The first thing that jumps out at you when you notice the Raiders’ schedule this season is their four prime time games. The second thing is that all four of those are at home. But that isn’t the only thing worth noting about the Raiders’ schedule this year. One that the fans seemed to be pretty pleased with for once.
These are a few observations I had.
1. No division match-up in first month
Prior to the schedule release, there was a report that the NFL was attempting to schedule non-conference games in the first four. The purpose was to put the games they could most easily cancel upfront in case the COVID-19 epidemic causes a delay and game cancellations.
Well, that turned out to be kind of true. The Raiders’ first two games are against NFC South opponents in the Panthers and Saints. Their next two games aren’t against the Buccaneers and the Falcons, but they are against AFC East foes the Patriots and Bills.
2. At Arrowhead early in the season for a change
The first divisional matchup of the season for the Raiders will come in week five against the Chiefs. But unlike most seasons, it will not come at home, which means their annual trip to Arrowhead will not happen in the dead of winter. Seriously, you may not know how rare this is.
The Raiders schedule has had them play at Arrowhead in December (or January) every single season dating back to 2014. That’s six straight years. And the Raiders have lost every one of those games. That may not be a coincidence. They can use any advantage they can get including some potentially better field conditions.
3. One team with 2019 winning record after week six bye
Four of the Raiders’ first five opponents had a winning record last season. Only the Panthers (5-11) did not. The Raiders have a bye after the Chiefs in Week 5. Then when they come back from that bye, the next time they face the Chiefs will be the ONLY game the rest of the season against a team that had a winning record. That’s… kind of amazing.
4. Chiefs off a bye
It isn’t all good news with the Chiefs this season. They will host the Chiefs in Week 11 with them coming off a bye. According to Josh Dubow of the AP, that is also a fairly common occurrence. The Chiefs have had a bye before facing the Raiders in six of the past ten seasons. The Chiefs are 4-1 in the previous five instances.
5. Two cold-weather games
Along with not heading to Arrowhead late in the season, the Raiders will make just two trips to a cold-weather city late in the season. They travel to the Meadowlands to face the Jets on December 3 and to Denver to face the Broncos in Week 17.
As has been discussed quite a bit in the past couple of seasons, Derek Carr has not fared well in cold-weather games. He is 0-6 in games under 40 degrees, including 0-3 late last season. Unfortunately two of those were at the Meadowlands and in Denver. The other was in KC.
6. Two late-season three-game home stands (basically)
Over the second half of the season, the Raiders will get some serious home cooking. In Week 9 they face the Chargers in LA, which is always a Silver & Black-clad affair. Then the Raiders return to Las Vegas for back-to-back games against the Chiefs and Broncos. That’s basically a three-game home stand.
Two games on the East Coast in Atlanta and New Jersey and the Raiders come back home for an actual three-game home stand against the Colts, Chargers, and Dolphins.
7. Record number of 10 a.m. start games
Before you start thinking this schedule is a complete cakewalk, there is one interesting bit and that’s the fact that six of the Raiders games this season will start at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. As Josh Dubow also pointed out, that ties a franchise record set in 2008.
West Coast teams usually have difficulty with the earlier start time games. Those games are Week 1 in Carolina, Week 3 in New England, Week 5 in Kansas City, Week 8 in Cleveland, and Week 12 and 13 in Atlanta and New York.
8. Ending the season in Denver again
Something about the NFL schedulers love to send the Raiders to Denver to end the season. This will be two seasons in a row they have ended the season in Denver and the fourth time since 2014. The Raiders lost each of the previous three season finale games in Denver.
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