5 reasons Oakland Raiders at Tennessee Titans is best Week 1 matchup
By John Buhler
The Oakland Raiders have a great Week 1 matchup versus the Tennessee Titans. Here are five reasons that this is the best Week 1 matchup of any game on tap.
NFL regular season action begins this week. All 32 NFL teams will play this week, including your Oakland Raiders. While there are a few primetime games that could be interesting watches, especially if you have fantasy football implications riding on them, the early start featuring the Raiders is one of great intrigue.
Oakland will travel to the Music City to play the Tennessee Titans on September 10. Kickoff from Nissan Stadium on the banks of the Cumberland River in Nashville will be at 10:00 a.m. PT. CBS will have the game and boy, should it be a good one.
Here are five reasons that the Raiders’ first regular season of the year is the best matchup of the 16 on the slate for Week 1 in the NFL. Oakland versus Tennessee, get excited for it, Raider Nation!
5. Elite offensive line play
While it could get overlooked with all the high-flying action going on offensively, this game between the Raiders and the Titans will feature two of the best five offensive lines in football. That matters because football is all about winning in the trenches.
Oakland has three Pro Bowlers on its offensive line from last year in left tackle Donald Penn, left guard Kelechi Osemele and center Rodney Hudson. Right guard Gabe Jackson is poised to have a breakout year for the Silver and Black. If Marshall Newhouse can hold his own at right tackle, this could be the best offensive line in football for the Raiders.
As for the Titans, they might have the best tackle tandem in the game in Taylor Lewan and Jack Conklin. Lewan plays with a mean streak that makes him a menace to get around out on the edge. Conklin thrived in his first year in the league for the Titans. These are also the same guys that partied with Marcus Mariota during the Nashville Predators’ run to the Stanley Cup Finals this spring.
What having two great offensive lines means in this game is that we’ll likely see a high level of execution from both offenses. We know about the Exotic Smash Mouth running scheme that Mike Mularkey likes to run with his Titans. Having a front-five he can trust will allow Raiders offensive coordinator Todd Downing to get even more creative in his play calling. Rarely do you get two offensive lines of this caliber competing in a game, so get excited for that.