Oakland Raiders Can Upset the Arizona Cardinals

Oct 12, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders wide receiver Brice Butler (12) celebrates with team after he scored on a 47 yard pass from Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (not pictured) during the third quarter against the San Diego Chargers at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Now that former head coach Dennis Allen is out of the way, the Oakland Raiders are an exciting, competitive team. If Allen’s weak strategy and not giving the right players opportunities would have continued all year, the Raiders wouldn’t have won a game. But the Allen era has mercifully ended and the Raiders instantly became an exciting team that competed with an elite AFC team.

From the looks of things, interim head coach Tony Sparano has dipped into top offensive mind Al Saunder’s playbook. You can see that from the routes that broke at 15-20 yards because that isn’t what offensive coordinator Greg Olson does. It’s a good thing Saunders was kept around from 2011 as a senior offensive assistant because excitement is back in Raider Nation.

The Raiders now have the same type of explosion they had in the 8-8 years and those were two Top-10 offenses. But this time, they have a franchise quarterback and a great offensive line to go with Darren McFadden and the fast receivers. So now that they have the strategy to go with their personnel the offense has started to explode and will continue.

That means the Raiders will be in games and will win their share over teams that simply won’t be able to stop them. Unfortunately, the defense is improving but just as bad as it was back in 2011 so we can’t expect the Raiders to run off 11 straight. However, one thing the Raiders can do is beat the Arizona Cardinals at home on Sunday as there are plenty of reasons to believe they will.

Turn the page to see them.