1. Allegiant Stadium
2020 was supposed to be the year that Raider Nation packed into their brand-new stadium and looked towards a playoff-bound future. Unfortunately for fans, officials in Vegas kept Allegiant Stadium closed. They didn t even bother risking doing a game at half or a quarter of capacity.
This was a big momentum killer for the Raiders.
2. Penalties
It s no secret that penalties plagued the Raiders throughout the season, and it became tough to watch at times. In all, the Raiders had 98 penalties by the end of the year, which had cost them a whopping 895 yards. That s not a good look on either side of the ball and had fans demanding that the team work on the basics.
3. Facebook groups
While Raider Nation is mostly known for its diehard fandom, they are also known for a vocal minority of fans that spread toxicity on Facebook groups. Now, every team has this going to some extent, but it seemed particularly bad for the Raiders last season. In fact, between arguing over who should be the starter, and which parts of the defense should be replaced, it got pretty heated at times.
4. The defense
What can be said about this defense that hasn t already been picked apart and studied by various other platforms? The defense was ranked 30th this year, meaning there are literally only two teams in the league that are worse than them. Now, it is worth mentioning that the team was plagued with countless injuries, but they seemed to lack chemistry as well.
Keep in mind that this is a team that was outscored 478-434, which made for a very tough season to watch. Between getting blown out by the Super Bowl-bound Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and again by the Atlanta Falcons, it was just not a great season.
5. Quarterback controversy
It s no secret that the ongoing Quarterback battle was a constant during the 2020 season, and everyone seemed to have an opinion on it. Whenever Derek Carr had a bad game, fans would jump to Facebook in droves to tell the world that he wasn t the guy. 15 weeks later, a groin injury left Carr unable to continue and gave Marcus Mariota a chance to prove everyone wrong.
While the former Heisman winner put on a great showing, his turnover problems helped cost them a crucial game.
In the end, the Raiders decided that Carr would start the last week of the season against the Broncos, which only angered Mariota supporters more. In all honesty, Mariota is a quarterback deserving of a starting job, and it s easy to see why a lot of people would want to give that to him, but Carr does so much better in a variety of other factors.
