Not only did the Raiders loss see them lose ground in the AFC West race, but also in the Wild Card race. Currently, the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots are the leaders for the two AFC Wild Card spots. Both teams won in Week 12.
The Patriots improved their record 9-2 with a 45-24 Thanksgiving Day win against the Detroit Lions. The Steelers improved to 8-3 with a 16-13 overtime win against the Close-but-no-cigar Buffalo Bills. Both of these teams saw their hold on the wild card spot tighten when the Indianapolis Colts fell at home to the San Diego Chargers 36-14.
The Colts loss lands them in a group of teams at 6-5 and one game ahead of the Raiders. Also at 6-5 are the Chargers and the Dolphins. The Dolphins, of course, revamped their wild card hopes by trouncing the Raiders.
The Raiders, at 5-6, are on the bottom of the wild card picture with the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans. The Texans and Titans find themselves at 5-6 after the Texans shut-out the Titans, 20-0. Making the wild card road even more difficult for the Raiders is that they have already lost to the Titans, Texans, Dolphins and Steelers.