Ravens can’t afford to take the Raiders lightly … and they won’t. A playoff spot is on the line.
WHAT: Week 12, Game 11 vs. Oakland Raiders
WHEN: 1 p.m. (ET); Sunday, November 25
WHERE: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore (71,008)
RECORDS: Raiders, 2-8; Ravens, 5-5
LIFETIME SERIES (regular season): Ravens lead, 7-3; in Baltimore, the Ravens are 5-1 against Oakland, but lost the last meeting in 2016 after five straight wins
TV: WJZ-TV, Channel 13 (Andrew Catalon, James Lofton, booth; Amanda Balionis, sidelines)
RADIO: WIYY-FM, 97.9 (Gerry Sandusky, Jarret Johnson, booth; Kirk McEwen, sidelines)
REFEREE: Clay Martin
About the Raiders
—Oakland’s football franchise began as an American Football League team when that league debuted in 1960. The team moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and returned to Oakland in 1995. They are scheduled to move again in 2020–this time to Las Vegas. They won the AFL championship in 1967, three Super Bowls (XI, XV, XVIII), have 22 playoff appearances, and 17 division titles (the most recent in 2002).
–The franchise’s .540 win percentage (since 1963) is the league’s eighth-best. Its .481 road mark over that same span is fifth-best.
—The Raiders have appeared in five Super Bowls, but it has been 16 seasons since their last berth–a Super Bowl XXXVII loss to Tampa Bay. The Raiders have advanced to the AFC Championship Game 14 times, which is tied with New England for second-most in conference history (behind Pittsburgh’s 16). Two of those games were against Baltimore teams. The Raiders lost to the Colts in 1970 at Memorial Stadium, 27-17, and fell to the Ravens in Oakland in 2000, 16-3.
–The Raiders and Baltimore have jointly forged their own history. Besides the aforementioned 1970 game, Oakland and the Colts met in a Divisional playoff game at Memorial Stadium on Christmas Eve in 1977. The Raiders won in double overtime. Oakland returned in 1996 as the Ravens’ first-ever regular-season opponent and Baltimore won that day, 19-14. In 2012, it was Oakland that allowed the Ravens’ highest single-game point total in a 55-20 loss at M&T Bank Stadium.
–This year, the Raiders got off to a 1-3 start before losing five in a row, a streak that was broken just last week with a last-second field goal that gave the team a road win at Arizona. Following their game in Baltimore, the Raiders play three of their next four games at home before closing the season on the road at Kansas City.
—Oakland has posted identical 1-4 records in home and away games. The game in Baltimore will mark the team’s second of four games to start at 10 a.m. Pacific time, which is often seen as a handicap for teams flying west to east. Oakland still has road games to play at Miami and Kansas City that are slated to start at that same time. In all, Oakland is traveling over 31,000 miles to play its schedule–the most in the league.
–Ever since the current divisional alignment came into being in 2002, the Raiders have posted a surprisingly-good record against AFC North teams. They’ve gone 45-37 combined against Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Baltimore. The Raiders defeated the Cleveland Browns earlier this year and will take on Pittsburgh at home and Cincinnati on the road in December.
–The Raiders have played all their games on grass this year. The team has gotten off to mostly-good starts in games, scoring first in seven of ten contests. However, they’ve won only two of those games. When not scoring first, Oakland is 0-3.
–The Raiders have allowed 98 fourth-quarter points–their worst period by far this year. Oakland’s turnover ratio resembles Baltimore’s at minus-4 thanks, in part, to only two fumble recoveries by their defense. Another Raven-like quality is Oakland’s run-pass ratio, which stands at 240 rushes and 386 passes (including sacks allowed).
—Usually one of the league leaders in penalties, the Raiders have been flagged for 67 accepted infractions, which is tied with the Ravens for the 11th-most leaguewide. However, Oakland’s 14 false starts are tied for the fourth-most. The team has been called for holding 12 times and unnecessary roughness on five occasions. Former Ravens guard Kelechi Osemele is tied with two others for the team lead with four penalties, including two holds.
—The Raiders were plagued by dropped passes last year and things haven’t changed in 2018. The team has had 16 drops this season, which is tied for the league’s fourth-most. Tight end Jared Cook leads the team with four and wideout Seth Roberts has been charged with three miscues.
—Jon Gruden is the 22nd head coach in Raiders history. He is in the first season of his second stint with the team. From 1998-2001, he led Oakland to a pair of AFC West Division titles. His team led the NFL in rushing in 2000 and was a mere 34 years old at the time of his hiring. From 2002-2008, he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their only championship (Super Bowl 37 in 2002). In all, he has coached 21 different players to a combined 39 Pro Bowl berths.
–Gruden has a 5-4 cumulative postseason record and a 97-89 (.521) regular-season mark. Four players who have worked under Gruden are in the Hall of Fame: Tim Brown, Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, and Jerry Rice.
—Notable coaching-staff hires under Gruden include defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, who was part of the Western Maryland (now McDaniel) staff in 1994 and 1995. Also, senior defensive assistant Jim O’Neil worked on the Towson staff in 2005.
—The Raiders are ranked 22nd in total offense (23rd rushing, 17th passing, 30th scoring at 17 points per game) and are third-worst in the league in the red zone, scoring touchdowns at a 41.4 percent rate. Defensively, Oakland is ranked 26th in total defense (31st vs. rush, 18th vs. pass, 30th scoring, allowing 29.3 points per game). The team is last in sacks with nine, 28th in third-down defense (44.3 percent), and a surprising tenth in red-zone defense (54.1 percent touchdowns allowed).
–-Fifth-year quarterback Derek Carr has 115 career touchdown passes, third all-time in Raiders history. He has 15 career fourth-quarter comebacks, as well as a career completion percentage of over 62 percent. In ten games this season, Carr has completed passes at a 70.6 percent pace with 12 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a 94.1 passer rating, but he has been sacked 32 times. He has played five straight games without an interception. Carr has won both of his career starts against the Ravens, going 55-for-81 for 550 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception for a passer rating of 110.6. Ex-Cincinnati reserve AJ McCarron is Carr’s backup.
—Oakland’s ground game has been spearheaded by a pair of backs that made their names with other teams. Oakland native and former Seattle back Marshawn Lynch, who is on injured reserve, leads the team with 376 yards, a 4.2 per-carry average, and three of the team’s paltry total of four rushing touchdowns. Right behind him is former Tampa Bay standout Doug Martin, who has 333 yards and a 4.4 average. Jalen Richard has only 29 carries, but he is running to a 4.1-yard average, doing most of his damage in the passing game.
—Richard, an undrafted free agent from Southern Mississippi in 2016 (and the team’s shortest player at 5’8″), leads the team with 51 receptions, averaging 8.5 yards per catch. But Richard has none of the team’s 12 receiving touchdowns. The leader in that category is TE Cook with four scores among his 45 receptions. Wide receivers Jordy Nelson and Seth Roberts are tied among outside pass-catchers for the team lead with 25 receptions each. They have combined for five touchdowns. Nelson leads the team with a 14-yard average, a shade ahead of Martavis Bryant (19 catches). NFL journeyman Brandon LaFell has 12 catches and two scores, but he is on injured reserve.
—The Raiders’ offensive line has not produced a great deal for the team’s running backs. They’ve also allowed 33 quarterback sacks in ten games, nine more than all of last year. Veteran tackle Donald Penn is on injured reserve, so 2018 draft picks Kolton Miller (first round) and Brandon Parker (third), both standing 6-foot-8, are the current starting tackles. There is a veteran core in the interior with Osemele at left guard, former Kansas City center Rodney Hudson in the middle, and 2014 third-round pick Gabe Jackson at right guard. Jackson is in his fifth season in Oakland, tied with Carr for the lead in team seniority.
—The Raiders’ defensive line is a unit in transition. The team’s oldest player, 35-year-old Frostee Rucker (a former Cincinnati Bengal) and rookie Arden Key (LSU) are at the defensive end spots. Fifth-round rookie Maurice Hurst (Michigan) and free-agent pickup Johnathan Hankins are the men in the middle. Hurst is fourth on the team with 26 tackles, which is unusual for a defensive lineman. He also has four of the team’s league-low nine sacks and three pass breakups. Hankins has 23 tackles and the team’s only two fumble recoveries.
—At the second (linebacker) level, Waldorf native Marquel Lee (a 2017 fifth-round pick) is in the “Mike” role. He is surrounded by a pair of seventh-year players, Emmanuel Lamur and Tahir Whitehead. Whitehead and Lee are 1-2 on the team in tackles with a respective 71 and 43 stops, and they have three pass breakups between them. Whitehead also has eight tackles for loss. The rotation isn’t that deep. The one notable reserve is ex-Dallas Cowboy Kyle Wilber, who backs up Lamur on the strong side.
—The Oakland secondary is paced by safety Marcus Gilchrist, a former Houston Texans free agent, who is in his eighth NFL season. He has 36 tackles, third-most on the team, and three pass breakups. Gilchrist is teamed in the deep middle with 12-year NFL veteran Reggie Nelson, who came to Oakland from the Bengals two years ago.
–The team has a pair of young corners, Daryl Worley and 2017 first-round pick Gareon Conley, who has a team-high two pickoffs. They are backed up by (among others) former Raven backup Rashaan Melvin and rookie Nick Nelson who, at 22, is the team’s youngest player. Melvin leads the team with eight pass breakups and he and Leon Hall have 25 tackles each. Hall has four career pickoffs against Baltimore.
—The Raiders’ special-teams units are loaded riddled with rookies. They include long snapper Trent Sieg, punter Johnny Townsend, and kicker Daniel Carlson, who is the third kicker the team has fielded this year. Veteran Mike Nugent is on injured reserve. Townsend has put eight of 43 punts inside the coffin corner and is netting 38 yards per punt with four touchbacks. While Carlson is 6-for-7 on field goals, he has not attempted a kick from 50 yards or longer.
–Oakland’s return game is manned on both kick and punt runbacks by ex-Dallas Cowboy Dwayne Harris. Harris has run back 14 kicks for a 22-yard average and 14 punts for an above-average 11-yard rate. Nelson backs him up in both roles. As for the coverage teams, the Raiders do rather well. They cover punt returns at a 6.7-yard average and kick runbacks at a 21-yard rate.
Prediction
This is the last of a three-game homestand for the Ravens. It comes against one of the league’s worst teams. Oakland is coming off a win, though, albeit against equally-sorry Arizona.
In the parity-defined NFL, no contending team can afford to take even the worst teams lightly. That’s especially the case when a team–like the Ravens–is a playoff contender.
While Baltimore won’t take Oakland seriously, the fact is this: the Raiders don’t have the talent, the depth, or perhaps even the will to compete on Sunday.
Ravens 27, Raiders 10
