Raiders beat Buffalo by two scores and other bold predictions
The Oakland Raiders came away from their week 12 matchup with a win, but did they fulfill all of my bold predictions in the process? We will take a look at that and some more bold predictions for this week. Heading into last week, I had 11 correct predictions on the year with 19 incorrect predictions. Let’s see if I was able to improve my record or not:
1 – Raiders as a team hit the 100 yard mark running the ball
This one was a bit of a reach. Even without Luke Kuechly on the field, the Panthers have a very good run defense. The Raiders didn’t shy away from the run game as they had 30 attempts on the day, but they were not very successful with those attempts. As a team, Oakland only managed to eek out 55 yards on those 30 carries.
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2 – Raiders win the turnover battle by two
Unlike many of their wins this season, the Raiders were unable to win the turnover battle against the Panthers. The Raiders were good about protecting the ball until the freak snap that dislocated Derek Carr’s pinky caused a fumble. Then Carr threw an interception as he tried to get the Raiders back into the game. The defense also forced two turnovers to call it a draw, but certainly didn’t get me this prediction.
3 – Cam Newton gets sacked four times
The Raiders got pressure on Newton with a fair amount of consistency, but only managed two sacks. Luckily for them, one of those sacks came at the end of the game as Khalil Mack ensured that Oakland would come out with a win. The pass rush has been much better in recent weeks but still isn’t at the point of being dominant.
THIS WEEK’S PREDICTIONS
1 – Oakland runs for 125 or more yards
I’m doubling down on Oakland getting the run game going again. But this time, they are going against a much weaker run defense so I’m upping the ante a bit. Rather than the team simply getting to the 100 yard mark, I’m predicting they will hit 125 or more yards on Sunday. The Bills are giving up over 100 yards on the ground, but this would still represent more than their season average.
2 – Oakland sacks Tyrod Taylor 4 times
See a theme? Yeah, I’m also doubling down on the sack prediction. Tyrod Taylor has been sacked 30 times this season and the Oakland pass rush is getting better as the season progresses. The duo of Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin are beginning to terrorize quarterbacks the way we hoped they would when Irvin was signed this offseason. This is the week where that terror reaches it’s full potential. Sorry, Tyrod.
3 – Oakland finally gets that comfortable win: Two scores
During the first half of last week’s game, Oakland looked like they were finally going to have the blowout game we have all been waiting for. Unfortunately, that never came to fruition as Carr’s injury threw the offense off and the defense gave up a couple of huge plays to Ted Ginn, Jr. and Kelvin Benjamin. This week, the Raiders will finally get the dominant win we’ve been waiting for. They will control the game from whistle to whistle and come away with a two score win.
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