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The night of October 27, the Raiders plane touched down in Oakland, fresh off their fifth game in a row away from their home stadium. That return from seven weeks without a game in Oakland was the start of a three-game homestand.
Friday, they will have their final practice in preparation for the Jets, and they will warm up the jet to fly across the country for the first time in nearly a month.
The Raiders were enjoying their home cooking over the past few weeks. After a 2-3 stretch away from Oakland, including losing the last two in Green Bay and Houston, they have now won three-straight over the Lions, Chargers, and Bengals.
Their two wins away from Oakland came in Indianapolis and London over the Bears.
In London, they had the Raiders had the advantage in terms of bodily clocks as they headed to London a week early to acclimate to the time change while the Bears came two days prior.
In that regard, it was just their win over the Colts in which they overcame a disadvantage in time difference. Though, to be fair, the crowd in London was very much Bears fan dominated, so the atmosphere felt very much like a road game.
There is something that can be taken from having spent so long away from home, not to mention still managing to pull out a couple of wins many thought improbable. Most notably, the team bonding that happened as a result.
“These little road trips are nothing new,” said Derek Carr. “We’re flying all the way across to New York, and we’re like that’s half the flight from what we are used to, and it’ll be good for us. Actually, it’s so funny, talking to our guys, we have a good routine of little games we play together, little team bonding things that we do and some of the guys are like, ‘Man! We get to go on the road this week!’ because they are excited to bond some more and play some of our little games that we play. And that’s the makings of a group that gets along and loves being around each other, so you always want to play at home, but when you got to go on the road I think that we’ve had a lot of practice at it.”
Of course, this can’t just be a one-off road trip either. The Raiders will be on the road again next week in Kansas City.
Obviously, that first road trip was huge. And coming out of it sitting at 3-4 was considered a win. The fear when the schedule was released was that road stint could put the Raiders in a hole early on that was difficult to dig out of. Instead, they were a game away from .500 and have carried that over to reach 6-4.
This road trip would be just as crucial because they are currently sitting just outside the playoffs. A win in New York could put them into the mix for the playoffs. That’s to say nothing of how big a victory in Kansas City would be. But right now the focus should be on the first leg of the trip where they’ll have to take the field for a 10am Pacific start time in a hostile environment, against a suddenly resurgent Jets team.
The experiences of that 7-week, 5-game stint away from Oakland along with the 10-day trip to Indianapolis and London can only help prepare them for this trip.
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