Oakland Raiders: Breaking Down 5 Toughest, 5 Easiest Games on 2015 Schedule

With the release of the Oakland Raiders' 2015 season schedule, the opportunity has arrived to take a look ahead and make some early predictions for the team's performance in the upcoming NFL season.

You might be thinking to yourself, "But there's still the draft! And rosters are going to continue to take shape throughout the summer!" You might be thinking that, perhaps, it would be prudent to wait at least a little longer, at least until after the draft, before trying to make such predictions. Maybe you're right.

But where's the fun in that?

Yes, teams will make major additions in the upcoming draft. There'll also be plenty of turnover at various positions leading up to training camp, during training camp and throughout the preseason. But here's what we do know:

The Oakland roster is much improved from last season. The Raiders were better (at least slightly) than their final 3-13 record indicated. Several of the teams on Oakland's slate have established identities, which means there's a reasonable expectation of what we'll see from them in 2015. With that in mind, we can start to differentiate the more difficult matchups from the easiest ones. Of course, "easiest" is a relative term. There are no actual easy games on Oakland's schedule. However, there are some games that, as of now, seem more winnable than others. In this regard, these matchups will be considered the easiest games on the schedule.

Here's a look at the Raiders' five toughest and five easiest matchups for the upcoming season. The toughest ones are games Oakland is likely to lose. The easiest are games that Oakland can, and should, win.

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