Raiders are 3-0. NFL power rankings need to get over it…
Apparently, the Raiders need to beat their opponents and their status.
The first task goes swimmingly. Three games, three victories, including consecutive street wins and a comeback in New Orleans that required the type of composure this franchise has been missing for years.
That makes them considered one of 5 remaining undefeated groups in the NFL.
The second stays a piece in progress.
That ought to increase some eyebrows. At what point does affordable skepticism turn into an unwillingness to decide the team John Spytek and Tom Brady have constructed, and Klint Kubiak is teaching, by itself deserves? These Raiders shouldn’t have to reply for the failures of their predecessors.
How else to clarify a team sitting at 3-0, producing numbers that belong in the NFL’s higher tier, still wanting up at groups with significantly less spectacular September resumes?
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Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak walks off the discipline after defeating the New Orleans Saints at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. Getty Images
CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco has the Raiders fifteenth coming into Week 4. Sharp Football places them 18th. Arrowhead Pride slots them at twelfth. Different evaluators, different approaches, same conclusion: maintain ready exterior the top 10.
At some point, skepticism turns into stubbornness.
Call it no matter you need. That’s disrespect.
Yes, the Raiders earned their awful status. Years of dropping, teaching modifications and promising moments that dissolved into acquainted disappointment will do that. Nobody ought to be required to erase those recollections because this September lastly feels different.
But those recollections shouldn’t depend more than what is occurring on the discipline.
Lift the hood.
The Raiders have scored 88 factors and allowed 54. That is a plus-34 differential or a median successful margin of 11.3 factors. They are scoring 29.3 factors per game, seventh in the league, and permitting 18, also seventh.
That is significant manufacturing on each side of the ball.
They beat Miami by 14, the Chargers by 12 and New Orleans by eight. Whatever reservations exist about the competitors, this has not been three weeks of surviving on last-second discipline targets and hoping an opponent misses one.
The Raiders have created separation.
They also lead the league with 9 takeaways and a plus-five turnover differential. Those further possessions have helped an offense that is changing alternatives into factors. Kirk Cousins has thrown 9 landing passes, tied for the league lead, with three in each game.
For all the discuss about Cousins serving as a bridge to Fernando Mendoza, the veteran is doing significantly more than maintaining a seat heat.
He has accomplished 67.4% of his passes and owns a 107.2 passer rating. Those are the numbers of a quarterback making an offense operate, giving his team solutions and cashing in when his protection creates alternatives.
And he received the first two games without Brock Bowers.
Maxx Crosby #98 of the Las Vegas Raiders celebrates after recovering a fumble during the fourth quarter against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Getty Images
When Bowers returned Sunday, he caught 10 passes for 116 yards and a landing. An offense already discovering methods to win regained its most harmful receiving weapon. There is cause to imagine its potentialities are increasing.
The protection presents proof past the turnover whole, too.
Sharp Football ranks the Raiders fourth in factors allowed per drive, which is a very useful stat: It measures how successfully a protection retains particular person possessions from turning into factors.
Fourth in that class ought to get somebody’s consideration.
So ought to a quarterback stress fee share that ranks fifth in the NFL, which helps clarify why the early defensive success deserves more consideration than a shrug about lucky bounces.
Pressure disrupts timing. It forces hurried selections. It provides coverage an opportunity.
And when the Raiders wanted their protection most in New Orleans, it delivered 4 fourth-quarter takeaways. Through three games, they haven’t allowed a fourth-quarter point.
Given all that, it’s no shock they are considered one of 5 remaining undefeated groups.
Yet people are still unwilling to present them the correct respect.
There are reputable objections. The operating game wants work. The Raiders are averaging only 3.2 yards per carry. Their total offensive manufacturing, at 4.8 yards per play, doesn’t scream dominance. Turnovers can fluctuate, and anticipating 4 takeaways every time a game will get uncomfortable can be silly.
The schedule will get more durable, starting Sunday against the Chiefs.
All honest.
But acknowledging weaknesses doesn’t require pretending the accomplishments are inadequate. Nobody is asking anybody to reserve the Raiders a Super Bowl lodge.
A spot in the top 10 would do.
Prisco ranks the 1-2 Rams 5 spots ahead of the unbeaten Raiders, giving LA credit score for its past and the good thing about the doubt about its future.
Fair sufficient.
But that courtesy seems to run in only one path. The Rams’ historical past helps excuse their current. The Raiders’ historical past makes it more durable to get credit score for theirs.
Power rankings inevitably mix performance with projection. Still, three weeks of outcomes ought to carry sufficient weight to change the dialog.
Las Vegas Raiders’ Michael Mayer (87) and Brock Bowers (89) have fun Bowers’ landing catch as New Orleans Saints’ Danny Stutsman (28) and Quincy Riley (29) look on during the second half of an NFL soccer game in New Orleans, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. AP Photo/Ella Hall
Kubiak’s team has earned that a lot.
If the Raiders stumble, transfer them down. If their weaknesses overwhelm their strengths, reassess.
But decide this team by itself work.
The Raiders can’t change the years that made everybody skeptical.
But clearly, they are altering the proof.
The rankings ought to catch up.
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