With two games behind us, we're now officially halfway through the 2016 preseason, and inching closer each day to the start of the regular season.
As of now, the Oakland Raiders are 1-1 in the preseason, with a home matchup against the Tennessee Titans on the horizon later this week.
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The Silver and Black came firing out of the gates, handily beating the Arizona Cardinals 31-10 before falling to the Green Bay Packers 20-12 at Lambeau Field last week.
Now that we're just a few weeks out from the start of the 2016 regular season, let's see what the national media is saying about the Raiders.
Here is our power rankings list, brought to you by NFL Extra Points.
Current Ranking: No. 11
Previous Ranking: No. 11
Movement: N/A
Analysis: I would be remiss if I didn't list at least one preseason All-Pro—a no-name player suddenly hearing his name on SportsCenter after a huge game.
The star of Friday's nightcap blowout by the Raiders was young tailback George Atkinson, who did all right for himself—if you consider five carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns "all right."
After scoring from 53 and 35 yards out, Atkinson has been the talk of Week 1 of the preseason. But as the undrafted free agent from Notre Dame told Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com, he knows a couple of runs don't guarantee him a spot on the 53-man roster:
"You want to have confidence. But you also need to work on things that didn't go right and to continue to get better and, I'm still trying to make the team. ... The coaching staff put me and the O-line in great position to make big plays."
Atkinson opened some eyes with his big game. While Latavius Murray might not be in danger of losing his job, consider this: Last year, the only people who knew who Detroit running back Zach Zenner was were South Dakota State fans (I assume they exist) and Zenner's mom.
Then Zenner spent the preseason running his way into a roster spot.
They're the kind of stories that almost make a month of football games that don't count bearable.
Almost.
Current Ranking: No. 11
Previous Ranking: No. 13
Movement: Up 2
Analysis: The Raiders? Ranked 11th? Derek Carr, Amari Cooper and Khalil Mack have our voters intrigued, but -- not to sound cliché -- they still have to learn how to win. The Raiders had an NFL-worst minus-60 point differential in the fourth quarter last season.
Current Ranking: No. 11
Previous Ranking: No. 11
Movement: **N/A
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Analysis: There tend to be two types of teams that fare well in the preseason: those that have to extend their first- and second-teamers because they have a ton of starting jobs to settle, and those that win the battle of backups because they are deep. For the first time in a very long time, the Raiders are the latter.
Preseason Ranking: No. 11
Analysis: Oakland has a roster dotted with young talent, but it's not playing with house money any longer. Making a serious push for the postseason is the bar for 2016.
