the dice as a longshot with three ways in all to clinch a playoff position.
On Sunday night, the No. 8 Raiders will host the No. 7 Chargers of the same division (8:20 p.m. ET). With a win, Las Vegas would even the season series against Los Angeles and exact retribution for a 28-14 Week 4 loss in Los Angeles, giving it a 10-7 record and a playoff berth in place of Los Angeles.
Even if they lose to the Chargers next Sunday, the Raiders still have a chance to enter the postseason.
What Causes that to Occur?
So, they’d have to have a lot of assistance. Here’s an example of that very situation:
So long. For the Raiders to advance, the Steelers need to lose once in their next two games, and the Colts need to lose on the road against the Jaguars. Even though it’s hard to imagine the Colts losing, they haven’t beaten the Jaguars in Jacksonville since 2014.
The Raiders should not worry about the outcomes of other potential playoff games until the next week. They should instead just worry about beating a division foe at home. That in itself is going to be difficult.
On Sunday night, the Steelers and the Raiders both advanced thanks to the Raiders’ overtime victory over the Chargers. On Saturday, the Raiders will play the Bengals.
Since moving to Las Vegas, the Raiders have yet to make the postseason. If they do it this year, it will be the first time they have done so in their new home. The team as a whole hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2016, when they fell in the Wild Card round to the Houston Texans. In 2002, they were the last team to advance past the Wild Card round; they eventually lost in the Super Bowl to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
For the Las Vegas Raiders, Darren Waller’s prospects of playing in Week 17 are now considerably fewer. Waller’s back and knee injuries have caused him to miss a number of games. Without him on the field, the offence has probably struggled.
Last Words
On Wednesday, it was reported that Waller had been added to the Coviridae (COVID) list, thus things are looking grim for him. Thanks for reading our article What Do The Raiders Need To Make The Playoffs.
