Week 5 Preview: Ravens vs Raiders
The Raiders and Ravens are both coming off a week they wish never happened. The Oakland Raiders, after going 2-0, have lost their last two games and their QB for a significant amount of time, as Carr suffered a minor fracture in his spine. The Ravens haven’t lost their starting QB, but that doesn’t seem to matter as the Ravens have only been able to score 16 points in their last two games combined. The Ravens travel to the west coast to battle the Raiders in a pivotal game to start the 2nd quarter of the football season. A 3-2 record for the Ravens would have them feeling better going into the bye week, while the Raiders at 3-2 would have give them confidence going against the hapless Chargers.
How the Raiders Win:
The last two Ravens opponents have used the same formula, and it has been super effective; run the football. The Raiders are playing without Derek Carr for the next few weeks and they don’t want EJ Manuel trying to pretend that he is Carr, so the philosophy will be to feed the beast mode. The Raiders have struggled rushing the football as they only rank 24th in the league in rush yards per game, but the Ravens have allowed 152 rush yards per game in their last two matchups. The Ravens have struggled two weeks in a row protecting Joe Flacco, and the Raiders’ Khalil Mack will surely provide Flacco with happy feet all game.
Spoke to #Raiders scout: counter plays and outside runs are installed for this wk vs #Ravens, who have issues w/ containment & over pursuit
— Victor Cotto (@RaidersSource) October 6, 2017
How the Ravens Win:
The Ravens offense is in flux, they look confused at times and the offensive line has been awful at protecting their signal caller. However, there is still plenty of talent on this offense to get something going against the Raiders defense. The Ravens will have to find more creative ways to run the ball without Marshal Yanda, as they will have to rely on more zone type running plays, reverses and short throws to the backs coming out of the backfield. At the end of the day, Flacco will have to step up his play to make this unit competitive, but his previous performances don’t provide much optimism.
Ravens WRs have combined for 251 receiving yards this season
17 individual players have recorded more than 251 receiving yards this season
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) October 4, 2017
Prediction: Raiders 20, Ravens 10
Photo Credit: Raiders.com
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