Oakland Raiders: A few keys to week one victory over the LA Rams
By Kevin Saito
Minimize/Eliminate Mistakes
Not to sound redundant, but this is also a big one. The Raiders are notorious for shooting themselves in the foot. Be it a turnover, a really poorly timed penalty, a dropped pass – Oakland has done a masterful job over the years of absolutely killing their own momentum.
Live Feed
FanSided
And against a team as stacked and loaded as the Rams, that’s just not going to work. You might be able to get away with it against a lower tier team like Cleveland – yeah, we’re looking at you, Ben Roethlisberger – but the Rams have so much talent at virtually every position, that if you make a mistake, you are going to pay for it.
It’s difficult enough to win games in the NFL as it is. Trying to win when you’re killing yourself with a thousand stupid little mistakes makes it nearly impossible.
And in this David vs. Goliath, Godzilla vs. Tokyo kind of match up, one simple mistake can be fatal. This Rams team can destroy you a thousand different ways, and it’s going to be up to the Raiders to not give them that opportunity.
It seems pretty clear that it’s critical that the Raiders play a flawless game. If they give the Rams any opportunity to exploit them, they absolutely will.
They need to stay focused and stay ready – and avoid shooting themselves in the foot.