Oakland Raiders vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Game Day Open Thread

The Oakland Raiders continue on with their Florida road swing, taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – this is your forum to talk about the game and all things Raiders football.

The Oakland Raiders are sitting at 5-2 on the season – but it’s hardly with a bullet. Oakland’s defensive problems are legion and have been discussed ad nauseam. Yet, they still continue to be problems – which is why they continue to be discussed.

Take last week’s game with Jacksonville for instance. Yeah, the Raiders racked up an impressive looking 33-16 victory. But if you dig deeper into the numbers, you’d see some things to be concerned about. But if you’re not concerned, you should be.

For example, Jacksonville has not been able to run on anybody all year long. As in, they are the thirty-frst ranked defense out of this thirty-two team league. And yet despite that, against the Raiders, the Jaguars managed to average 6.6 yards per rush.

They gained 105 yards on just 16 carries – and had they not had to throw their way out of a deficit, might have been able to inflict even more damage.

Jacksonville has been giving up sacks by the bushel this season. Coming into the game with Oakland, Blake Bortles had been sacked 16 times on the year. And yet, Oakland managed just one sack – Khalil Mack‘s third on the year.

Of course, it wasn’t all gloom and doom. The Raiders did plenty of things right and well. But let’s not all lose our minds. This was only the Jaguars, after all. A really, really bad football team.

But, a win, is a win, is a win.

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However, squaring off with the Buccaneers presents some problems for this Raiders team. Problems they will need to be acutely aware of and do everything in their power to correct on the fly. Namely, dealing with a running back in Jacquizz Rodgers who has gone over the century mark in consecutive weeks – including his 154 yard dismantling of San Francisco last week.

In that win, Rodgers averaged a healthy 5.9 yards per carry. But San Francisco is a terrible defense, is the common refrain. Yeah, they are. Thirty-second out of thirty-two teams. And the Raiders are thirtieth in that category.

They have made some strides in their run defense, but we need to see some bigger steps forward against a back like Rodgers. To win this game, the Raiders will need to shut down Tampa Bay’s running attack.

Next: Keys to Victory Over Tampa Bay

There are plenty of things we can talk about. All kinds of compelling storylines as we head into this matchup. What do you think the key points to a win today are? What’s it going to take for this team to run off their fifth straight road win and get to 6-2?

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