Silver And Black Pride
The Las Vegas Raiders proved they aren’t the worst team in the league, taking down the Tennessee Titans 20-10 this past Sunday. However, the win isn’t doing the Raiders much favors in NFL Power Rankings heading into Week 7, as they are still firmly in the bottom quarter of the league.
27. Las Vegas Raiders
Last week: 28
Many people have players who, no matter what information you hear about them or how middling their PFF grade is, will never believe that player is anything less than awesome. For me, that person is Jackson Powers-Johnson. I just love watching that guy play football. — Conor Orr
Ironically, JPJ has a good grade from Pro Football Focus, sitting at 70.0 and 17th among guards this season. But I understand where Orr is coming from. Powers-Johnson is an easy guy to root for with his physical demeanor on the field and light-heartedness off of it.
26. Las Vegas Raiders
Last week: 29
Lesson learned: Patience will be the key to Pete Carroll’s tenure in Las Vegas.
When Carroll took the job, he was determined to turn the Raiders into an immediate playoff contender. However, that process might take longer than expected. The Raiders have a new quarterback (Geno Smith) and offensive coordinator (Chip Kelly) and are reliant on young players at key positions. And with general manager John Spytek a believer in building through the draft, Las Vegas will not turn things around overnight. — Ryan McFadden
In last week’s column, I mentioned that Carroll didn’t do himself any favors by talking all offseason about how he’s won 10 games so many times in his career and expects to continue doing that in Las Vegas. It seems pretty clear that the head coach underestimated how significant the Raiders’ rebuild is going to be.
So, while McFadden is correct, it’s hard to tell Raider Nation to be patient when the messaging was that the team is going to win now. Plus, the fanbase has been hearing that for about 25 years and is still waiting for the organization to be a consistent winner.
26. Las Vegas Raiders
Last week: 29
Fantasy focus: Brock Bowers
A lot of the Raiders’ offensive struggles can be attributed to Bowers’ injury-riddled season. The second-year tight end was 50th in fantasy scoring last year (15.45 per game) and had an ADP of 23rd this year. However, he’s 116th in scoring this year (10.88) while dealing with a knee injury. Bowers missed his second straight game Sunday and may be out this week, too. — Josh Kendall and Chad Graff
This same angle, Bowers being a fantasy football disappointment, was brought up by ESPN last week, too. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to end anytime soon. Carroll indicated that the coaching staff will likely keep the tight end sidelined this week against...
