Tougher Watch

Just kind of a stinker of a football game. Really no way to dance around it, these two teams stink. They have a combined 5 wins on the year, and they are both already out of the dance. They both have a multitude of injuries, and a general lack of proven talent on their rosters. You may be asking me now, “what is this game going to bring?” Well, nothing really, but there is something kind of small but somewhat important. Right now, the Raiders own the first pick in the draft, after losing Monday night to the Falcons. If they lose this game, they will retain that spot. Obviously, no team is going to try and lose, especially with a head coach like Antonio Pierce, who is not going to want to go down without a fight. If that was apparent, last week’s game against Atlanta proved that, as the Raiders lost on a Hail Mary. They would not be throwing a Hail Mary and trying to score if they were trying to tank. It might be possible, but then we would be going down a deeper rabbit hole of NFL conspiracy. The Raiders have lost their best player, Maxx Crosby, to IR, so he’s done for the season and there goes your most dangerous player. Aidan O’Connell is also questionable for this week, and while Desmond Ridder played well, O’Connell is your best chance at a win. The Raiders are 1-5 at home, but there’s not time like the present to change your history. They’re going to need to put forth a full effort against a weaker Jaguars team, who has the last ranked defense in the league, if they want to win.

The Jaguars are probably going to lose this game. They really have trouble scoring points, playing defense, just playing football overall. They have some key injuries; Trevor Lawrence is out for the year, Evan Engram is out for the year, and Christian Kirk and Gabe Davis are out for the year. And that’s just some of the players. Travis Etienne has regressed this year, partially due to some injuries and to Jacksonville’s poor play, but that also doesn’t help as he was such a huge part of their offense last year. They need to regroup this off-season, get healthy, and come back with a hungrier drive and a clearer vision for what you want to achieve next year. Because this year isn’t it.