Finally, there is a breath of fresh air in Oakland and the Raiders are playing for each other again. Last week’s close loss to the Chiefs has the city buzzing.
Derek Carr was let off the leash and showed why he was touted so highly coming out of college. He has a great arm on him and can really play some good football when the weight of the world isn’t on his shoulders.
This week, the Raiders welcome the Steelers to the Alameda Coliseum. A few weeks ago fans and media pundits spoke about the need to tank for better draft picks. Let’s forget all that rubbish for one day. The Steelers are not the world beaters they once were. They have problems all over the field.
Fading At The Finish
Running back sensation James Conner won’t see any game time this week with an ankle injury. Of course Conner’s predecessor Le’Veon Bell is sitting out the season
The Raiders are poor on run defense, they allow more yards than almost every team in the league in this category. A player like Conner would cut them to shreds. Instead, the Steelers will play running back by committee with Jaylen Samuels and Stevan Ridley. Their offense becomes one dimensional and will continue to be so without Conner in the lineup.
Ben Roethlisberger has two main targets to throw to in wide receivers Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Surprisingly the Raiders have covered wide receivers rather well this season. This could be a problem for the Steelers offense on Sunday.
The biggest surprise comes from Big Ben himself. He has beaten every team in the AFC on the road throughout his stellar career, but he has never beaten the Raiders in Oakland. Losing all three those games.
Will history repeat itself or will the Steelers get the win they need to get their season back on track?