The Oakland Raiders start a two-week Midwest game series with the Minnesota Vikings and the Indianapolis Colts coming off a loss to Kansas City.
In Week 3, the Oakland Raiders will hit the road to take on the Minnesota Vikings, starting a 45-day trip away from RingCentral Coliseum. The Vikings have a strong defense and two top-flight wide receivers in Stefon Diggs and Adam Theilen.
Both receivers are possession receivers and are very good at getting open on third down and are aware of where the first-down marker is. That could prove a problem to a Raiders team that struggled to get off the field on third down in Week 2 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
In last weeks game for the Vikings, which I watched on NFL Game Pass, Aaron Rodgers got ahead early forcing Kirk Cousins to make plays and get them back into the game. The Packers were up 21-3 at half time but eventually overcame two bad interceptions by Cousins, one in the red zone, and one on a deep out, to make the score 21-16.
The defense adjusted in the second half and was able to hold the Packers to zero points in the second half. Both Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith played some of the best football they had in the second half.
While the defense is great on the inside, the defense isn’t good on the outside, and that could play into the Raiders hands. Jon Gruden likes running off-tackle plays and giving the athletic offensive line time to develop holes for the one-cut running backs on the Raiders roster.
In addition, the secondary is very aggressive and tends to bite on pump fakes and on higher-lower routes. Smith is an extremely smart player with a quick burst of speed and can make up dozens of yards when you don’t think he can.
However the good the defense is, the offense is a little different. Kirk Cousins is the key to this offense. Yes, Dalvin Cook had a 150 yard, two-touchdown game, but that was largely due to the weak Packers defense and the strong push the Vikings offensive line has.
With all that being said, here are three matchups to look for: