USAT: Raiders Wire audio clip

USAT: Raiders Wire

Jan 14, 2022

It’s been a lot of close games for the Raiders to get to where they are. Which means a lot of things had to go right. If they hope to win their rematch with the Bengals on Saturday this is how they will do it. 1. Rush the passer Burrow wasn’t the main thing that the Bengals used to beat the Raiders in their first meeting. But in their four-game win streak late in the season, he was on fire. Burrow put up a passer rating of 135 in those four games and capped it all off by torching the Chiefs for 446 yards and four touchdowns. The Raiders’ four-game winning streak was primarily on the strength of their defense. And it’s the pass rush that powers that defense. It’s strength vs strength. Something has got to give.  2. Ground and pound Josh Jacobs’s two biggest rushing games of the season have come over the past three weeks. The season finale in particular was his season-high. And what’s most interesting about that game for Jacobs is he seemed to get better as the game went on. Or perhaps, alternatively, the defense got more porous.  Jacobs had 24 yards in the first half. At that point, it would have been easy enough to give up on the run, but the Raiders stuck with it. The result was 43 yards in the second half to give him 67 for the game. Then he put up more yards in overtime alone (69) than he had the entire game combined. That’s a defense that was worn down from 34 runs.  To do that would be to beat the Bengals in the same way they beat the Raiders in the first meeting. They controlled the clock with a heavy dose of Joe Mixon. And he put up 120 yards on 30 carries (4.1 yards per carry). Flipping the script could be just the thing to get the offense going. 3. Win penalty battle I would simply say to limit the penalties, but last week the Raiders not only limited their own penalties, but they were also able to force the Chargers into several devastating penalties. There were some big penalties against the Chargers that aided the Raiders considerably to pull out that win. A couple were a direct result of Derek Carr extending a play, proving how important that part of the game can be. In the Raiders’ previous game against the Bengals, it was the Raiders who continuously shot themselves in the foot with penalties at the worst times. They could never seem to get out of their own way. If that happens again, the result could be similar to last time. 4. Ball security In their first meeting, there were two killer turnovers while forcing one that they were unable to capitalize on. The turnovers for the Raiders offense came just when you thought they might be making a game of it. They finally got in the end zone to make it a three-point game in the fourth. Then Carr threw a bad pass the Eli Apple read all the way and picked off. That interception led to a touchdown to essentially put the game away. But just to make it certain, Carr would fumble on the ensuing drive without anyone even getting it knocked out. He just lost a handle on it. Carr fumbled last week against the Chargers in the shadow of his own goal and he was lucky that Brandon Parker somehow was able to fall on it so they could punt it away or we may not be having this conversation right now. The Raiders also got lucky when Foster Moreau’s fumble went out of bounds before crossing the goal line. Definitely some luck there, but not the kind that they can continue to count on. These games are too close to expect luck to win the day. 5. Darren Waller chemistry Waller returned physically last week. But he wasn’t himself and the chemistry wasn’t there between him and Carr. He collected just two catches on nine targets. And the one significant catch wasn’t even on target as Waller had to reach back and pull it off his hip. The offense used to run through him. The Raiders were able to win all four games without him, but they also didn’t face an opposing team with the weapons on offense that the Bengals have. The Raiders will need all the firepower they can get to either keep up or keep them off the field. Gallery LOOK: Best images from Raiders Week 18 win over Chargers view 79 images Email Sign up Like this article? Sign up for the Raiders Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning An error has occured Please re-enter your email address. Thanks for signing up! You'll now receive the top Raiders Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

F i l t e r   &   S o r t