Raiders Must Eliminate Costly Mistakes to Save Their Season

The Las Vegas Raiders' start to the season has been far from ideal. Las Vegas' first three weeks of the season has been filled with injuries, and subpar play.

The Raiders' Wheels Are Stuck in the Mud

Thomas Valentine of Pro Football Focus recently ranked every team in the National Football League following Week 3's slate of games. Valentine ranked the Raiders as the 23rd-best team in the league, which is somewhat generous considering how the past two games have gone.

Valentine also ranked the Raiders as the 23rd-best team in the league last week

"The early returns for the new era of Raiders football are not great so far. They’ve looked less than competitive over the last two weeks after a winning start in Week 1. Maybe expectations for this team were too high, especially in a tough AFC West," Valentine said.

"Utilizing Ashton Jeanty— who has earned a 56.5 overall PFF grade through his first three NFL games — is key, but the Raiders need to be better across the board. They take on the Bears in Week 4."

Following Week 3's loss, Smith sounded off on the Raiders' mentality moving forward.

“Nothing is going sideways. It’s Week 3 in the NFL, and we have a long season ahead of us. It’s never easy to lose a game. You want to win every game, but that’s not the reality. The reality is that we’re faced with battles in front of us. As a quarterback, as a football player, I look forward to those challenges,” Smith said.  

“We’re embracing that as a team and as a locker room. Each guy in this locker room is going to stick together, stand by his fellow teammate, and do what’s right. That’s where we are at with. There is no separation here. No one is pointing fingers. If anything, point the finger at me, and we’ll get it fixed.”

Currently, the Raiders still have enough time to turn things around. However, things move quickly in the league. While most of the AFC West is 1-3, the other teams with the same record are better teams than the Raiders or they played better teams than the Raiders did in the first three weeks.

Although things must be kept in perspective, the Raiders have plenty of work to do as the season continues. Many believe that the first month of the season tells a lot about what a team will be in any given season. The Raiders cannot start 1-3 and operate as if everything is okay.