Oakland Raiders: Manuel, Defense Must Lead The Way Against Ravens

The Oakland Raiders sit at 2-2 on the season and to avoid slipping to 2-3, they must overcome their issues and get contributions from key players.

The Oakland Raiders, coming off a 12-4 season, a season that included their first trip to the playoffs in a dog’s age, couldn’t have expected to find themselves in the position they’re in a quarter of the way through the 2017 season.

But after two straight dismal performances against Washington and Denver, Oakland finds themselves sitting at 2-2 – and without quarterback Derek Carr, who’s out with a transverse process fracture in his back.

Let’s not fool ourselves though, the offensive performance over the last two weeks, with Carr under center, was subpar – at best. An offensive unit thought to be among the league’s elite when the season started, has sputtered and foundered the last two weeks on their way to consecutive losses.

Against Washington, the vaunted Oakland offense put up an underwhelming 128 yards in total offense – with Carr passing for just 118 of those yards. And against Denver last week, Oakland put up 254 yards of total offense – with only 24 of those yards coming on the ground.

Despite all of the issues Oakland is having, they’re set to square off with a 2-2 Baltimore team that has plenty of issues of their own – and is going to fight and scrap to keep from slipping below .500 as well.

And they’ll have to do it with EJ Manuel under center.

Though he was back at practice this week, Carr is going to at least sit out the game with Baltimore, leaving it for Manuel and OC Todd Downing to figure out how to get this offense moving and get Oakland back on the winning track again.

To win, to beat the Ravens, Oakland is going to need strong performances from both Manuel and their defense.

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On the offensive side of the ball, the Ravens will undoubtedly looking to force Manuel to win the game. He’s likely going to see a Baltimore stacking the box in an effort to stop Marshawn Lynch and Oakland’s ground game for getting on track. They’ll try to take away the effectiveness of the play action and force Manuel to put the ball in play.

Though Baltimore has the league’s twenty-sixth ranked run defense, Lynch, Jalen Richard, Jamize Olawale, and DeAndre Washington might find little room to run if the Ravens commit extra defenders to stopping them.

And if Baltimore does commit extra defenders to the box, Manuel is going to need to take advantage of it. The Ravens currently have the league’s sixteenth ranked pass defense, but their secondary is banged up. Cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Jaylen Hill are both questionable, as are safeties Lardarius Webb and Anthony Levine.

Manuel is going to need to make the smart reads and throws. He’ll need to avoid turnovers – like the heinous interception he threw to effectively end the game in Denver.

Prior to that interception though, Manuel moved the Raiders offense far better and smoother than Carr had in the last two weeks. He finished the day 11 of 17 for 106 yards and had this Raiders team in a position to go ahead very late in the game.

Next: A Few Players Who Must Step Up Against Baltimore

A couple of drops and the interception snuffed out the rally, but he showed himself capable of moving this offense. Making it even more impressive, was that he he did it in an environment as hostile as Denver. And they’ll need him to duplicate that effort – even improve upon it – at home against the Ravens.

On the other side of the ball, in three of the four games, Oakland’s defense has been – competent. They haven’t been spectacular. Not by any means. But – the fiasco in Washington aside – Oakland’s defense has held up far better than anybody expected.

Take the Washington debacle out of the equation, and Oakland’s defense has given up an average of 306 total offensive yards over the other three games – 185 yards passing and 121 on the ground. In addition, again, taking the Sunday Night Fiasco in Washington out of the equation, Oakland’s defense has yielded an average of just 17 points per game.

No matter which way you look at it, those are very solid numbers. And they far exceed the expectations most any of us had going into the season.

This defense will now be tasked with stopping a Baltimore team that’s not exactly been an offensive juggernaut this season.

Through the season’s first four games, the Ravens have the league’s thirtieth ranked offense in both yards and points. Baltimore’s passing offense is dead last in the league, but their running game is ninth. And it’s the running game that should concern this Raiders defense.

Oakland’s gives up an average of 120 yards on the ground per game – making them the league’s twenty-fourth ranked unit. With their passing game struggling so badly, look for the Ravens to attack that chink in Oakland’s armor. And it’s a flaw the Raiders will need to correct PDQ, if they want to give themselves a chance in this game.

The Raiders are going to need to collapse the pocket and get consistent pressure on Joe Flacco. Oakland has been ramping up the pressure in recent weeks – getting in and dropping Trevor Siemian four times last week, and raising the team’s sack total to ten for the season.

Khalil Mack leads the team with four, followed closely by Mario Edwards Jr., with three. Bruce Irvin got in on the action last week, notching his first sack. They’re going to need to continue building on their sack party, and against a Ravens offensive line that’s given up nine sacks so far this year, they may get the opportunity to do so.

Forcing turnovers is also going to be key. The Raiders do not have an interception yet this season, but with Flacco having thrown six already this year, if they can get good pressure on him, they might get an opportunity to force a takeaway.

Staring at slipping below .500 right in the face, the Raiders are going to need key contributions from all of their players. But perhaps no bigger contribution is needed than from EJ Manuel and this Oakland defense.

It’s not ideal – far from it – but if Manuel can step up and the defense can play as solidly as they have in three of this season’s four games, they’ll put themselves in a very solid position to claim a win and avoid slipping below .500.

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