The Oakland Raiders weren’t supposed to be good in 2019. In many ways, they were the laughing stock of the NFL heading into the season following the Antonio Brown scandal. The football world was just waiting for their eventual implosion.
Except that implosion never came.
Instead, the Raiders have surged to a 5-4 record through nine games and are right in the thick of a competitive AFC playoff race. And through 10 weeks, they sit just a half-game out of first place in the AFC West.
With a team full of unknowns and uncertainty, the Raiders have managed to exceed expectations this season and rise while the whole NFL world was waiting for them to fall.