It all depends on what Connor Cook is. He looked like hot dogshit in the pre-season, despite throwing a ball that looks awfully pretty coming out of his hand, he just looked lost and not ready for the speed of the NFL game. Fast forward to last week, and despite a fumble and an awful interception on an overthrow, he looked competent. Expectations cant be that high though. As Derek Carr pointed out in an interview, #4 takes the Manning approach to practice and keeps 99% of the snaps to himself, so Cook hasn't had much run at all since August. It is hard to build the timing and anticipation that the Raiders offense requires in that situation.
I think the Texans -3 line for this weekend is about right. The Raiders can win if the defense plays well, Osweiller gives them the ball a couple time and Cook doesn't suck. I don't think they can beat the Pats, Steelers or KC on the road. I think they can win this weekend, but most of my disappointment is tied up in the fact that, with Carr playing at this level, I thought this was a team that could legitimately win the Super Bowl and re-framed my hopes and expectations around that belief. Now I just really want one win in the playoffs, which, actually, perfectly matches up with my August hopes and dreams.