The Raiders are back home. After a road trip that spread over two months against the best teams in the league, the Raiders are hosting the Detroit Lions at the Oakland Coliseum. The Raiders went 2-3 on that road trip where they were underdogs every game and hopefully can come back home and start a winning streak.
The Lions come into Oakland after a close game versus the New York Giants, where they allowed four touchdowns to a rookie quarterback.
However, the offense excelled with Matthew Stafford having one of the best seasons of his career. Stafford is fifth in ESPN’s QBR metric and has thrown 16 touchdowns to just four interceptions. The Lions love to throw the ball downfield, which will test the Raiders young secondary.
Meanwhile, the defense has been inconsistent all season, and that does happen with primary man to man coverage teams. They got dominated by the Vikings talented route runners and struggled with the Giants wideouts last week as well, giving up big plays downfield.
The pass rush does not scare anyone, especially with the Raiders offensive line, but will be active against the run with Damon “Snacks” Harrison roaming at the nose.
The Raiders will be facing another tough matchup but, finally, have the home crowd behind them. Let’s look at the three keys to victory for the Raiders Week 8.
1. Win against press coverage
The Raiders passing offense has had eight plays of 20 yards or more the last two games. This week they will be facing a team that comes up and challenges their receivers in press coverage, and the Raiders young wide receivers need to win for the offense to move the football.
Last week the Raiders faced a similar defense and at times, struggled to get separation outside. Tyrell Williams struggled to win off the line to end the game, and Derek Carr finished with his lowest success rate in weeks at 44% on passing plays.
Even Darren Waller struggled to beat press coverage and was part of the reason he only caught two of his eight targets against the Houston Texans.
The Raiders’ two best route runners against the press are Zay Jones and Hunter Renfrow. Gruden should add them to the game plan to get targets early in the slot to help keep Carr efficient, giving him secure windows to throw too.
If the Raiders can’t win against the man to man defense on Sunday, they will be 3-5.
2. Pressure QB Matthew Stafford
Stafford’s year was mentioned earlier with him off to probably his hottest start to his career. He is targeting downfield at a high rate ranking second in NFL Next Gen Stars intended air yards metric averaging 10.6 air yards per throw. The Raiders pass rush has to show up to help keep Stafford from dropping bombs all over the field.
The Raiders do have 7 sacks the past three weeks with three last week against an average Texans offensive line. The Lions offensive line isn’t that much stronger, allowing 107 quarterback pressures and Stafford being under pressure 36% of the time, according to Pro Football Focus.
The offensive tackles are their weak link, with both allowing 42 pressures combined on the season. Maxx Crosby and Benson Mayowa could have huge days if they come to play and ready to attack the quarterback. The Raiders are going to need it to keep Stafford from having another 300-yard game by slowing down the deep passing attack.
3. Attack LB Jarred Davis
The Lions linebacker Jarred Davis has a long history of being attacked in coverage, and this game should be no different. The Raiders need to expose Davis in coverage and the run game to help lead to big plays throughout the football game.
Davis is the second-lowest graded linebacker according to Pro Football Focus and second-lowest in coverage grades as well. He is a liability in coverage, and players like Josh Jacobs could have a field deal running routes against him in the open field. The Raiders will also want to isolate him when they come out in their 13 personnel packages lining him up against the Raiders athletic tight ends allowing them to win against man to man.
Jon Gruden hopefully sees what the rest of the world sees when it comes to Davis play on the field. The Raiders have to make attacking the third-year linebacker a top priority that could lead to winning against a tough opponent.
