5 reasons Oakland Raiders will beat Buffalo Bills
By John Buhler
The Oakland Raiders will play the Buffalo Bills on the road in Week 8. Here are five reasons it will be the Silver and Black who will be victorious.
The Oakland Raiders look to put together a winning streak of their own this week. After knocking off the arch rival Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football in Week 7, the Silver and Black will make the trek to Western New York to take on the 4-2 Buffalo Bills.
Buffalo has been one of the more consistently strong teams in the AFC in the first part of the season. This is far from a sexy football team, but they are methodical on offense and technically sound defensively. 2017 could very well be the year that the Bills get back into the AFC playoffs. They would be the No. 5 seed if the season ended today.
Oakland may be in last place in the AFC West, but it does feel like the Raiders figured some things against Kansas City last week. With the Chiefs only being 5-2, the 3-4 Raiders are still very much alive in a tight divisional race in the AFC West.
Winning on the road at New Era Field in Orchard Park will be very tough for the Raiders. The weather is starting to change and that only adds to the home field advantage that the Bills have in Western New York. It won’t be easy, but here are five reasons it will be the Raiders that win on Sunday in Week 8 versus a surging Bills team.
Tyrod Taylor doesn’t routinely beat teams with his arm
Yes, Tyrod Taylor is a franchise quarterback, albeit a low-end one. He is one of the 25 best quarterbacks on Planet Earth and provides stability to a quarterbacking room. Buffalo can win a lot o games with him as their signal caller. However, Taylor is not the type of playmaker to win games routinely with his arm.
Taylor is of the same quarterbacking prototype of Alex Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs. Both are efficient and accurate passers in the short-to-medium passing game. They each have elite foot speed at the quarterback position, playing with a certain calmness that always gives their team a chance to win.
Though the Raiders secondary remains one of the worst in football, Taylor is not the type of passer to carve up an opposing offense out of the ‘gun. He likes to spray the ball around and will occasionally make a big-time throw down the field to an open receiving target.
However, Taylor has his limitations as a downfield thrower. Buffalo can’t ask him to complete third and long after third and long. Taylor is at his best when he has a running game, which he is certainly a part of, to lean on, as well as an excellent defense backing him up. If he does throw for 300 yards on the Raiders, that falls entirely on the Oakland defense not getting it done.