Sunday is here, and the Raiders are playing their final game on the dirt infield against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders are underdogs in this game, of course, facing the most explosive offense in the NFL led by Patrick Mahomes.
The Historic AFC rival just beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 40-26 in Jacksonville with Mahomes throwing three touchdowns and reemergence of Sammy Watkins. Watkins accumulated 9 receptions for 198 yards and three touchdowns dominating the Jaguars secondary.
The Chiefs do come into Oakland banged up with Mahomes having a sprained ankle and missing controversial receiver Tyreke Hill. Offensive lineman Eric Fisher is also on the Injury report which means the Raiders might be facing a backup left tackle.
A win in this matchup will be key for the Raiders as they don’t come back home until November. Let’s breakdown the three keys to victory for the Raiders against the Chiefs.
Stay aggressive for 60 minutes
The Raiders had an impressive win against the Broncos with a mainly conservative approach. Jon Gruden ran the ball the majority of the football game with the team rushing 52 percent of the time. The slow ball approach won’t work against an offense that can score touchdowns from anywhere on the field.
The ball has to be in Carr’s hands the majority of the snaps for the Raiders to keep up. Carr was efficient in both games last year, and the Chiefs defense has not shown much improvement getting diced up by the Rookie Gardner Minshew.
If the Raiders start to build a lead in this game, Gruden has to play for touchdowns and not field goals. He cannot repeat the Raiders second to last drive against the Broncos with the Raiders running the ball five times in a row. Settling for Field goals will lead to showtime Mahomes, making magic late on the dirt field, and that is something that no raiders fan wants to see.
Hold the Chiefs to field goals
The chiefs are basically an unstoppable offense. The team did not score less than 26 points in any game last season and already put up 40 on the Jaguars the week before. The importance of holding the offense to field goals in the red zone will be the key to keeping the Raiders in the game.
The best way to do this is to stop the big play touchdowns. The Raiders defense played well last week because of their excellent communication pre-snap, and that has continued this week to keep the explosive plays to a minimum.
The Raiders were great in the red zone last week as well. They forced the Broncos to kick field goals with tight man to man coverage and timely blitzes from Paul Guenther. They need a repeat of this on Sunday, or it’s going to be a long day.
Force Patrick Mahomes to move in the pocket
Mahomes ran all over the Raiders last year for 52 yards on nine carries, but this year is different with the ankle injury. With Mahomes hindered and not being able to roll out and create explosive plays, the Raiders have to create pressure that forces the star to move on his sprained ankle.
Guenther gameplan against the Broncos was fantastic as he was able to manufacture 14 total pressures according to Pro Football Focus. He featured different types of blitz schemes using Lamarcus Joyner like he was edge rusher and moved players around different positions on the defensive line.
The defense will need to be aggressive because Mahomes did not move much in the pocket after the injury against the Jaguars. The ankle was keeping him stationary, and he lost his ability to create outside of the structure of the play. If the Raiders can do this, it can save them to 28 points instead of 45.
