Analysis: Raiders need to rally behind displeasure with rescheduling decision

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021 | 2 a.m.

Sensing his teammates needed some encouragement after a rough stretch, veteran linebacker K.J. Wright began speaking up more during Raiders’ practices last week.

Wright has been a vocal leader throughout his 11-year NFL career but felt the Raiders specifically needed to hear his wisdom on a few certain topics. One of those areas involved playing on the road.

“There’s going to be a few black jerseys in the stands, but for the most part, we are all we got,” Wright said. “For us to go there on the road, tough environment…that’s what you play for.”

Wright was referring to last week’s game at Kansas City, but the message now applies just as strongly to Las Vegas’ Week 15 game kicking off at 2 p.m. Monday in Cleveland. The Browns may not be the Raider rival that the Chiefs are, but the contentious rescheduling after Cleveland’s COVID-19 outbreak has divided the teams and their fan bases.

It’s ensured a hostile environment at FirstEnergy Stadium, more so than if the game had gone off as planned Saturday afternoon. Wright has appropriately taken the lead in expressing the frustration in the move from the Raiders’ point of view.

“We agreed there wouldn’t be any postponed game this season, right!?” Wright tweeted on Friday before adding another minute later that read, “I would say play (on Saturday) or forfeit.”

The Browns, after more than 20 players tested positive for COVID-19, fought against that ultimatum and succeeded even amid the Raiders attempting to resist. Tempers have flared ever since.

Raiders owner Mark Davis told ESPN the move was “a competitive disadvantage” to his club. Raiders linebacker Will Compton has argued with Browns’ fans and even at least one player on social media after mocking their desire to move back the game.

All the vitriol coming from the Las Vegas side is both in different ways understandable and excessive.

In one regard, the NFL deserves such backlash after maintaining all week, if not season, that no game would be postponed until suddenly doing a 180 Friday morning. The NFL Players Association pressured the league to make the change, and it’s not a good look that the current president is Browns center JC Tretter and his team’s wishes were put above his opponent’s.

At the same time, Raiders at Browns was not the only game moved. A pair of other contests with teams dealing with outbreaks — the Rams hosting the Seahawks and the Washington Football Team traveling to Philadelphia — were shifted to Tuesday despite their opponents’ protest.

The NFL also said coming into the year that every effort would be made to play games if COVID-19 waves occurred with vaccinated players like it did with the Browns.

So, the Raiders should really take this an opportunity. It’s an unforeseen advantageous situation to put Wright’s lessons into action for a second straight week.

The Raiders certainly failed at channeling the never-say-die, don’t-count-us-out mentality in a 48-9 loss at Kansas City. Despite five losses in six games, it’s still somehow not too late to put it into motion against an undermanned Browns’ team.

The postponement will surely mean Cleveland gets back some of its sidelined players, but it’s unlikely to be all of them. A few of the most notable Browns hoping to test negative twice in advance of Monday to come back include quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receiver Jarvis Landry, guard Wyatt Teller, defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, strong safety Ronnie Harrison and free safety John Johnson.

The Browns issued a statement defending the rescheduling, emphasizing that they’ve followed all pandemic protocols and that they’ll be ready to play Monday regardless.

That should be enough for the Raiders. If the players are still angry about the way it played out, they can take it out on the Browns in the game.

If Las Vegas puts on another lackluster performance, it’s just more confirmation that the perception that it’s mentally checked out of the season is correct. The Raiders have vehemently denied such assertions, but the evidence is starting to pile up.

They’ve gotten outscored by 91 points in the six games since their bye week, looking nothing like the team that entered the break 5-2 and even less like the one that started the season 3-0.

But now the Raiders are getting a reprieve with a pair of winnable games ahead in the next week — a weakened Browns side on Monday and then a Broncos team it already crushed on the road at home next Sunday. Both teams are currently a game ahead of Las Vegas in the AFC wild-card standings.

Beat the Browns and the Broncos, and the Raiders will have a winning record with their circumstances changed for the final two weeks. It’s not too late to revive another set of Wright’s words that may have seemed all but dead after the defeat in Kansas City.

“We know this last stretch we can make it happen but it’s all about our mindset, all about our energy as we go into the day, focus on our execution and just not letting our record define how we go and prepare,” Wright said. “We can go any way we want to. That’s good and I believe the message that was spread around the guys was, ‘We can do this. We can get this done.’”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or