ALAMEDA, Calif. -- One positive to come out of the Oakland Raiders' bye weekend: At 4-5, they did not lose any ground in the AFC West as both the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers lost to fall to 3-6, and the first-place Kansas City Chiefs (6-3) were idle.
Another encouraging development: No Raiders receivers dropped a pass.
Yes, the irony is dripping off your screen much like the stickum did off Fred Biletnikoff's hands. And arms. And shoulder pads. And helmet. And legs.
Because this much is true: Despite the Raiders' oft-high-powered offense of recent vintage, Oakland has issues holding on to the ball.
Amari Cooper, already a two-time Pro Bowler, entered the weekend leading the NFL with 10 dropped passes, per Pro Football Focus, and those 10 were three more than any other player.
Sure, the Raiders played in wet conditions the past two times they took the field, in Buffalo and Miami, which contributed to their case of the dropsies. But the Bills and Dolphins played in the same conditions, and their pass-catchers did not experience nearly the same issues.
"One thing about our culture here is we're not scared to tell the truth," Raiders offensive coordinator Todd Downing said. "If there is a hiccup like that, we do address it very directly. ... It's not like anyone is going out there and intentionally dropping passes or having a lack of focus and not finishing the route on purpose or something like that."
Downing said the Raiders pore over game film in an effort to figure out why catchable balls are ending up on the ground.
"If it's a certain route type or if it's a certain ball placement," Downing said. "Or if it's a certain way they're cutting, an in-cutter, an out-cutter, breaking to his right or breaking to his left. Those are the things that we have to drill down and that's the job of coaches to get their players better. Identify the problem areas and continue to work."
Should Cooper lead the league in PFF's drops rankings again, it would be the third straight year a Raiders receiver would accomplish that ignominious feat. Michael Crabtree's 13 drops were the most in the NFL last year, and Cooper had 18 as a rookie in 2015.
Cooper's game-breaking ability makes his drop rate all the more confounding.
After all, this is a guy who, in an on-again, off-again rain against the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 19, went off with 11 catches for 210 yards and two touchdowns, the second-highest yardage mark in franchise history.
"I just play, man," Cooper said. "Try to play good every week, but if it doesn't happen, I just move on. But if I do play good, I do the same thing."
Early in the season, Cooper said he simply was turning to run before securing the ball.
Consider: In the Chiefs game, Cooper was targeted 19 times, and that jibes with Downing's philosophy.
"You never want to show a lack of confidence in someone just because they had a hiccup of a drop," Downing said. "We understand that people work extremely hard at their craft out here. I trust that those players are going to step up to the plate and do a better job on their next opportunity. You'll never see me losing confidence in someone because of a hiccup like that."
In fact, Downing or a staffer might just break out a Gatorade bottle filled with water and squirt down a ball in practice.
Yes, to make it slick and resemble a potential wet-game scenario.
"We certainly have done a decent amount of that the last few weeks," Downing said.
"We sit out there and play catch. Not only taking snaps under center with a wet ball, but throwing to receivers. Yeah, we've definitely put some time into that. Any ways we identify as problem areas we can work on, we will and have. We'll continue to try to get better at."
What's the weather forecast for Mexico City, then, where the Raiders will play host to the New England Patriots on Sunday? Sunny and 71 degrees with zero percent chance of rain. And, of course, it is supposed to rain in Oakland.