In Jon Gruden’s second season with the Raiders, the team made a big step forward in 2019. They were in the playoff hunt until the very last week of the season and probably should have made the tournament if it wasn’t for last-second losses to the Jaguars and Broncos in December.
But entering Year 3 of Gruden’s rebuild, the Raiders are expected to be playoff contenders this season. However, not everyone is optimistic about their chances.
According to ESPN’s FPI, the Raiders have just a 24 percent chance of making the playoffs this season and are projected to win 6.9 games. The reason why their prediction model is so low on their chances this season is due to the team having the third-toughest schedule in the NFL.
The Raiders have an incredibly difficult start to the season as they will play four playoff teams from the 2019 season (Saints, Patriots, Bills, Chiefs) before their Week 6 bye. After the bye, they will take on Tom Brady and the Buccaneers followed by the Browns in Cleveland.
In order for the Raiders to have any shot of making the playoffs this season, they will need to survive the first six games of the schedule. If they can emerge at 3-3 or better, their odds of making the tournament should be fairly high considering how much easier the schedule gets at the end of the season
However, if they struggle out of the gate, it might be too big of an uphill climb for the Raiders to make. It’s not unrealistic to think that the Raiders could be a better team in 2020, but with a worse record given their strength of schedule.
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