The Las Vegas Raiders have a difficult matchup looming in Week 2 of the 2025 NFL season. They will take on the Los Angeles Chargers at home on Monday Night Football, who are fresh off a 27-21 defeat of the AFC's Goliath, the Kansas City Chiefs.
But it doesn't hurt to look ahead, as the Raiders will have to travel back to the East Coast in Week 3 to take on the Washington Commanders. Last season, the Commanders shocked the league by ascending all the way from a 4-13 record the year before to the NFC Championship Game.
Pete Carroll and Co. are surely taking things one game at a time, and all eyes should be on the Chargers right now. But when they get around to watching the film from Thursday Night Football between the Commanders and Green Bay Packers, they'll see an obvious blueprint to follow.
Raiders should model their Commanders strategy after the Packers
Commanders' offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has a reputation for being a coach who is easy to figure out with time. His stint as the Arizona Cardinals' head coach proved this, as the team was never able to maintain its early success.
Green Bay seemed like they got a bead on exactly how to stop the Commanders as early as Thursday night's Week 2 game, and the Raiders must follow their game plan. Simply, they should hang back in a zone and dare the Commanders to run the ball while preventing them from going uptempo.
Washington's running back duo of Austin Ekeler and Bill Croskey-Merritt struggled tremendously to find holes and fight for yardage, which didn't exactly keep the Packers' defense honest. They just sat back and prevented the Commanders from taking the top off the defense, and Kingsbury didn't adjust.
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Patrick Graham is one of the savviest defensive coordinators in the league as well, so he will be able to strategically use substitutions to slow down the Commanders' uptempo offense. Putting pressure on Daniels like the Packers did will force him into sacks and incompletions, also hurting their tempo.
Through the first three quarters of the contest, Kingsbury's unit had mustered just 3 points and 112 total yards of offense. Their 2.7 yards per play were incredibly low, and Daniels was averaging just 2.5 yards per pass. Plus, Micah Parsons was wreaking havoc, and Maxx Crosby can do the same.
Obviously, each matchup is different and has moving pieces that shift the dynamic. But Green Bay clearly showed how to slow down Washington's offense on Thursday, and Kingsbury proved that he isn't keen on making adjustments. The Raiders can easily take advantage of this in Week 3.