As the Raiders get ready for a must-win game Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, they know they have one big, positive point in their favor.
They’ll be playing in Oakland.
The 6-6 Raiders have been two different teams in 2019. As Evan Groat of SB Nation pointed out this week, the Raiders have been awful on the road and good at home. The team is 1-5 on the road with a minus-six turnover differential in away games and 5-1 in home games (including the designated home field in London vs. the Bears) with a plus-four turnover margin.
So even though the Raiders host a 7-5 Titans team that has won three straight and five of its past six games, Oakland head coach Jon Gruden is excited his team has home games this weekend and next (Jacksonville) to get back on track before finishing on the road against the Chargers and Broncos.
"We are 6-6," Gruden told reporters. "We’ve had some ups and downs, obviously, especially the last couple of weeks. But we are 6-6. It’s nothing to really brag about, but we’re excited about progress and we do like playing at home like everybody else. We’ve been on the road more than anyone in the history of the world now … 45,000 miles of travel is a joke."
The travel schedule has included Minnesota, Indianapolis, London, Green Bay, Houston, New York and Kansas City.
Another piece of good news is Raiders quarterback Derek Carr – coming off a pair of bad games in losses to the Jets and Chiefs – has beaten the Titans in his past three matchups with them, throwing six TD passes vs. just one interception.
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"I’ve had a rough two weeks," Carr told Vic Tafur of The Athletic this week. "We’ve had a rough two week. It’s time to get back on track. … You can rewind two weeks ago we were the greatest story in the NFL. Two weeks later we suck again. I think we’ll be all right. We’re going to keep grinding."
The Raiders go into Sunday’s game as 3-point underdogs. Kickoff is set for 1:25 p.m.
