With both the host Las Vegas Raiders and visiting New York Giants entering their Week 17 matchup riding nine-game losing skids, conventional wisdom says one of those teams will snap its horrendous streak.
Both teams are 2-13 on the year, haven’t won a game since early October, have gone through coaching staff upheaval, and are in a battle for the top pick in next year’s draft. Hence the moniker of this Sunday afternoon matchup as: The No. 1 Pick In The 2026 NFL Draft Bowl.
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But the Silver & Black and the G-Men have been anything but conventional.
Normalcy is not a word either franchise can truly define. And thus, in a battle of the bad, with the top pick on the line, this Week 17 matchup ending up in tie between the Giants and Raiders would be a hilariously fitting end result.
That’d leave both teams 2-13-1 and trigger some tie breaker scenarios to determine which squad picks No. 1 overall next April and the arguments and fervor would be entertaining to consume. That means a deep dive into record, strength of schedule (SOS), divisional/conference ties, then to combined points for/against, and last resort, a coin toss.
The Raiders are no stranger to a coin toss determining draft order, after all. You just have to go think back on about seven years ago.
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Back in the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine, a televised coin toss determined the ninth and 10th overall pick in that year’s draft between the Silver & Black and San Francisco 49ers. The coin was flipped by Hall of Famer Rod Woodson and the Niners won allowing the team to take Mike McGlinchey (with the Denver Broncos the last three seasons) ninth while the Raiders traded down from 10 to take Kolton Miller (still in Silver & Black) 15th overall.
But forget that noise.
Cut and dry clarity is best. And a definitive roadmap on what lies ahead is ideal for a Raiders team in dire need of a rebuild. And to alleviate the myriad of scenarios, an outright win or loss by the Raiders against the visiting Giants in Week 17 and in the season finale against the visiting Kansas City Chiefs simplify matters.
Now, I’m not obtuse.
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There’s a portion of Raider Nation that wants back-to-back loses so its beloved team obtains the highest draft pick it can to help reshape the franchise. Those with this notion have eyes set on the Raiders obtaining the No. 1 overall pick to select a quarterback prospect to solve the long-standing signal caller conundrum in the desert.
Yet, as you can see from the above, Las Vegas is eyeing a win — despite how elusive and rare those have been. And Maxx Crosby isn’t alone in that sentiment. The Raiders are publicly going with the “you play to win the game” mantra. (And we won’t know what’s said behind closed doors).
“I do it really well,” Las Vegas head coach Pete Carroll said on Monday when asked how does he block out the noise about the number one pick being on the line this Sunday against New York. “Yeah, I’m not really that concerned about any of that, and I don’t think you want me to be. We’re going to go play and play the best we can play and see what happens.”
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Ditto for quarterback Geno Smith during his media availability on Tuesday.
“Yeah, we play to win,” he said when broached with fan significant portion of the fan base wanting losses and not wins. “We deserve to go out there and have a chance to win. And so, we play to go out there and win. A lot of guys work hard, extremely hard. And unfortunately, the season is going the way that it’s going, but we put ourselves in this position, and we’ve got to finish the season out the right way. And so, that’s what we’re focused on inside the locker room.”
We’ll see what kind of performance the Raiders have in the final two weeks. Las Vegas is a bad overall football team, but did make the Houston Texans top-ranked defense look foolish. And if the Silver & Black replicate the effort in the 23-21 loss in Houston the next two games, back-to-back victories are plausible.
That all noted, it’s hard to ignore the fact Las Vegas sent tight end Brock Bowers and safety Jeremy Chinn to injured reserve Wednesday morning. Without their ultra-talented and productive pass-catching tight end and starting strong safety, perhaps a tie is a distinct possibility.
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I agree with our Matt Holder: This “Stinker Bowl” — as the New York Post dubs Sunday’s contest in Las Vegas — should be a primetime evening matchup instead of an afternoon one. It’d be a highly viewed tilt between two 2-13 teams for the No. 1 pick implications alone.
But, I’ll settle for Kevin Harlan and Trent Green being on the call for the CBS broadcast. Harlan has a career chalk full of memorable calls across a variety of sporting landscapes. And him being the voice of the Stinker Bowl should provide some entertaining moments — win, lose, or draw.
Especially if it’s a draw.