Oakland Raiders Will be Much Better After Bye

Big-Play Passing Game

With Sparano having the sense to know throwing deep off the running game is best look for the Raiders to do just that. Denarius Moore should not have dropped that pass in New England but he shouldn’t have been in that situation either. Moore is a deep threat that has no business catching a 4-yard route in front of linebackers to get spooked and drop the ball.

Moore was a deep threat before the new regime got there and still is but Allen refused to send Moore deep this year after the preseason. The guy I’m really waiting to see is Brice Butler, who’s 4.3-40 and 40-inch vertical leap at 6’3″ make him a deep threat. He looked really good catching the ball out in England against the Dolphins so Sparano should be willing to see what he can do.

And when you want to go deep, a mismatch is a good place to start and tight end David Ausberry and his 4.4-speed is healthy. I also expect fullback Marcel Reece and McFadden to go deep out of the backfield more often against mismatches. Sparano used the words, “philosophy change” a few times so there’s definitely going to be more deep balls with guys that have big-play potential getting a chance.