Oakland Raiders Starting 2014 The Way 2013 Ended

The Oakland Raiders are apparently talking about leaving the Bay. If the Raiders continue to play they way they did in their pre-season opener, it seems likely Oakland fans might drive them to the airport.

This is a team that has been one of the worst in the NFL for years. Despite that, every Oakland fan was hoping this would be the year the Raiders finally figured out how to put it all together.

While preseason games don’t actually mean much when it comes to wins and losses, the Raiders came out and looked like a team that will struggle to win four games again. Oakland took on the lowly Minnesota Vikings and lost 10-6.

It was the final score that is sitting poorly with Raiders fans in particular who sat through a season of unimpressive offensive play. Losing 10-6 to a team looking for a starting quarterback never sits well with fans and it certainly isn’t sitting well in Oakland.

The San Jose Mercury News went so far as to call the loss that saw both quarterbacks play significant time as uninspired. Derek Carr did give Oakland Raiders fans something to possibly look forward to once the season started, as he played rather well for not getting his team into the endzone.

It was Raiders’ quarterback Matt McGloin that did finally help Oakland get on the scoreboard and avoid getting shut out. None of the Raiders quarterbacks exactly looked as though they were going to lead Oakland back to the Super Bowl.

McGloin’s one touchdown was on the ground, as opposed to through the air, and the team actually missed the extra point, hence the 10-6 loss rather than 10-7.

For the Vikings, it appears their quarterback issues are no more settled than the Raiders. The Vikings started out with Matt Cassel, who played reasonably well, completing 5 of 6 passes for more than 60 yards.

A much-heralded rookie quarterback then stepped into the game against Oakland and looked very much like a rookie in his first NFL game. Teddy Bridgewater completed just 6 of 13 passes for 49 yards and was sacked twice.

Third stringer Christian Ponder, who was once a heralded rookie himself, looked like a third string quarterback, completing 3 of 7 passes for 20 yards while getting sacked three times.

The next step for a team once considered the best of the league is to try and just win an exhibition game. The Oakland Raiders will attempt to do that next Friday against the Detroit Lions.