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NFL Not too Kind to Oakland Raiders With Schedule

By Carl Cockerham

Jan 7, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Oakland Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack (52) and Houston Texans tight end Ryan Griffin (84) in action during the AFC Wild Card playoff football game at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 7, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Oakland Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack (52) and Houston Texans tight end Ryan Griffin (84) in action during the AFC Wild Card playoff football game at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Oakland Raiders are coming off their first winning season since 2012. And the NFL wasn’t too kind to them with the schedule they gave them to follow up.

I know there are a lot of against-the-Oakland Raiders conspiracy theorists out there. And it’s pretty hard to argue against them when looking at the schedule for 2017. I’m not saying the NFL made the schedule to put the Raiders at a disadvantage just yet.

Afterall, they play in the AFC West, the toughest division in the NFL top to bottom. So no matter what, the Raiders would end up with one of the toughest schedules in the league this year. But you can see from the out-of-division games that the NFL isn’t doing the Raiders any favors.

It all starts with the up-and-coming Tennessee Titans, whom the Raiders have to visit. That’s going to be a tough game for the Raiders in the hot Tennessee Sun with black jerseys. I still remember Eddie George running all over the Raiders on a hot, August 31 day in 1997.

This year, the Titans have DeMarco Murray running against a Raiders run defense that was bad in 2016. But we can’t say the Raiders won’t win it because they won in Tennessee last September. Also on this year’s schedule is back-to-back East-Coast games.

Their next game after that is a Week 11 home game against the New England Patriots. The catch to this one is it’s not really a home game, they have to play against the Patriots in Mexico City. Their toughest game of the year counts as a home game but it’s on a neutral site.

Then the Raiders have to play the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia on Christmas night. It’s good to see the Raiders with five primetime games in 2017 but only one of them are at home. A neutral-site game against the Patriots, two East Coast games in a row and spending Christmas night there is a lot for one year.

Is that a part of the Raiders’ payment for moving to Las Vegas?

The combined opponent’s records, travel and dates on the road make this by far the NFL’s toughest schedule!

But they will come through it just fine!

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