Oakland Raiders vs. Denver Broncos

We all know defense wins championships, but I don’t know if the Raiders have gotten that memo just yet. Although the Raiders defense played slightly better than last week, it was not good enough.The offense could not get into the rhythm, dropping their second straight game of the season and losing its first division game to the Denver Broncos, 16-10.

Running the football was close to a disaster for the Raiders, managing just 24 yards on 15 carries. They did have one amazing 64-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Johnny Holton in the second quarter, which gave us a lot of hope, but that was quickly taken from us when Derek Carr went down in the third quarter due to back spasms.

Back up EJ Manuel almost brought the Raiders back, but his few nice passes just didn’t cut it and his final pass was picked off by Justin Simmons, sealing the deal for the Broncos.

Oakland Raiders vs. Baltimore Ravens

We will be traveling to Baltimore to face the Ravens who are 2-2. Carr is going to be out for a few weeks, which is a big blow to the Raiders’ offense. In order to have a chance of beating the Ravens, EJ Manuel has to to keep the ball down. If he lets any passes float too long, the Ravens secondary will either pick it off or get to Michael Crabtree.

The Raiders have to establish the running game early because that is what hurt them the last two weeks. They also need to control the clock and get off the field on third down defensively. The Raiders have to make sure their pass rush is keeping Joe Flacco from getting more than 2-3 seconds or he will slice up the Raiders secondary.

Because Flacco is a precision passer, he will carve you up 8-15 yards all day! Even though they don’t have crazy weapons, he is just very smart.

Game Prediction

My prediction is Raiders win by four because this is a must win for our boys and that’s just what boss teams do. Just win, Baby!

[NFL-Raiders-footer] [NFL-Crucial-Catch]

Photo Credits:

• Oakland Raiders on Wikimedia Commons by Oakland Raiders
• Denver Bronco Logo on Wikimedia by NFLCommunications.com
• Johnny Holton on Wikimedia Commons by Jeffrey Beall
• Derek Carr on wikimedia commons by Erik Drost
• EJ Manuel on Flickr by Rod Pearcy
• Justin Simmons on Wikimedia by Jeffrey Beall
• Baltimore Ravens on Wikimedia Commons by Baltimore Ravens
• Joe Flacco on flickr by Keith Allison
• Amari Cooper on wikimedia commons by Erik Drost
• Marshawn Lynch on Wikipedia by Keith Allison