After a massive upset in Week 5, the Raiders have seen a significant shift in their playoff odds. Sitting at 3-2 going into the Week 6 bye, the Raiders now have a 50 percent chance of making the playoffs per FiveThirtyEight.
Just last week, those odds came in around 35-37 percent after the team fell to the Buffalo Bills in Week 4. But with the win, the Raiders have emerged in a great position despite an incredibly tough opening schedule. The team still has games with the Buccaneers and Browns after the bye week, but the schedule is much more favorable after that.
There is a nice stretch of games in the middle of the season for the Raiders, including contests against the Broncos, Chargers, Falcons and Jets. If they are able to sweep those four games, this team should have no problem getting to 9-7, 10-6 on the year.
The Raiders could really benefit from teams such as the Browns, Colts and Steelers dropping some games as they are their biggest challenger for a wild card spot. But with the Raiders now holding a tiebreak over the Chiefs, the AFC West crown isn’t completely out of the picture, either.
Las Vegas is sitting in a great spot to earn a playoff berth for the first time since 2016. If they can get healthy and beat either the Buccaneers or Browns coming out of the bye, they would be well on their way to accomplishing that goal. So far, so good for the 2020 Las Vegas Raiders.
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