Oakland Raiders v Buffalo Bills: Five Things That Must Happen To Win

Eliminate Explosive Plays

Explosive plays – generally defined as runs of 10 plus yards, and passes of 20 plus yards – can switch momentum on a dime and can turn the tide of a game.

Hitting a big play can allow a team to come out of nowhere to snag a victory – like the Raiders did to the Chiefs. While giving up a big play snatches defeat from the jaws of victory – as the Chiefs found out last Thursday.

While the Raiders made enough big plays to snatch an improbable win from the Chiefs, their defense gave up enough big plays that put the offense in the position to have to make those explosive plays.

If the defense had just been able to eliminate a few key, explosive plays from Kansas City’s offensive outburst, the entire complexion of that game might have been different. And given how potent and efficient Oakland’s offense was, it might not have had to come down to the final play of the game.

To wit, Chiefs quarterback went off for 331 yards in that game. However, two of Smith’s passes totaled 127 yards and two touchdowns – the 64-yarder to Tyreek Hill, and a 63-yarder to Albert Wilson.

Take away those two monster passes, and you drop Smith’s passing total to 204 yards – and it takes 14 points off the board.

In the run game, Oakland’s defense gave up a total of 94 yards – 87 of those going to Kareem Hunt on his 18 carries. However, if you take Hunt’s one explosive run off the board – a 34-yarder in the first quarter – he rushed for just 53 yards on 17 carries. That’s a very pedestrian average of 3.1 yards per carry.

Obviously, you can’t take those plays off the board. The point though, is that if this defense can step up and take away – in this case, three plays – the explosive plays of the opposing offense, the Raiders might find themselves in a better position.

A position where they don’t have to fight, scrape, and claw for a win at the end of a game. If Oakland’s defense can rise up and severely limit – if not outright eliminate – an opposing offense’s explosive plays, they might find themselves on the right side of a healthy lead for a change.

Three plays. Against the Chiefs, if Oakland’s defense had changed the outcome of just three plays – and given how potent their offense was – they might have been able to turn the game against their division rival into a runaway.