Oakland Raiders: Five Things They Must Do To Beat The Cowboys

Contain The Running Game

The Raiders are fortunate in that they will not be facing Ezekiel Elliott, who’s serving out the final game of his league-imposed suspension. However, that doesn’t mean they can breathe a sigh of relief, given that Dallas’ running game is still pretty potent.

Alfred Morris has been keeping Dallas’ run game alive during Elliott’s absence, averaging five yards a carry on the year (97 rushes for 485 yards). Though the run game is obviously missing Elliott, who ran for 783 yards in eight games this season, and helped propel Dallas to the league’s third-best rushing attack, they’ve been holding down the fort pretty well without him.

Over the five games they’ve been without Elliott, Dallas running backs have combined to average just over 120 yards per game – though it’s down from the 148 yards per game average with Elliott in the lineup. Of course, they’ve gone 2-3 without him, and the offense hasn’t looked anywhere near the same.

Suffice it to say, even without Elliott, the Cowboys have the running backs to make life tough on a run defense that hasn’t been in top form this season.

Oakland’s run defense though, has been vastly improved over the last five weeks, giving up an average of just 92 yards a game – and that includes the Kareem Hunt-led 165 yard gashing the Chiefs gave them last week.

John Pagano is going to need to have his run defense on point. If they can shut down Morris and Rod Smith, and put the game on Dak Prescott‘s shoulders, they’ll give themselves a puncher’s chance in this game.

If they let Dallas run all over them though, it could make for a very long day.