Oakland Raiders: 5 keys to victory over New York Giants
By John Buhler
The Oakland Raiders will play a very winnable game on Sunday versus the New York Giants. Here are the five keys to victory for the Silver and Black.
It’s Week 13 of the 2017 NFL season already. Even though the Oakland Raiders are a game below .500 at 5-6, they are still very much alive in both the AFC West race and the AFC wild card hunt. The Raiders trail the arch rival Kansas City Chiefs (6-5) by a game in the divisional race. Do keep in mind that the Silver and Black hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Kansas City.
Oakland is a game back of the Baltimore Ravens (6-5) for the No. 6 seed in the AFC, but did lose to the Ravens head-to-head at home back in Week 5 with EJ Manuel as the Raiders’ starting quarterback. Things might have gone differently had Derek Carr been healthy, but we’ll never know.
Overall, the Raiders are in good position to make a serious run at the playoffs because they have a few winnable games left on the slate. None will be easier than the already out of it New York Giants (2-9) coming to town this weekend.
New York will be starting a new guy at quarterback for the first time since 2004. Eli Manning has been benched in favor of his backup Geno Smith. Manning’s streak of 210 consecutive starts is coming to an end. Here are the five keys to victory for the Raiders should they want to get back to .500 at 6-6 with a home win over the Giants.
Play with poise on the offensive line versus a solid New York front-four.
It should be a terrific game in the trenches on Sunday, especially when the Raiders have the football. Oakland has some great players on the offensive line, particularly on the left side of it. Center Rodney Hudson has been a Pro Bowl level player for most of this season. Left tackle Donald Penn and left guard Kelechi Osemele have really come on of late to begin to think about getting into that conversation.
However, the Giants’ strength as a football team is on defense, particularly along the defensive line. New York’s front-four of Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison, Dalvin Tomlinson and Jason Pierre-Paul make up one of the best defensive lines in football. Vernon and Pierre-Paul are ferocious coming off the edge. Tomlinson is having a great first year out of Alabama. Harrison is a total wrecking ball at nose tackle for New York.
Simply put, the Raiders can’t overlook the Giants when Oakland is in possession of the football. The Giants will do their best to try to get after Carr and force him to make a terrible throw or two. Do keep in mind that the Giants have an outstanding ballhawking safety in Landon Collins that would love nothing more than to pick-six Carr on Sunday.
While Oakland is vulnerable on the right side of its offensive line with right guard Gabe Jackson and right tackle Marshall Newhouse pretty banged up this year, the Raiders have the players up front to keep Carr’s blind side protected. If Oakland contains the New York pass rush, the Raiders should be able to win this game.