Oakland Raiders: Game breakdown and prediction for Week 9 against Detroit Lions
By Sean Basile
The Oakland Raiders draw a relatively favorable matchup this week. Let’s talk about this game and see if they can pull to 4-4 on the season.
The Oakland Raiders finally return home for the first time since Week 2 to take on the volatile Detroit Lions who’ve battled through injuries, referee mishaps, and an extremely tough schedule leading up to this week.
Eyeing this game in the preseason and the early regular season, this looked like a matchup the Raiders would lose because the Lions seemed like an under-the-radar team that was quietly coming together and were going to have something to say in the NFC North this season.
I actually had Detroit as a bit of an upset team coming into the season and thought they were capable of getting to 10 wins.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think the Lions are a very good and underrated team, but this just seems like a spot where the Raiders can knock them off. Two things really stand out for me with this Lions team that turns me away from them in matchups like this.
First, I’m not too sure their locker room is 100% all-in right now. The front office traded away Quandre Diggs out of nowhere to Seattle and that surely didn’t make the defensive guys happy, as Diggs was a clear leader of that defensive unit as a five-year veteran in this league.
The way I see it, there wasn’t much reason to dump him as the Lions were playing pretty well on defense and Diggs, though battling through some injuries, was one of their best players in the secondary.
That decision to trade Diggs leads to the second thing that turns me away from this team, and it’s one very important stat that sticks out to me against a team like the Raiders that can move the ball.
That’s yards per game.
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The Lions are 31st in the league in yards per game allowed (420.4), which, for a team that’s supposed to be fighting for a playoff spot is alarming, to say the least, and quite shocking considering how good their defense was to begin the year.
Something’s not right with the Lions on the defensive side of the ball and I bet the trading of Diggs plays a huge factor in that.
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As for the Raiders, what a great spot for them to pull back even to 4-4. They finally come home to Oakland and they get a team that’s not really “together” after a few tough weeks and odd decisions by the front office.
Plus, the Raiders average about 372 yards a game on offense and they’re also one of the better run teams in football averaging 131.4 rush yards a game, which is seventh in football.
Another thing we need to consider is that last week the Raiders actually got to Deshaun Watson and sacked him three times. Remember last week how I said when Watson goes down, so do the Texans?
Well, last week was a bit of an aberration because the Raiders arguably outplayed Houston and very well could’ve won that game if not for some late-game heroics from one of the best playmakers in football in Watson.
The Raiders are a tough out, folks.
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I surely didn’t see it coming, but now they’re getting healthy as Tyrell Williams is back in action, they have a superb tight end in Darren Waller, the baller who’s balling, and one of the top rookies in the league in Josh Jacobs who was just ranked as the second-most productive rookie this year by “writers and analysts.”
Whatever that means to you.
They run the ball very well. They move the ball very well. They have a solid offensive line. And not for nothing, but Derek Carr is having a great year leading the league in completion percentage (72.1%), and there hasn’t been a peep about he and Jon Gruden clashing like last year.
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I have the Raiders winning this game 35-28 and pulling back even to 4-4.