5 Raiders' weaknesses the Broncos can exploit on Monday night

This is how the Broncos attack the Raiders in Week 1.

The regular season kickoff is finally here and the Denver Broncos are poised to close out the NFL's Week 1 slate on Monday night against the Oakland Raiders. On paper, both teams have improved in multiple areas, but being improved on paper doesn’t always come out in the wash come game time.

It's always hard to gauge a team's weaknesses for the first game of the season. After all, the only tape that has been put out there has been from the preseason so hard to see what they will actually do. However, knowing some of the players the Raiders have added, there are some areas that the Broncos can exploit.

Looking over both teams, watching their preseason tape and doing some studying into the players and scheme, there are five major areas of weakness that the Broncos can look to exploit.

Kolton Miller/Jordan Devey | Left side of O-Line

The left side of the Raiders' offensive line is a major weakness. Kolton Miller was one of the worst left tackles in the NFL last year and allowed 65 total pressures with 12 sacks on the year. 

Miller will be taking on Bradley Chubb, who generated 56 total pressures himself last year with 12 sacks. Both players are entering their second year, and Chubb looks like he has taken a huge step forward and is poised to be a force this year.

Next to Miller is left guard Jordan Devey, who has been a reserve interior offensive lineman who has barely played more than a thousand snaps in five years. There are a lot of issues with his game that have kept him from being anything more than a depth piece. Now he gets his shot in Oakland and will have a tough battle with the Broncos' defensive line.

With Adam Gotsis and Chubb on that side, these two Raiders' linemen will have their work cut out for them. Vic Fangio likes to run a lot of stunts to generate pressure, something he does very well, and that could create added issues for these two who both lack experience.

LBs who can't go sideline-to-sideline

In adding to their linebacker corps, as a unit, the Raiders aren’t as bad as they were last year. That doesn’t mean they can’t be exploited, though. Oakland lacks good sideline-to-sideline speed. 

Mercenary acquisition Vontaze Burfict used to be a solid linebacker, despite all the drama he's created, but he has fallen off the cliff in recent years. His dro- off caused the Cincinnati Bengals to move on from him when they already had a weak linebacker unit to begin with.

Another linebacker that the Raiders have is Tahir Whitehead, who was with the team last year. He improved in the second half of the season, but he was still bad all year long. 

His run defense was some of the worst in the NFL as he was one of the lowest graded run defenders according to Pro Football Focus. Somehow his run defense actually managed to be worse than his pass coverage, which we will come back to.

The last of Oakland's starting linebackers is Nicholas Morrow, but he is hampered by an ankle injury and may not be playing in the game. His preseason was rough, he struggled last year and doesn’t have much to offer going sideline-to-sideline. None of the Raiders' linebackers do, so if the Broncos' offensive line can win against the defensive line and get to the second level, they should be able to control the game with the run.

Derek Carr’s vision & pocket awareness

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Over the past several years of Carr’s career, we have seen him struggle under pressure. There are also issues with him reading complicated defenses. One of his best seasons was when the Raiders' offense simplified things for him, but even then, defenses found ways to make things hard for him.

Carr has played against a Vic Fangio defense once before, and it really didn’t go well. This was when Fangio didn’t have anywhere close to the defensive talent that has now with the Broncos, or had with the Bears last year. Having the weapons on defense will help disguise coverages and make things difficult for the veteran quarterback.

With Bradley Chubb, Shelby Harris and Von Miller, Denver should be able to apply the pressure to mess with Carr. Adding that with disguising coverages, the Broncos' defense could come away with some turnovers from the game.

Cornerback depth

Gareon Conley has been coming around as a good corner, but that doesn’t mean the Broncos should avoid him. However, the depth at corner for Oakland is awful and the Broncos would be wise to test everyone, including Conley.

Oakland's No. 2 corner is Daryl Worley, who PFF graded as the seventh-worst starting corner in 2018. There were multiple games where he allowed nearly every target of his to be completed. Worley had a solid rookie year with Carolina, but has been declining ever since. The Raiders didn’t really make a move to upgrade their depth, and that could bite them.

Two rookies stand as Oakland's third and fourth corner, and both of them looked bad in the preseason. They had plenty of struggles on the field that can be exploited. With the Broncos' depth at receiver, it is going to be tough for the Raiders to hold their own. They will need a lot of help from their safeties, but they can’t help everyone.

Raiders LBs in coverage

I already highlighted the Raiders' linebackers lack of sideline-to-sideline speed, but they are a weak group overall in pass coverage, too. Oakland's LBs are easy to exploit, especially when running a play-action fake. Burfict may be the best of the bunch, but he is average at best.

Whitehead was one of the worst linebackers in coverage and allowed 23 catches on 26 targets that went his way. Of those 23 catches, seven of them went for touchdowns. His is slow in coverage and can’t hang with tight ends or running backs.

With the Broncos' skill-position pieces on offense, they will be in a prime position to exploit the Raiders' linebackers, primarily Whitehead. The Raiders are a poor group, but after what the team fielded last year at linebacker, it is nearly impossible for them to be worse. 

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