Oakland Raiders: Keys to Victory Over Tennessee Titans

Nov 22, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio leads his team to the field before the game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

The Oakland Raiders dealt their playoff chances a big blow with a loss to the Detroit Lions last week – part of a three game losing streak that has seen them go from having a grip on a wild card spot to being on the outside looking in. But they can being to right their ship against the Titans.

Over the last couple of weeks, Oakland’s formidable and explosive offense has gone dormant. They’ve scored just 27 total points after scoring 106 the three weeks before that. Worse than that, Oakland managed just 216 yards of offense against a woeful 2-7 Lions team.

We haven’t seen an offensive performance as dismal as that since Oakland’s opening week loss to the Bengals.

On paper, the Raiders should have some distinct advantages over the struggling 2-8 Titans. It’s a team starting a rookie quarterback, a team that’s fired their head coach already, and a team that seems to be in a bit of disarray. That hasn’t stopped them though, from putting together one of the best pass defenses in the league and doing some good things on the field.

So while on paper, the Raiders might enjoy some distinct advantages, we found out last week in Detroit, what that really means – which is nothing. Oakland has the firepower to handle the Titans, but will they be able to utilize it better than they have the last couple of weeks? We won’t have the answer to that question until Sunday.

In terms of their postseason hopes, the Raiders now find themselves at 4-6 and a game behind the surprisingly surging Kansas City Chiefs (5-5) and two games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4) for the final playoff spot. They’ve also got the the Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills, and New York Jets(all 5-5) standing between them and the top two spots. This is in addition to being tied with the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars.

All of this is to say that while they’ve managed to dig themselves a pretty big hole with this power outage and losing streak, it’s not a hole so deep they can’t dig themselves out of it. Their playoff hopes, which some thought to have been dealt a fatal blow on the turf at Ford Field, are actually still alive and well.

But they need to start winning and that winning has to start on Sunday in Music City. And here are some keys to the game that can help them do just that…

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