5 reasons Oakland Raiders will beat Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14
By John Buhler
The offense now has balance with Marshawn Lynch running the ball so well.
Marshawn Lynch’s emergence in the last several weeks has been key in the Raiders winning four of their last six ball games. It took some time, but he is back to being Beast Mode, this time for the Silver and Black.
Knowing that this has been to some degree a frustrating year for the Raiders’ passing attack, Lynch has risen to the occasion to take on a bigger, more prominent role in this Oakland offense. Lynch is at his best when he is a high-volume runner, breaking the opposition’s will with close to 20 punishing runs per ball game.
His powerful running style has given the Raiders the balanced it has craved offensively this season. It has allowed quarterback Derek Carr to play a freer form of football to help lead this team to victory down the stretch. By using Lynch to open up the pass, it has given Carr better passing lanes to stretch the field with his arm.
When Carr averages 8.0 yards per attempt, the Raiders win ball games. It is usually set up by Lynch approaching 100 all-purpose yards in a game to help dominate time of possession. Kansas City will have to slow down Lynch to stop this Raiders offense. Not sure that happens on Sunday.