Oakland Raiders @ Steelers: Five Keys to Victory

Oct 12, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers fans wave Terrible Towels against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

5. Score Early and Silence the Crowd

Pittsburgh is one of the most hostile environments on the NFL for opposing teams, especially the Raiders, ESPECIALLY in a game with playoff implications. The Steeler fanbase is huge, passionate and loud and can be every bit the factor in games as can the crowds at Arrowhead and Century Link.

One of the best ways to get a win on the road is to silence the home crowd. Raider fans did this in San Diego two weeks ago by simply filling up he stadium and turning it into a home game for the Raiders. They won’t be out in these numbers in Pittsburgh, though. This crowd can really turn on the energy if the Steelers get on a roll, but can be put into an early funk if they watch their Steelers struggle early after a very up and down early season.

Having a couple successful drives and building up an early lead could take the crowd out of it early, which could help the Raiders on offense by limiting noise and could also put a damper on the energy level from the Steelers players. While quick scores on big plays probably won’t be really option early, a couple big catch and run plays capped by touchdowns could give the Raiders a lot of momentum while totally sucking the life out of Heinz Field.