Oakland Raiders: Third Quarter schedule breakdown and predictions
By Kevin Saito
@Baltimore Ravens
After being mired in an offensive funk through the first four games of the season and starting their 2017 campaign a very mediocre 2-2, questions were swirling around the Ravens, and the state of Joe Flacco, with some suggesting that he’d suddenly lost his mojo.
Well, in week five, the Ravens came to Oakland and hung a 30-17 beatdown on the Raiders that wasn’t even as close as that final score might indicate. In the game, the Ravens racked up 365 yards of total offense, with Flacco throwing for 222 yards on 73 percent passing (19/26).
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The Ravens though, have retooled their receiving group and have given Flacco plenty of new toys to play with. Baltimore poached Willie Snead from New Orleans and John Brown from Arizona. And oh yeah, they also got some guy named Michael Crabtree from the Raiders.
And if you don’t think Crabtree is going to be looking for some revenge, you’ve got another thing coming.
Baltimore’s passing game is armed and dangerous and Oakland’s secondary is going to be hard pressed to shut them down.
The Ravens though, are going to be a fairly well balanced team. Alex Collins returns to headline a mostly anonymous running backs group. Collins though, gained almost 1,000 yards last season (973) and scored six touchdowns, with a solid average of 4.6 yards per carry.
With Baltimore’s passing game reloaded with some solid veteran talent, Oakland’s defense is going to have their hands full.
Not only that, but Baltimore’s defense, which ranked twelfth overall – and sixth in points allowed – remains mostly intact. Remember, it’s a unit that held the Raider to just 17 points and just 245 yards of total offense last year.
Yards and points will be hard to come by in Baltimore, while the Ravens offense looks like it could be potent.
It’s going to be a hard fought game pitting two teams that have a lot to prove against one another. And Crabtree, looking to show up his former employers is going to have a big game.
Raiders: 21 Ravens: 27