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.
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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.
The Raiders lost for a third straight time in falling to Baltimore 30-17 before 54,980 at the Coliseum, the beginning of three consecutive home games for a silver and black side that that is beyond pedestrian in almost every area right now.
The team that just a month ago was a popular Super Bowl pick at local sports books suddenly finds itself at 2-2 and welcoming three home games in the next 11 days.
While we tore up our two-team teaser on Atlanta and New England over a plate of cold nachos, a CG Technology bettor cashed a $2,000 two-team money-line parlay on the Bills (plus-340) and Panthers (plus-400) that paid $42,000.
Moving the ball right now is a Mile High problem for the Raiders, who fell at Denver 16-10 on Sunday.