The ** Oakland Raiders season** was the franchise's 31st season in the National Football League (NFL), the 41st overall, their sixth season of their second stint in Oakland, and the third season under head coach Jon Gruden. The Raiders finished the season 12–4 (the best record in the Gruden era), winning the AFC West for the first time since 1990. They returned to the playoffs for the first time since 1993, when the team was still in Los Angeles. The Divisional Round playoff game versus the Miami Dolphins would be their first home playoff game in Oakland since defeating the Houston Oilers in the 1980 AFC Wild Card Playoffs. This was the first of three consecutive AFC West titles for the Raiders. As the No. 2 seed in the AFC, the Raiders received a bye into the divisional round of the playoffs. Their four regular season losses were by a combined 16 points. The Raiders held the Miami Dolphins scoreless, winning 27–0. The following week against the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship, starting quarterback Rich Gannon sustained a shoulder injury after being hit by Baltimore's Tony Siragusa early in the second quarter. The loss of Gannon was too steep to overcome as the Raiders lost 16–3. Siragusa was later fined $10,000 for the hit. This was the NFL-record ninth playoff loss in Raiders history with a Super Bowl berth at stake (since tied by the San Francisco 49ers in 2013). The Raiders set a still-standing franchise record for most points scored in the regular season, with 479. The season was also the first for kicker Sebastian Janikowski. He would play 276 games in the regular season and playoffs as a Raider, a franchise record.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Undrafted Free Agents

Staff

Roster

Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Season summary

Week 1: vs. San Diego Chargers

Week 2: at Indianapolis Colts

This was the first time the Raiders had ever visited Indianapolis. Their previous regular season away game against the Colts occurred as far back as 1975 in Baltimore, although they also played in Baltimore during the 1977 postseason. This anomaly was due to old NFL scheduling formulas in place prior to 2002, whereby teams had no rotating schedule opposing members of other divisions within their own conference, but instead played interdivisional conference games according to position within a season's table.

Week 3: vs. Denver Broncos

Week 4: vs. Cleveland Browns

Week 5: Bye

Week 6: at San Francisco 49ers

Week 7: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 8: vs. Seattle Seahawks

Week 9: at San Diego Chargers

Week 16: at Seattle Seahawks

Standings

Playoffs

AFC Divisional Playoff Game

AFC Championship Game

Awards and records

Pro Bowl selections

Team leaders