The Raiders played their first two games at home, but it is going to be some time before they play their next game in Oakland.
They’ll be in Minnesota Sunday and Indianapolis in Week Four before heading to London for a “home” game against the Bears. A bye week follows and then they’ll be on to games in Green Bay and Houston before finally playing another game in Oakland on November 3.
It was a scheduling quirk that the league’s vice president of broadcasting Michael North said he regretted when the slate was announced in April and it is one that still rankles Raiders head coach Jon Gruden.
“We are still trying to understand how that happened, but we are going to have to deal with it,” Gruden said, via NBCSportsBayArea.com. “We just have to showcase our mental toughness and deal with it. It’s uncommon, maybe unprecedented, maybe unrealistic that this should ever happen in pro football. I’m not excited about it, but we’ll adapt and do it the best we can.”
Uncommon though it may be, the Raiders are not alone in having that kind of gap between games in their home stadium. The Buccaneers have the same stretch this season and their coach Bruce Arians wasn’t any happier about it than Gruden.