Continuing their tough slate of games to start the season, the Las Vegas Raiders travel to Pittsburgh to take on TJ Watt and the Steelers.
In what turned out to be an exciting home opener, and a bit of a shock to the rest of the football landscape, the Las Vegas Raiders beat the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1. This Sunday, on a short week, they travel to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers and their elite defense.
This is a defense that just shut down Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills offense, who is one of the favorites to win MVP and the AFC crown respectively, holding them to only 16 total points, with ten of those points coming in the first half. They also held Josh Allen to 270 yards in the air and one touchdown pass on 30 completions.
Bills running back Devin Singletary had a pretty successful game on the ground, racking up 72 yards on only 11 carries, which is 6.5 yards per average, so that means Las Vegas could attack with the run game. The Raiders suffered multiple injuries on Monday Night Football, including two season enders with both right guard Denzelle Good and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy both got placed on injured reserve Tuesday.
Yannick Ngakoue also sat out the ending of the Ravens game with a hamstring injury but has been practicing in a limited role this week. The Raiders’ first five games are against teams who were either in the playoffs, or in contention for the playoffs last season, so there is no time to sit and feel sorry for themselves.
Here are three bold predictions for Sunday’s matchup inside Heinz Field.