The Raiders are playing their final game in Oakland on Sunday. Is that something that the team will get some juice from? When they hosted Denver last December in what they thought might be their last game there, they put together one of their better efforts, winning 27-14 as an underdog.
I remember a Thursday night game back in 2015, when the Rams were playing their last game in St. Louis. They took care of the Bucs pretty easily, winning 31-23. And while the Chargers lost in their final game in San Diego, they at least put up a healthy 27 points.
So let’s widen the scope and look at other such games.
If we go back to the Raiders’ last move out of Oakland, I see nine such games. That includes the Raiders three times, the Rams twice, the Chargers, Oilers, Browns and Cardinals. The Colts moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis, but there was no farewell game there – they just packed the moving trucks in the offseason.
Of the nine games, I see five teams that might have gotten some kind of spark. That includes Bill Belichick’s 1995 Browns, winning 26-10 as an underdog.
But four teams definitely didn’t play above their heads in their last game. The Oilers (as a 4-point favorite) were decisively beaten in the final game in the Astrodome. The Raiders themselves scored only 6 and 9 points in their farewell-type games in 1981 (Oakland-Alameda) and 1994 (LA Coliseum).
So I guess it’s not something we should be attaching much weight to. But as poorly as the Jaguars have played in recent weeks, I expect Oakland will play well on Sunday, putting up good numbers. Jacksonville has allowed at least 195 rushing yards in four of its last five games; if Josh Jacobs is reasonably healthy, I would like to start him against that defense.
| FINAL HOME GAMES | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | City | Opp. | Line | O/U | Result |
| 1981 | Raiders | Oak. | Chi. | +6 | 38 | L 6-23 |
| 1987 | Cardinals | St.L. | NYG | +3 | 41 | W 27-24 |
| 1994 | Raiders | L.A. | K.C. | -3.5 | 37.5 | L 9-19 |
| 1994 | Rams | L.A. | Was. | -3.5 | 40.5 | L 21-24 |
| 1995 | Browns | Clev. | Cin. | +2 | 39 | W 26-10 |
| 1996 | Oilers | Hou. | Cin. | -4 | 44 | L 13-21 |
| 2015 | Rams | St.L. | T.B. | -2.5 | 41 | W 31-23 |
| 2016 | Chargers | S.D. | K.C. | +5.5 | 45 | L 27-45 |
| 2018 | Raiders | Oak. | Den. | +2.5 | 42.5 | W 27-14 |
| 2019 | Raiders | Oak. | Jac. | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan