Oakland Raiders: 5 players to watch vs. New York Jets

After a solid first win of the season in Nashville, the Oakland Raiders will head home to face the New York Jets in Week 2. Kickoff from Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Sunday will be at 1:05 p.m. PT. CBS will have the telecast.

Unlike their game on the road against the Tennessee Titans last week, the Raiders will be an overwhelming favorite over the visiting Jets in Week 2. New York may be the worst team in football, as the Jets are in the midst of a rebuild. Look for the high-flying Raiders offense to take advantage in their first home game of the year.

In Week 1, the Raiders impressed more than anything on defense. Allowing just 16 points and one touchdown to the Titans at Nissan Stadium has to have Raider Nation pleasantly surprised with how their team’s Week 1 performance was.

Now that the Raiders have that first game of the season out of the way, let’s take a look at five players for Oakland that should be in line to have great games against the Jets on Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum.

Rookie inside linebacker Marquel Lee played well in his first game as a professional. While he only had two tackles, it didn’t look like his head was swimming against Tennessee’s Exotic Smash Mouth offense. It did help that the defensive tackles played very well to help him out in his debut for the Silver and Black.

Lee wears the green dot on this Raiders defense at middle linebacker. The quicker he adjusts to the speed and competitiveness of the NFL, the better. While he did play in a tough ACC Atlantic division in college, this is still the NFL and it will take some time for the game to slow down for him.

What makes him such an intriguing watch against the Jets is that New York isn’t as skilled between the tackles offensively as the Titans. Bilal Powell is a decent running back, but not on par with what the Titans have in Derrick Henry and DeMarco Murray.

Having to deal with tight end Delanie Walker last week was tough, but New York doesn’t have a pass catcher in the middle of the field like it did last year in Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall. Sunday should be a game where Lee can get meaningful experience in a game that counts without being overly concerned with who the Jets throw out there to try to move the sticks.