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I know a lot of Raiders fans and my mouth got the best of me, so I have a good chunk of money riding on Tampa Bay +4. I made sure I got the spread from them.
I was originally pulling for the Raiders, but now it's time to root on the Bucs.
Oakland only played one team that had a top 10 scoring D, that was Miami.
In that game, the Raiders:
Had only 14 1st downs (3 rush, 11 pass)
Were 2 for 10 on 3rd-down conversions
Allowed 162 return yards, 126 on kickoffs
Had 4 fumbles (2 by Gannon), yet only lost 1
Had a ToP of 23:07
Had only 218 net yards (56 net rush, 162 net pass)
Had a yards-per-attempt of 4.5 yds.
Gannon sacked 5 times for 42 yards
Had 1 INT
Had a red zone efficiency of 0-2
Had a goal-to-go efficiency of 0-1
Gained more than 18 yards on only 3 drives (32, 48, 90/TD)
Other than the TD drive, for the rest of the game, Gannon was 11 for 24 for 114 yards gross, 72 yds. net.
Meanwhile, the Miami O did just fine amassing 121 net rushing yards, 213 net passing yards for 334 total net yards while only turning the ball over once, a fumble by Ricky Williams.
I think the Raiders are far too one dimensional to beat such a solid defense. Miami's pass D is perhaps not even as good as T.B.'s.
I can see the Raiders winning if they can shut down the Tampa Offense almost completely. But I see the Bucs forcing some TOs and making the most w/ their D.
Furthermore, the Raiders tore up Arizona, Seattle, K.C., and Denver late in the season in rushing while struggling against teams like Miami, S.D., S.F., the Jets, N.E., Pittsburgh, and Tennessee having to rely almost exclusively on their passing.
That's huge. They don't run well against solid Ds and T.B.'s is more than solid, it's among the best in league history. There's simply no way that the Raider passing game carries the Raiders to a win today. If they win they're gonna have to get some production out of Garner/Wheatley. Wheatley is way too slow for this speedy Buc D.
While the Miami D was tough at home, the Bucs are that tough all the time anywhere.
Replace Donahoe with Modrak and fire the entire coaching staff!
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