Raiders: 4 reasonable expectations against the Colts in Week 17
By Alex Perl
Raiders: 4 reasonable expectations against the Colts in Week 17
Jonathan Taylor will be a Handful
The Raiders have been amazing against the run as of late. This newfound strong point of the defense has played a key role in the Raiders’ current two-game winning streak. And now facing the league’s best running back in Jonathan Taylor, hopefully, the Raiders’ hot streak of stopping the run can continue.
Stopping Taylor may be a bit of wishful thinking. And although the Raiders did a rather solid job of stopping Cleveland Browns star back Nick Chubb a couple weeks ago, and also negating the dual combination of Broncos running backs in Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon. None of these backs have come close to the production of Taylor.
The way Taylor has played this season has been consistent and dominant, running over some of the NFL’s top defenses routinely, and he has a chance to eclipse the 2,000 yards rushing mark.
The Colts’ passing game is merely a decoy at this point as it relies on the legs and workload of their star back in Taylor, so the onus will be on the Silver and Black defense to stop a back that essentially no franchise has accomplished thus far.
Taylor is better than any back the Raiders have faced this season, so do not be surprised if he continues his tear as he is in the thick of things as a dark horse MVP candidate.