ALAMEDA -- The Raiders can’t believe they lost Sunday’s game in Denver. They racked up 477 yards of offense and had just one touchdown to show for it, a cause of great frustration at a golden opportunity missed.
A win wouldn’t have secured them a playoff spot, with other teams not cooperating with what the Raiders needed to advance on a strength-of-victory tiebreaker.
A few other flipped results, however, and the Raiders might’ve waltzed in.
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SIGN UP HERE That’s not hindsight messing with the mind. The Raiders should’ve beat the Texans in Houston. The Silver and Black had the Jaguars pinned to the mat, and were a poorly officiated quarterback slide away from winning their final game at the Coliseum.
That’s why Raiders coach Jon Gruden still was stewing over missed chances to win in those games.
“I’m bad at that. I’m just this miserable person,” Gruden said. “For us to play like I thought we played yesterday and not get a win is very unfulfilling, unsatisfying. It’s a terrible feeling. We had two great drives to start the game and get no points. We had some tough officiating breaks certainly go against us, and you got to take responsibility for that and I’m the head coach.”
Add three more wins to the ledger, and the Raiders cruise into the playoffs. While it could be argued they edged out close wins against the L.A. Chargers, Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears that could’ve gone the other way, that’s not how the Raiders saw it while cleaning out their lockers Monday morning.
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“We feel like we should’ve won 10 games, looking back at everything that happened,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “There are three off the top of my head that we just had. We’d be having different conversations if that were the case. We’d be preparing for a playoff game. That’s how close this game is.”
Carr has been around long enough to know that legitimate chances to make the playoffs don’t come around every year. He has played six seasons and been on a playoff team only one time. He couldn’t even play in that 2016 wild-card round game against Houston because of a broken leg.
That’s why this season wasn’t satisfying in any sense, even if progress clearly has been made over 2018’s disaster.
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“I think some of the young guys are happy that it’s trending upward but, as a sixth-year guy, this isn’t good enough,” Carr said Sunday. “You know what I mean? Us older guys … it’s trending in the right way, and we’re excited about that. It’s good for the organization but, for us, it’s not good enough.
“We’re stuck in that weird place, but we just kept fighting. I will say that I’m very proud for being very resilient. We did some things that, let’s just be real, no one thought that we would do. That part of it feels good, but I think you guys know me well enough by now to know we don’t feel finished without a win in February.”