Oakland Raiders: Victory checklist for Week 3 against Minnesota Vikings

2. Stop Kirk Cousins

Given how Kirk Cousins has played so far this year, this may make you stop and stare blankly for a moment — just bear with us here.

Assuming the Oakland defense manages to live up to their top-five billing and shut Cook down, Minnesota’s offense is going to need to come from somewhere. Or perhaps Vikings HC will just try to throw a wrinkle into the gameplan and let Cousins do more than just hand the ball off to Cook.

Either way, Guenther and Gruden need to get their team together and ready to face a quarterback who has shown at times, that he can take over a game.

And with some of the receiving options he has at his disposal, he can do that again if given the chance. The Raiders need to make sure they don’t give him the chance.

Against Denver, the Raiders defense had Joe Flacco on the run most of the day. They hit him repeatedly, sacking him three times in the process.

Against the Chiefs, it didn’t seem they so much as laid a glove on him. And the outcomes of both of those games show just how important it is to get pressure on the quarterback.

Against Minnesota, they’ll be facing a solid offensive line that does a good job of keeping Cousins upright. Of course, it’s possible a big reason they’ve given up just two sacks on the year is how seldom they have to pass block, but for the most part, they’ve done a good job of keeping Cousins clean.

Guenther is going to have to dial up some exotic blitzes and schemes that will keep the pressure on Cousins when he does drop back. Failing to gameplan for him and put an emphasis on putting him down is a recipe for disaster.