Pro Football Talk power rankings: Where do the Raiders land?
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Pro Football talk has just posted their power rankings onto X, they have the Raiders well on the back half of the league at No. 26.
The first glaring mistake on the list would be the Broncos ranked higher than the Raiders, and by the number of spots, a 4 team gap is noticeable.
The Raiders currently have an 8 game winning streak over the Broncos, that's with multiple coaches for both teams during that time, so dysfunction isn't a fair argument for why the Raiders have won.
The Vikings are also suspect, if they still had Kirk Cousins under center they would probably be in the top 15. However, with Sam Darnold being their starter, there's a lot of unknown, so much unknown that they shouldn't be above the Raiders.
The Raiders should at the very least leap frog the Broncos and Vikings, two teams that have more unknowns then certainties heading into the new year.
Wrapping up the AFC West, the Chiefs are No. 1, can't argue against it, they're reigning Super Bowl Champions for a second straight year, they've earned the spot.
The Chargers at No. 15 is the Jim Harbaugh effect arguably too high, but it's also impossible to argue against Coach Harbaugh's resume, it speaks for itself. He's a culture changer, he goes into places in dismay and turns them around in a matter of a couple seasons at most. Could the Chargers be the one place he's not able to do it? Yes, technically that's possible, it's just hard to imagine that would be the case.