Darius Slay is one confident guy. After watching this unit perform in the game(s) against Pittsburg, Minnesota, and now against Detroit – we have our answer.
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-Lions running back Theo Riddick made several key plays in the victory Sunday and finished with five catches for 72 yards and six carries for 14 yards, making several defenders miss along the way. If playing against a conference team on one of the biggest football days of the year doesn’t get you pumped up enough to win as the underdog at home, you probably don’t deserve to win. “It doesn’t matter if I agree with it or not, I know how they’re going to call and it would have been a waste of a challenge”.
Like Del Rio, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr isn’t getting too worked up about the passes that have slipped through Cooper’s fingers. Now, that return is looking more like a mirage; Why? What I find most troubling as a fanatic of this team is how they’ve lost the last three games. It wasn’t until Carr and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave started spreading the offensive load around that the Raiders offense started to flourish.
The question I have for the fans is this: Are you willing to look past a down year and keep Caldwell around, or is there a better choice for a head coach out there?
And secondly, it’s an admission by the coaching staff that it can’t make anyone into a contributing starting player. “We expect to be better than we were”. It’s a trend that will have to change if the Raiders are going to get back on the path to a winning record that they were traveling down in October. Speaking of third down, it’s also hard to win a contest when you’re converting only 4 out of 11 chances. You can’t play great defense if you have giveaways, if you have gifts that you give your opponent.
If the Raider defense was an automobile, there would be a recall (with the exception of Charles Woodson of course). He is facing an Eagles rush defense that was thrashed in three of the last four games after being one of the top rush defenses in the NFL. Lions have league-worst turnover differential of minus-10.
The 49ers (3-7) made tackling miscues and surrendered 508 yards and 28 first downs in the 29-13 loss at Seattle on Sunday. After the team was forced to punt, following the safety play – it appeared to me the Raider defense had NO fight in them!
Obviously after the rough start this season, winning three straight is the Lions goal.
Odds and Point Spread: +1.5 Detroit. “You know, I think that, just like everything else, it was there in spurts, it just wasn’t there consistently enough or consistently enough to help us get the kind of production we needed, ” Caldwell said. He has not rushed for more than 48 yards in any game since and he has topped out at 21 yards receiving in his next best game this season. Anytime you’re winless due to a particular statistic – it’s time to address that issue. The running back with a knack for breaking the big one had a long rush of 16 yards on the day.
Moreover, I’m not placing all of the blame at the feet of the players. Reece being among them.
Cooper’s slump comes at a time the Raiders offense has hit a major dip.
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Coach Jim Caldwell said that in a way its good to have a short week.
