Make California Post a Preferred Source The Chiefs already took one game from the Raiders. The next three weeks will reveal whether they took anything else.
Confidence. Momentum. Some of the conviction that helped a rebuilding team move so quickly from an interesting September story to something worth taking seriously.
That is the danger lurking behind last Sunday’s 30-27 loss to Kansas City. And with a trip to New England followed by home games against Buffalo and the Rams, the Raiders won’t have much time to determine how deeply the disappointment runs.
At 3-1, they have given themselves a chance to make this season about more than development and the distant promise of better days. But the next three games could determine whether they spend the rest of the fall pursuing that opportunity or trying to recover it.
There is a significant difference between emerging from this stretch at 5-2 and stumbling out of it at 3-4.
One puts the Raiders firmly in the postseason conversation. The other leaves them staring at four consecutive losses and wondering where all that September optimism went.
Even a 4-3 record would come with questions about which direction they are heading.
The Raiders helped change them by winning their first three games. They showed enough against the Chiefs to suggest the start was built on something substantial. But playing Kansas City close cannot become an accomplishment they admire for too long.
The schedule requires them to do something with it.
Beginning Sunday against a Patriots team that just beat the Bills and has every reason to believe it has found its footing.
New England will see this as an opportunity to keep moving. The Raiders need to arrive with the same urgency because the alternative is returning home with consecutive losses and Buffalo waiting.
There is no convenient place in that sequence to catch a breath, work through an extended offensive slump or wait for a persistent problem to fix itself.
The Raiders are averaging 3.1 yards per carry. Against the Chiefs, they managed 43 yards on 20 attempts. They remained competitive because other parts of their team were good enough to compensate.
Expecting that arrangement to hold through this stretch is asking a lot.
Kirk Cousins can make the right decisions, Brock Bowers can create matchup problems, and Michael Mayer can punish defenses that overlook him. But every unproductive run narrows the offense’s options and increases the difficulty of what comes next.
Second-and-long. Obvious passing situations. Red zone possessions in which the defense has less ground to cover and less reason to worry about being moved off the ball.
The Raiders don’t need a complete transformation by Sunday. They do need progress.
A few more usable first downs. Fewer plays blown up before Ashton Jeanty can get started. Enough consistency to make play-action convincing and keep Cousins from carrying such a disproportionate share of the operation.
That would also give Klint Kubiak’s aggressiveness a stronger foundation.
His willingness to pursue points and trust his players has helped establish a different expectation inside the building. The Chiefs loss shouldn’t change that.
But an aggressive decision is only as useful as the execution supporting it. The Raiders cannot keep putting themselves in position to seize a game and then leave the opportunity sitting there.
Against this competition, those moments are too valuable.
The same applies to protecting the football and taking it away.
The Raiders helped build their fast start by creating extra possessions and making opponents pay for mistakes. Against the Chiefs, their own mistakes helped tilt a tight game in the other direction.
The next three opponents can do plenty of damage without being handed additional opportunities.
That makes ball security, sound tackling and disciplined pressure essential. Maxx Crosby and the defense have to create disruption without creating escape routes. The offense has to recognize when an ordinary gain is enough. Special teams have to stop contributing to the degree of difficulty.
None of that requires the Raiders to become timid.
And that is the larger examination awaiting a team that has accelerated its own timeline.
Winning early generated belief. Losing narrowly to Kansas City offered evidence that the gap might be closing. Responding through three difficult games would establish something more durable: the ability to absorb disappointment, make corrections and keep winning while opponents test their weaknesses.
Nobody should demand perfection. A sweep would be a major statement, but winning two of three would be meaningful progress and leave the Raiders well positioned.
They have already earned the opportunity to think that way.
A month ago, the central question was how long this new staff and reshaped roster would need before the Raiders could matter again.
The question now is whether they can keep themselves in that conversation when the schedule gets harder and the first loss is still fresh.
