Las Vegas Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 bold predictions in Week 2

Las Vegas Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 bold predictions in Week 2

The offensive line gives up less than three sacks

I was one of those people who was not a fan of the bringing back of offensive line coach Tom Cable when Gruden returned to the Silver and Black.  He left on a bad note the first time and he had a red flag off the field that I’m not gonna get into right now, but besides Darren Waller, he might’ve been the best acquisition the Raiders have made since the Gruden era begun.

First, he developed Kolton Miller into a cornerstone left tackle after most of Raider Nation very much disliked the selection of Miller at that time.  Also, these last couple of years have been filled with injuries and making a patchwork offensive line work, which has been working for the Raiders.

In this year’s draft, the Raiders took their right tackle of the future in Alex Leatherwood, which was also a very controversial pick. However, he played solid football in the first game, and only made two glaring mistakes in giving up a sack, and then a false start in overtime when the Raiders were on the one-yard line.

Team captain Richie Incognito got injured in the Raiders’ second preseason game against the Rams and hasn’t seen the field since.  The Raiders are also replacing their All-Pro Center with an undrafted free agent who doesn’t even have a handful of starts yet in the league.

Finally, their starting right guard got hurt after playing seven snaps, then tried returning for ten snaps before having to leave for the rest of the season. All in all, all of that should have led to an atrocious game by the offensive line, but that was not the case, as they put it together, and hung in against a tough Baltimore front seven.

In Baltimore Ravens fashion, they blitzed Derek Carr many times, and only got home three times, When you compare that to the Raiders defense who blitzed three times and got three sacks also, you have to think the offensive line did their job on Monday night.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a great defense, and an elite defensive player in TJ Watt, but they also have Cam Heyward, who led Week 1 with 12 quarterback pressures. That was four more than Watt, so it’s gonna be another tough one for the Raiders offensive line again. However, if there’s anything we learned about Tom Cable and this offensive line, it’s not to question them, as it’s been the best group of the team in recent seasons.

Jermaine Eluemunor came in for Good after he left with his injury and played really well according to Jon Gruden, so I am predicting the offensive line will once again play a great game on Sunday and allow less than three sacks against this destructive defense.