This is an interesting turning point for the Raiders. No they won't go on a winning streak and end the season 8-8. What happened was a a victory celebration by a young group of players happy to be there. This is meaningful. News reports said that when Bruce Irvin hit the Atlanta Falcons practice field he was dancing around and screaming "I'm free!" "I'm free" over and over again. Goodbye Bruce.
It is quite obvious this locker room had issues. Now that the roster is vastly different it was very fun to see this team so happy about what is essentially a meaningless game. The playoffs are out of the picture so they are playing for pride, for the future and experience. Thirteen rookies were on the field for this win against the Cardinals. 13! Can eager young second and third string players outperform first string players with a grudge? We say yes.
This is obviously a rebuild. And what better way to start a rebuild than showing anyone who doesn't want to be there the door. Goodbye ex Raiders. It will be very nice in the coming years to beat the ex Raiders with a much better team. Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta etc we're coming for you. I can't wait until we start spending some of that cap space money (~$85m at this time) and those first round draft picks come rolling in.
It seems toxicity was the priority problem for management to resolve and by the looks of that locker room after this game the job is nearly done. It's all downhill from here. Time to build character, experience, teamwork, chemistry, comaraderie, friendships. As star after star begins to roll in they will have great backup by the group of guys who won this game and play out the rest of this season. The future looks good.
