HENDERSON, Nev. -- Despite the heartbreak on his sleeve, a look of calm came over Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs' face in the bowels of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
Sure, the Raiders had just dropped another last-minute heartbreaker, this one 30-29 to the AFC West rival Kansas City Chiefs to fall to 1-4. And the Raiders would be entering their bye week with more questions than answers. But as the Raiders' hard-charging running back pointed out, Las Vegas had just proven something with its bittersweet prime-time effort. Not just to themselves, either.
"I don't have no doubt that we're going to get it together," Jacobs said. "I don't have no doubt. I think a lot of teams watched this game, I think a lot of America watched this game and was like, 'OK, they might have something up their sleeve.'
"So, I'm not too much concerned about it. I think we just need to come in, work harder and figure it out."
Whistling while walking by the graveyard so close to Halloween, mixed with a twist of Alfred E. Neuman's "What, me worry?" But promising statistics and a favorable schedule after the bye week, starting Sunday with a home game against the 1-3-1 Houston Texans (4:05 p.m. ET, CBS), gives credence to their optimism.
Consider: despite having played one fewer game than 29 other teams, Jacobs was third in the league in rushing (490 yards). Receiver Davante Adams was tied for third in touchdown catches (5). Defensive end Maxx Crosby was tied for second in sacks (6.0). And kicker Daniel Carlson was tied for the scoring lead (53 points). ESPN's Football Power Index is also high on the Raiders, ranking them eighth -- ahead of the 5-1 New York Giants and 4-2 squads such as the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets.
Plus, the Raiders, under new management with general manager Dave Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels, have been outscored by a total of only five points in their five games.
Does that sound like a one-win team?
"We didn't earn that," said quarterback Derek Carr, whose numbers have traditionally dipped in his first year with a new playcaller. His passer rating of 87.7 is the third-lowest of his nine-year career while his completion percentage of 61.4 is seven points lower than it was last season. "It's hard. I've been around a lot of new regimes and all that kind of stuff. I think the frustrating part is that it takes time to get everyone on the same page.
"Once you get on the same page, it gets rolling and churning and it's great and awesome. We're right there, but close doesn't count in this game."
Hence the vexation.
"It would be probably less frustrating if you don’t have that great of a team," Adams said. "But we've got a really good team, so it's frustrating for it to happen, to keep happening. We’ve just got to keep on truckin', sticking to what we do and finish out games.
"It's not like we're getting blown out and we don't have answers. We're playing good football; we're just not playing 60 minutes of it."
Indeed, in all four of the Raiders' losses, their offense has had the ball late with an opportunity to either take the lead or tie the score, to no avail. This a year after their unlikely run to the playoffs as a 10-7 team that won its last four games and had an NFL-record six walk-off wins.
Now, though, Las Vegas is just 1-2 in the division, having defeated the Denver Broncos at home and fallen on the road at the Los Angeles Chargers and Chiefs. And still, after the Chargers beat the Broncos in overtime Monday night, the Raiders are just 2 1/2 games behind the Chiefs and Chargers, ½ game behind the Broncos.
No one is running away with the AFC West ... yet.
There's a reason so many onlookers and prognosticators predicted the Raiders were primed to go on a run once they returned from their bye -- the national TV effort at Kansas City and, oh yeah, the schedule lightens up.
Big time.
In fact, FPI has the Raiders favored in 10 of their final 12 games, falling only at the Jacksonville Jaguars (who are only favored by 0.3 points) in Week 9 and in the season finale to the Chiefs at home.
An 11-6 record after a 1-4 start before the bye, when McDaniels said a major goal in the break was to figure out what had not been working and to "shelve that" for the rest of the season? Big squad goals and, yeah, the Raiders will take it.
It all starts Sunday with the Texans before roadies at the New Orleans Saints (2-4) and the Jaguars (2-4).
Still (spoiler alert), the Raiders have not fared well after their bye in recent years, going 0-5 since 2017, losing by an average of 17.8 points.
"It is frustrating because I'm human," Carr said. "Seeing where we are, we've got a new regime and all of this stuff, but I believe in it. I believe in Josh [McDaniels], I believe in our staff and I believe in our players ... it sucks what our record is.
"But I just keep reinforcing that we've got a good team. I've been on some teams that aren't as good as this one."
Jacobs, meanwhile, said his job as a runner is to "inspire" his guys.
"You can look at it positively and just be like, 'OK, you're right there on the cusp,'" he said. "But [being] right there really don't matter if you don't win.
"It's just about putting it together, literally for 60 minutes, and I know that kind of sounds like, cliché, but it's literally the position we’re in right now. Just trying to figure it out."