Oakland Raiders vs. Jacksonville Jaguars Game Day Open Thread

The Oakland Raiders are in Sunshine State to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars, hoping to re-establish some momentum – this is your place to talk about the game and all things Raiders football.

After being humbled at home by division rival Kansas City last week, the Oakland Raiders are looking to get back on track against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Chiefs managed to expose a lot of Oakland’s flaws on both sides of the ball – as well as on the sidelines.

Against the Chiefs, the defense once again imploded, allowing quarterback Alex Smith to look like the second coming of Peyton Manning. Smith and the Chiefs offense got everything they wanted from the Raiders defense – and then some.

On the day, the Chiefs averaged seven yards a play. Let that sink in for a moment – seven yards a play. With a stat like that, it was surprising that the Chiefs had thirteen third downs on the day – of which, they converted seven of them.

Offensively, the Raiders weren’t much better, never establishing any sort of rhythm. Aside from a pretty brilliant opening drive, Oakland’s offense pretty much went into the tank after that. Dropped balls, turnovers, inconsistency, and a complete lack of a running game led to a complete power outage against the Chiefs – and an underwhelming total of 10 points on the scoreboard.

But that was last week and this is a new week. A new chance to put the past behind them and start a fresh chapter on this season – a chapter in which the defense could possibly fulfill the promise they showed when the season began. Or at least, the promise many believed they had.

The defense should get their chances against an offense that allows a lot of sacks and doesn’t produce a whole lot. Jacksonville has the league’s twenty-ninth ranked offense overall. Their running game is right near the bottom – and Oakland needs to keep them there. The Raiders have got to figure out how to stop the run against a team that hasn’t proven to be very good at it this season.

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Blake Bortles and the passing game rank near the middle of the pack. Bortles is a solid young passer who has the ability to make some plays. Oakland’s corners – who’ve pretty much been underachieving so far this year – will be tested by Bortles’ big arm and a talented receiving duo in Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson.

Oakland’s defense needs to do what they’ve not been able to do all season long – rise to the challenge this week and shut down an opponent.

Offensively, the Raiders need to rediscover the spark that led them to have one of the best offenses in the league. With Derek Carr slinging the ball to Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper – boosted by a near lethal running game headed by Latavius Murray, Jalen Richard, and DeAndre Washington – Oakland’s offense was nearly unstoppable.

The Chiefs though, found a way to ground that high octane offense. And with Jacksonville’s defense ranked ninth overall in the league, it’s not going to be an easy task. They need to take their shots and capitalize them.

Oakland should get a big boost with the return of Murray to the running game, reuniting the three headed beast that was wreaking havoc on defenses early in the year.

This game is a good chance for the Raiders to get back on track. It’s a good game for them to start putting the pieces together and begin fulfilling all of their offseason promise. But it’s got to start now.

How do you see this game playing out? What are the most compelling storylines to you? Will the Raiders defense start to figure it out? Or will they get lit up yet again? Will the offense re-discover their explosive spark?

This is your place to talk about the game and all things Raiders football. So step up, speak out, and be heard!