The Raiders’ 2020 postseason aspirations evaporated with the last second defeat against the Dolphins. Here we tell you the main reasons for that failure.
How were they eliminated?
The Raiders’ 2020 NFL Season got off to a great start with a 6-3 record for Week 10, including two highly striking victories: the game that beat the saints at the inauguration of their new stadium and the surprise victory against the Chiefs where they they removed the undefeated (Which, by the way, is still Kansas City’s only loss of the season.)
At the time it looked like the Raiders were headed for the playoffs, but slowly things began to take a nosedive. After losing to the Chiefs in Week 11 they were beaten by the Falcons and the only victory they have achieved since then was that last minute against the Jets. After that suffered triumph they have added another three defeats, now against Colts, Chargers and the aforementioned against Miami.
After last night’s loss, they were 7-8, automatically eliminating them from any chance of making the playoffs and wondering what went wrong after such a good start.
What were the keys to the elimination of the Raiders?
1. The defense never found its rhythm
In the first part of the season things went more or less well for the Raiders, mainly because their offense kept scoring steadily (they surpassed 30 points five times in the first nine games, and they were never below 20 ). That helped counteract defensive problems, which have been around all season.
Rivals have surpassed 30 points nine times this season, and three of those times they surpassed 40. In fact, only Broncos and Browns have fallen below 20 points against this defense, so it’s easy to understand why. the problems in Vegas.
Without a competent defense it is very difficult to compete, and this will remain as the main reason for the elimination of this team in 2020.
2. They never processed the victory against the Chiefs
Seeing how the Raiders’ season unfolded, it’s easy to put your finger on where things turned for this team in 2020. When they beat the Chiefs they went 5-3 and everyone started talking about the enormous possibility that that This victory will send them on a positive streak that will end with a postseason move.
Unfortunately, it seems that that victory did the opposite: after winning in Kansas City they went 2-5, beating only the Broncos and Jets. It’s easy to think that a team coming off several negative years got over-excited about the favorable outcome over the Chiefs and couldn’t process the victory by collapsing in December.
That will obviously fall on Jon Gruden, who failed to keep his team focused. By the way, Gruden is the center of our next point.
3. Jon Gruden’s bad decisions
Saturday night was the best example of how a head coach can spoil his team’s season with bad decisions. The Raiders had first and goal at Miami’s 13-yard line with 1:55 left. The Dolphins had a time out. It stands to reason that the ideal was to run out of the clock, and that was just what Gruden tried to do, but it got to a point where he was overreacting on caution.
Given the possibility of going for a touchdown (they had a third chance at Miami’s 1-yard line), which would have given a six-point lead, he preferred that Carr drop to the ground on the third down to kick the field goal and take advantage of two units. And there came another problem: Derek Carr put his knee on the ground with six seconds left on the play clock, which could have been discounted without major problems.
If the Raiders had scored a touchdown in that series things would have been a lot more complicated for the Dolphins and we would probably be talking about another scenario today. Those kinds of coaching mistakes cannot be allowed in the NFL, especially when we are talking about a coach who signed a $ 100 million contract and who has just assured that there will be no playoffs in his first three years in charge of the team.
What other reasons can you think of? We wait for your comments.
