Oakland Raiders: What To Watch For Against Minnesota

By Jonathan George | Aug 22, 2015

With each successive game in the preseason, there are certain things any fan of their respective NFL team wants to see improve. For the Oakland Raiders and their fan base, the last game, while a good start to the season, left a few things to be desired on both sides of the ball. And while nobody expects perfection, especially in the preseason, if the Raiders can improve in a few areas it would be a great sign of things to come.

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The deep ball

The Oakland Raiders showed a lot of overall improvement in their game against the Rams when it came to overall offensive production. The running game moved the ball fairly well, and both Derek Carr and Christian Ponder found short and intermediate targets in the passing game.

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One thing that was missing was any ability to take the top off of the defense with a long pass. One of the reasons the Raiders focused on bringing in several of the receiving threats they did was to be able to strike quickly down the field when they got favorable match-ups. Fans want to see Amari Cooper burn the Vikings secondary Saturday.

It’s been awhile since the Raiders scared anyone with their passing game. A few deep balls to Cooper or Michael Crabtree might start to instill that fear in their AFC West foes.

The secondary

If you watched the game last week against the Rams, you had to be shaking your head after the first two plays of the 1st Raiders defensive series. A 26 yard pass from Nick Foles to Lance Kendricks, followed by a 35 yard pass in the flat to Tavon Austin was not the kind of start Oakland’s secondary was looking for. They calmed down fairly well, but there were some statistics at the end of the game that were red flags.

The Rams managed 15 first downs the entire game; a total that in and of itself isn’t horrible for the Raider defense. But 10 of those were through the air, and the Rams quarterback corps completed 64 percent of their passes. The final score was a sign the defense played well overall, but the secondary needs to be able to do a better job of avoiding the big play.

If the Vikings aren’t able to complete any 30 yard plus passes, especially the first team group, then Oakland will have shown some improvement. While part of that responsibility falls on the defensive pass rush group, the secondary needs to be able to hold their own. Teddy Bridgewater, a fairly mobile and accurate quarterback, will be a good test for the Raider cornerback corps.

Win the turnover battle

One of the things the Raiders have historically struggled with in the last several years is their turnover margin. Against the Rams last week, that continued to be an issue, as they turned the ball over twice and didn’t get any takeaways from St. Louis. That kind of turnover margin usually spells a loss for the team on the wrong end of that ratio, and Oakland can’t make that a habit in 2015.

The bigger issue wasn’t the fact that they threw a couple of picks, although Carr’s pick in the end zone was a pretty bad decision. The bigger issue was that they weren’t able to cause any turnovers on defense. Per ESPN statistics, Oakland was -15 last season in the giveaway/takeaway category, with only 9 picks and 5 fumble recoveries all year. They need to find a way to get their offense more looks and at the same time rest their defense.

If they can grab an interception or rip a ball away from a runner on Saturday, it would be another positive sign their defense is improving.

Hopefully fans of the Raiders come away with more positive signs after Oakland plays Minnesota this weekend. With each passing game of the preseason, teams begin to come into form for the regular season. The Raiders want to be continually improving during these games and should be trying to shore up any issues they may have.

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