The Raiders effectively ended their 2014 season by firing head coach Dennis Allen less than one month in.
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Cleverly vs Bellew – Rivals go head to head Raiders fire head coach – Dennis Allen out Raiders name interim coach – Tony Sparano in
It’s a little earlier than in the past, but the Raiders are effectively eliminated from playoff contention. Between an 0-4 start, firing their head coach and impending games against the entire AFC West and NFC West (5 playoff teams and the Cardinals), the likelihood of the Raiders actually winning enough games to even be in the hunt come December are slim to none. Interim head coach Tony Sparano has some experience that may rally his players – he took the Miami Dolphins to the playoffs as head coach in 2008 – but getting this team over the hump would likely require a Herculean effort that even Raiders coaching legend John Madden would struggle to achieve.
Here are the 5 worst teams in the NFL heading into Week 5:
5. The Entire AFC East – Collectively this division is just as bad as the NFC West in 2010 when the Seahawks won the division with a losing record. If these teams hadn’t played the Oakland Raiders or each other in the first quarter of the season, they would be a combined 2-9.
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – A win over the Steelers takes them out of the NFL basement, but the loss of WR Mike Evans may make future wins harder to come by.
3. Tennessee Titans – The starting QB for the Titans in 2015 is not currently on the roster, that much is a fact. The Colts scored as many points in three quarters against the Titans as they’ve scored in the past three games combined.
2. Jacksonville Jaguars – Blake Bortles was impressive, there’s no doubt, but the team still hasn’t scored at least 20 points in a game. Even in the relatively weak AFC South, that kind of production will not win games.
1. Oakland Raiders – The problems with this team go far beyond just having the league’s hardest schedule – there are serious problems with the culture of this team that start at the very top with the owner and trickle down to every player on the team.
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