After a 3-0 start to the season, the Raiders are back even. A three-game losing streak to the Chiefs, Patriots, and Bills which is to say they beat the easy teams to start the year and lost to the tough teams. Which has them hovering right around the middle. Let's see where the various outlets place them.
Raiders spot in NFL power rankings ahead of Week 7
Nate Davis, USA Today -- 12
Last week: 15
After dropping their third in a row, they're the most .500 team ever − now 3-3 with 162 points scored and 162 surrendered. Surely a tie with the Rams on Sunday is in the works.
Chad Graff and Josh Kendall, The Athletic -- 18
Last week: 17
The 38-year-old quarterback just keeps hanging on, but the calls for No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza will get louder after the Raiders dropped their third straight game Sunday. That’s not necessarily Cousins’ fault, though. He is 29th in fantasy scoring
(18.5 ppg) after being drafted No. 264 overall. Tight end Brock Bowers is once again pacing the Raiders offense. He’s 13th in scoring (20.6 ppg).
Nick Shook, NFL media -- 18
Last week: 19
Another tough loss marked the Raiders’ third straight defeat, dropping them from a 3-0 start to 3-3 after six weeks. For some teams, this might be a sign of crisis. These Raiders, however, have proven competitive in two of those three losses, going blow for blow with two AFC titans in the Chiefs and Bills. This is part of the process of evolving from cellar-dweller to aspiring contender, in which the upstart learns how to win the close battles against proven teams. Las Vegas has received a couple of good lessons in this department recently, while Kirk Cousins continues to thrive. There are no moral victories, but there are degrees of losses, and this one appears more favorable than others.
NFL Nation, ESPN -- 18
Last week: 17
Las Vegas signed center Tyler Linderbaum with the expectation that he would fix the team's run-blocking issues from last season. Instead, those have continued, especially Sunday, when the Raiders totaled just 65 rushing yards. The unit struggled containing the Bills' offensive line; Linderbaum had a hard time blocking defensive tackle Deone Walker. Caleb Rogers, who started at right guard over Jackson Powers-Johnson, also whiffed on a block that led to Ashton Jeanty being stopped for a 3-yard loss at the goal line in the fourth quarter.
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports -- 22
Last week: 18
They've lost three straight games to fall to 3-3, but there is a lot to like about this team. They face a big one with the Rams this week.
Conor Orr, Sports Illustrated -- 19
Last week: 16
Piggybacking on that point, an interesting thought experiment: What if the Raiders decided that Fernando Mendoza was ready? Would the Browns be at all interested in having Cousins back up/challenge Deshaun Watson for snaps down the stretch, especially if Cleveland keeps gutting out victories?
Frankc Schwab, Yahoo! sports -- 18
Last week: 12
The Raiders caught a very tough part of the schedule after a 3-0 start. They faced the Chiefs, Patriots and Bills, who are a combined 14-3. The Raiders were blown out at New England but led Kansas City in the fourth quarter and were tied with Buffalo in the fourth quarter. A three-game losing streak isn't what the Raiders wanted, but it is not unreasonable. Of course, the team wasn't happy with coming close against top competition.
"We have to find ways to win those games," Raiders center Tyler Linderbaum said, according to the team's site. "To be happy that we're close with teams like that, I don't think that's a good mindset to have."
The Raiders face perhaps the most interesting game of Week 7 as they host a Rams team that is 2-4 and just got embarrassed at home by the Cardinals. The Raiders will be looking to finally break through against a talented team, but that won't be easy.
Ralph Vacchiano, FOX sports -- 18
Last week: 16
The Raiders are just way better than I thought they were. They had to drop in the rankings this week because they’ve lost three straight, including a humbling blowout in New England. But I haven’t lost sight of the fact that the Raiders’ other two were three-point losses were to the Chiefs and Bills. QB Kirk Cousins is playing great. HC Klint Kubiak has done a masterful job as head coach. If the Raiders could only get more out of RB Ashton Jeanty, they might have something really good there.
Average rank -- 17.875
Last week: 16.25
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: NFL Week 7 power rankings roundup: Raiders holding fairly steady
