These Takeaways Reflect Raiders Split Season So Far

The Las Vegas Raiders have played five games so far, and it almost feels like they’ve played two different seasons. The first was a winner across the board as the Raiders went 3-0, but the last two games have felt like a bad flashback to last year, starting with hopeful loss to the Kansas City Chiefs followed by a road disaster against the New England Patriots. 

Ryan McFadden of ESPN offered his five takeaways on the first five weeks, and there’s some interesting commentary in his selections, so let’s go there. 

How long can Kirk Cousins Defeat Father Time

Wrong question. The real issue here is how well the Raiders can protect Cousins so that he won’t have to hold up against an onslaught that no quarterback should have to face. 

Cousins has shown the ability to take a hit despite his advanced age, but there’s no way he can hold up against what he faced against the Chiefs and Patriots, as both teams emphasized blitzes and pressures while taking away his hot reads. 

Growing pains in the young secondary

This issue is very real, and it’s also very connected to the pass rush and the ability to force turnovers. If the Raiders get those last two things, the secondary has shown the abiilty to hold up. Take them away, and this is a unit that will get exposed quickly, especially against top-shelf quarterbacks like Drake Maye and Josh Allen, who comes to town on Sunday. 

Can the run game get fixed?

This problem dates back to last year, and it’s the key to the Raiders season. If the Raiders can run, Cousins can do business. But complete failure is not a formula for winning, and that’s what we’ve seen in the last two weeks. It’s an open question, and it also hinges on the talent level in a complete roster rebuild. 

What happened to Kwity Paye?

The Indianapolis Colts tried to answer this question as well, and they decided to move on from him when they couldn’t. Paye is a great athlete who looks the part of a great edge rusher, but showing the consistency in the role is a completely different question. 

Changes could be coming in the offensive line

These are almost overdue at this point. The Raiders focused on getting center Tyler Linderbaum, but they didn’t address any of the other positions, and this unit is mostly the same one that failed last year, with former San Francisco 49ers backup guard Spencer Burford now struggling to compound the problems.