Since bearing the receiving end of a week three Monday Night shellacking, the Jets have bounced back, scoring 82 points in two wins.  The Raiders will try to get their season back on track at home this week with a much needed conference win.  To compete in this game, Oakland will have to be more effective both passing and defending the pass.

 

Catch 22:  As much as Coach Cable would like to assume a steady diet of running the ball (after an unsuccessful 35 attempts at New Orleans to the tune of 4 yards per attempt), the Jets’ strength, unfortunately, is run defense.   They rank third in the league at 2.9 yards per attempt; only the Steelers and Ravens are better in the trenches at 2.8 YPA.  Nonetheless, look for the Raiders to establish a presence on the ground with Justin Fargas, who has rushed for 517 yards and three touchdowns in his last five home games.  Fargas showed no signs of a nagging injury week 6, but had only ten touches as the Raiders abandoned the run in the second half.

 

The Pass, Defense:  In order to give their team a chance to win, Hall, Asomugha, Wilson, and Huff must show some of the grit in the defensive backfield that made Oakland one of the league’s top 2007 units.  The Raiders continue to slip, now ranking 25th in passing defense.

 

The Pass, Offense: The Raiders top six receivers are a tight end, two runningbacks, a fullback, and their third and fourth receivers.  Noticeably absent from the list are Oakland’s top two wideouts – Javon Walker and Ronald Curry.  The pair drop balls quite routinely of late.  Cable intimated early this week that the team may be due for a shakeup atop the WR depth chart.  Unless Walker can return to his 2006 (or ’04) self, let’s hope that shakeup comes sooner than later and that rookie Chaz Shilens gets an opportunity to prove himself.  Another due shift would move Curry back to the slot where he’s been most effective in past seasons.

 

The Key: in last week’s installment, the key was improving third down efficiency which the Raiders did (from 24% to 37%) but not to a high enough degree.  This week, Oakland will have to get more involvement and less drops from its wideouts, especially since the battle on the ground promises to be one of attrition.



By: Knup on Oct 17th, 2008
Tagged as: Uncategorized

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