Oakland Raiders: A Few X-Factors To Watch For Versus Indianapolis
By Kevin Saito
A Nightmare Matchup
All the way back in week one, we all watched in horror as Brandin Cooks absolutely torched the Raiders defense to the tune of 143 yards and a pair of scores. The big blow, a 98 yard touchdown completion.
Sean Smith and David Amerson had no answers and could not manage to stop the small, speedy receiver. It got so bad that D.J. Hayden – the penalty flag collecting machine that he is – played better on Cooks than either of Oakland’s high priced corners.
Well, the Raiders find themselves squaring off with another small, speedy receiver in T.Y. Hilton. Like Cooks, Hilton is 5’10” and faster than lightning. On the year, Hilton has 81 receptions for 1,248 yards and six touchdowns.
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Hilton is a nightmare scenario for the taller, lankier corners in Amerson and Smith. And now, with Hayden on the shelf for the rest of the season with an injury, the Raiders can’t even fall back on that emergency net.
It’s going to be interesting to watch how Oakland adjusts to playing Hilton – and by interesting, we mean potentially cringing and crying. Knowing the difficulties Oakland’s big corners have with smaller, faster receivers, we can expect Andrew Luck and company to dial up plenty of targets for Hilton today.
Letting Hilton run wild may be Indianapolis’ only hope of extending their season. The Raiders will need to find ways to counter Hilton’s presence – be it double teaming with safety help, switching coverages to keep the big corners from being exposed, or dropping linebackers to clog those short slant routes.
It’s critical that Oakland finds a way to limit the impact Hilton has on this game.