There is absolutely no practical way to explain what happened at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, much less with the Raiders this season, as they were essentially eliminated from the playoffs in losing to Dallas 20-17.
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The Raiders’ playoff hopes remain alive, but the postseason seems more like wishful thinking after a 26-15 defeat at Kansas City that wasn’t close.
How the Raiders arrived at a 27-24 victory against similarly imperfect Miami before 65,139 at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night would take at least several chapters of your average L. Ron Hubbard tome to digest.
Mojo was a popular word used by the Raiders as they prepared in Sarasota for Sunday night’s game against the Dolphins, remaining back east to perhaps discover that missing magic charm to rescue a drowning season.
The two-game road trip that began with a forgettable 34-14 loss to the Bills on Sunday before 69,599 at New Era Field was supposed to tell us if Raiders are good or bad, legitimate or fraudulent, pretender or contender.
This is the place folks like to say is a drinking town with a sports problem, where purposefully setting your friends on fire isn’t as much criminal act as communal endorsement of a longstanding love affair with all things Buffalo Bills.
It was an AFC West battle the Raiders had to absolutely win.
Thursday night isn’t as much an AFC showdown between the first-place Chiefs and a last-place Raiders team hoping to discover some sort of divisional relevance as it is unmitigated survival mode from the hosts.
After a week filled with distractions, what the Raiders needed most was a return to normalcy, and a return to .500 in the standings. What they got instead was their fourth straight loss.
Steelers quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger was picked off four times in the second half and two were returned for touchdowns as Jacksonville burned the betting public in the best decision of the day for Las Vegas sports books.