Raiders owner not looking too far ahead at season’s midpoint

Mark Davis knows the subject as well as anyone. Knows its pitfalls. Its heartless nature for turning light to darkness, euphoria to dejection. Knows how fast things can change.

“I wouldn’t get too overly excited right now,” the Raiders owner said. “We’ll just take it week-by-week and continue to play. Being 5-3 is good, and it was a very tough schedule to get to where we are right now. But if you look in the recent past, we’ve had trouble in the second half of seasons.”

Spoken like an NFL lifer who understands the obstacles in a 16-game marathon.

Playoff bound?

The Raiders have indeed won five of their first eight games as the season’s second half kicks off Sunday against the Broncos in Allegiant Stadium. Obvious follow being, can Las Vegas win enough to make the playoffs for just a second time since 2002?

How is this for a definitive answer: There is none.

The Raiders are in second place in the AFC West behind Super Bowl champion Kansas City, and yet Las Vegas still has a point differential of minus-11. For two years now, the Raiders have played numerous one-possession games and found themselves on the winning end much of the time.

In fact, of 13 victories between 2019 and this season, 11 have been by eight or fewer points. How sustainable that is could determine if Las Vegas plays beyond a regular-season finale at Denver on Jan. 3 or heads home for another early offseason.

The offense is good enough to assure the former. Gone is constant talk of Derek Carr’s potentially shaky future in Las Vegas, as the seventh-year quarterback is playing some of the best football of his career. He has more weapons now. He’s far more comfortable in this, a third season under coach Jon Gruden. Carr is brimming with confidence.

Translation: Conjecture about who might be the team’s quarterback of the future has ceased … for now.

“I think with all the speculation in the offseason about other quarterbacks and this and that and everything, I think it became really clear early that the continuation with Jon and Derek was probably the most prudent path for us to take,” Davis said. “I think that is showing itself. They’re almost becoming one person so that they can communicate a lot easier. A lot less words having to be said to get something across.”

Yes, various power ratings suggest the Raiders will face a far less daunting schedule these last eight games. Which doesn’t mean much in a league whose weekly results invariably deliver a surprise or two.

You can’t conceal the obvious narrative when it comes to this particular team and its playoff chances. The Raiders will either play well enough defensively down the stretch or their opportunity at a wild card or, best-case scenario for Las Vegas, contending for a division title won’t become reality.

“Look what happened to us last year,” said Davis when talking about how a 6-4 Raiders team ultimately finished 7-9. “I never have looked too far ahead to be real honest, throughout all the years. It’s an evolution through each season to get to the end.It’s exciting right now for us because we started with such a tough schedule and are playing well on the road.”

Actually, the league’s toughest schedule.

Actually, better than just well.

Road pirates

Las Vegas is 4-1 away from Allegiant Stadium, equaling the number of road wins in the previous three seasons combined. Of those five games, fans were able to attend in just Kansas City and Cleveland. The Raiders won both times.

Davis, though, is also right about this: 3-5, 3-5, 3-5. Those are the second-half records for Las Vegas the last three years. There is also the issue of COVID-19, of which Las Vegas has hardly proven a flawless student of league-mandated protocols.

“We’ve been competitive week in and week out,” Gruden said. “We’ve adapted to a lot of different circumstances — missing players, missing practice. Different types of weather. And, obviously, the COVID experience has really made things bizarre.

“I compliment our team — our players and coaches — for being able to concentrate and prepare hard and compete hard. That’s what I’m most proud of, but we still have a long ways to go.”

A whole second half of the season.

A playoff spot is there for the taking. Maybe, just maybe, light doesn’t turn to darkness this time.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.