Week 14: Potential Matchups for the Raiders Offense
The Las Vegas Raiders (5-7) are taking a short trip to SoFi Stadium for their scheduled Week 14 game against the Los Angeles Rams (3-9) on Thursday night.
Both teams are coming in with a disadvantage of playing last Sunday, and with a few days in between Thursday Night Football, the Raiders will have to get ready for a stingy Rams defense.
Elite Run-Defense
The Rams defense is allowing 96.7 rushing yards a game, fourth-best in the NFL.
While All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald might have had a huge part in that statistic, he missed last week’s game because of an ankle injury and is on his way of possibly missing this week's game for the same reason.
Raiders running back Josh Jacobs rushed for over 140 yards last Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, keeping his spot as the league's top rusher with 1,303 yards.
Jacobs will be facing a pair of linebackers who are great at stopping the run.
Leading the way is All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner, who leads the Rams in tackles and sacks with 97 tackles (54 solos), and five sacks, adding to his four pass deflections, one interception and a blocked kick in his first season in Los Angeles.
According to Pro Football Focus, Wagner has the highest run defense grade (90.7) and overall defensive grade by a linebacker in the league (90.4).
Beside him is linebacker Ernest Jones, who is second on the team in tackles with 89 tackles (52 solos) and has received an 83.3 run defense grade, sixth-best by PFF.
Compliment WR Davante Adams
The Raiders have their own All-Pro on the opposite side of the field, with wide receiver Davante Adams, who is coming off his best game as a member of the Silver and Black.
After racking up eight receptions for 177 receiving yards and two touchdowns in last week’s game versus the Los Angeles Chargers, the Raiders will need their star receiver to replicate that success and have the rest of the receivers compliment Adams on the field.
Adams probably will be matched up against Rams All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who has allowed four touchdowns in the last three games and seven total this season, the most of his career since entering the league in 2016.
Matching up against Ramsey will open other areas where Raiders receivers can take advantage of.
Wide receiver Mack Hollins has been terrific in the running game and is second in the team in receptions (45), receiving yards (566) and receiving touchdowns (three).
This can be another opportunity for him and the rest of the pass- catchers to take advantage of a depleted Rams secondary.
The Raiders will play on Thursday Night Football this week against the Rams at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., and that game kicks off at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST and can be seen on Amazon Prime.
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