Oakland Raiders: A Few Keys To Victory Over The Denver Broncos
By Kevin Saito
Have a Short Memory
Okay, so last week was a nightmare. A fiasco. An absolute dumpster fire. Last week in Washington, the Raiders went retro and brought back the type of horrid football we all witnessed during the hot mess that was the Dennis Allen / Tony Sparano era in Oakland.
And now that we’ve acknowledged it, we can move on to Denver.
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Which is exactly what the Raiders must do. Having a short memory of everything that went wrong – and let’s face it, everything went wrong – in Washington is crucial to this week’s success.
Having a short memory is an old saying, obviously. But it’s absolute pertinent to this Raiders squad. They suffered a tough, humbling – perhaps even humiliating – defeat on the road. But they’re going to need to leave it where it belongs – in the past.
The best way to get the bad taste the Washington game left in their collective mouths is to come out and vent that frustration all over the Broncos.
Carr needs to come out focused and looking forward. Ditto that with Cooper, Michael Crabtree (if he plays), Jared Cook, and everybody else. The offensive line, touted as one of the best in the league, needs to regroup after a pretty disastrous showing in the nation’s capital and give Carr the time and protection he needs to effectively move this offense.
The Raiders absolutely must come out locked, loaded, and fully focused on the team in front of them – the Denver Broncos – rather than the team behind them. They have to think about winning this game, rather than rehashing a game that’s already been played.
When the final gun sounds, one of these teams will be 3-1. The other is going to be 2-2. If Oakland wants to be the one above .500, they’ll need to stay in the moment and play the one game right in front of them.