Oakland Raiders: Speaking the truth after Week 2

The Oakland Raiders grounded the New York Jets in their home-opner, and improved to 2-0. What can be discerned from a blowing out a lowly team?

The Oakland Raiders played a cat and mouse game with New York Jets from the moment they took the field in Week 2 for their first home game of 2017. Entering the contest as much as 13.5-point underdogs, no one gave the Jets much of a chance to win this football game and rightfully so. The Raiders were the dominant team in every aspect of the game: offense, defense, special teams and coaching, and it showed.

Three dominant performances must be mentioned. The AFC West, according to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, is on the precipice of something never been done before. With an Oakland, Denver and Kansas City win next week, it would be the first time ever three teams from the same division will be 3-0.

If their was ever any question of which is the best division in football, there will be no doubt should history be set in Week 3. Now let’s dive into the stars for Oakland in their Week 2 and what we can take away from the win.

The Offensive Line

Leonard Williams and Muhammad Wilkerson are both Pro Bowl defensive linemen for the Jets. Both of these talented superstars did absolutely nothing noteworthy, and Williams was singled out and treated like litter by the Raiders bruising offensive line.

The absolutely lethal double team blocking combination of guard Kelechi Osemele and tackle Donald Penn provides a clinic on how to do it properly:

The Raiders line as a whole dominated the Jets. Tight end Lee Smith came up with a few different pancakes. It was just amazing to see just how brutish and physically superior this offensive lineup can be, even against the one strength of the visiting Jets.

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Michael Grab-three

Is there a man who goes about his business in a more quiet and under the radar way while recording the fourth-most receiving touchdowns with 20 since joining the Raiders in 2015? Michael Crabtree has been the consummate professional just focused on playing ball. Oddly enough, the only other three-touchdown game in Crabtree’s career came nearly a year ago to the day, in Week 3 of 2016 against the Baltimore Ravens.

As teams seek to limit the production of whom they deem the larger threat (Amari Cooper), and with the additions of tight end Jared Cook and Cordarrelle Patterson, teams are choosing to single Crabtree up. And he is making them pay.

Crabtree may not be the fastest receiver, but since his days at Texas Tech he’s used his size and technique to get open, and he has been blessed with big, strong, soft hands. While he hasn’t been selected to the Pro Bowl (a snub considered by most), he has produced 17 touchdowns in the last two years and has no doubt been a Option 1A in Oakland.

As an offensive team, you know you have arrived when your quarterback trolls teams he’s not playing (in this case, Carr audibled from a Lynch run at the 1-yard line to a pass with “Hey, Seattle!”) in a game. The funny thing is, it places the defense in a guessing game on it’s on goal line. I have to admit, when I heard it I laughed.

Most people thought it meant give the ball to Beast Mode on the goal line like they said they would, but have yet to do from a power formation. But what they meant was isolate Crabtree, and let it be the few times you ever want to see Crabtree catch a fade.

Is there a wild Karl Joseph is on the loose?

Because some guy in a black  No. 42 jersey wasn’t having it on Sunday — it meaning any kind of offense coming his way. What Joseph did against the Jets is what made him the ferocious all-around player on pace to be the top safety in the 2016 draft before blowing out his knee. The rehabilitated knee is no longer a thought in his mind and you can tell from his play.

Joseph is a big hitter in a small package, but he’s everywhere these days, blitzing off of the edge with precision timing and snap count intuition. In the pass coverage game, he has been better in two-deep zone and the extra seconds it takes offenses to decipher just what exactly is going on, is giving Joseph the opportunity to react and play faster than we have seen him play up to this point.

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What’s really going down “The Town”?

Opening the season at home and winning in convincing fashion was an excellent continuance of momentum for a team looking to be the last men standing in February. Having Lynch going dumb on the sideline while listening to that homemade bay music was even better for everything Raiders.

Returning to the field he dominated enroute to a championship as a high school runnning back, putting on the black jersey and the silver helmet, and being able to roll in the dirt we call an end zone ought to have been heavenly. It would seem that Beast-Mode-mania has swept over Oakland and, as the season progresses, it has a chance to run wilder than Hulkamania, brother.

Gareon Conley is an honorable mention he was targeted twice and had one beautiful display of cornerbacking on a go-route. His ability to get his hips turned seamlessly, be hip-to-hip, step-for-step with the wide receiver, and then display excellent positioning to jump up and double tip a pass to give Reggie Nelson a shot at a turnover was a great sign for a rookie making his first showing.

Mario Edwards Jr. is healthy. His weight is down and his body has been healed and he’s playing like his butt is on fire. Edwards and rookie third-round pick Eddie Vanderdoes have been wreaking havoc on the defensive front. Edwards finished with 1.5 sacks on the contest and currently leads the team with two sacks. These two are making all the difference in the world on this defense as the push is now there.

Ending with a slight concern, which many will deem as nitpicking a squad which posted four sacks in a game. But nonetheless, this is a fine detail that could be the difference between winning in January and February or not: finishing at the quarterback.

Next: NFL 2017: Picks against the spread for Week 3

For two weeks, I have watched excellent pressure and commotion be caused from the tackles coming up the center of the pocket, but there have been many more opportunities for sacks that didn’t get finished. While it may not have been a huge deal against the hapless, fuel-less Jets, when you start looking towards the Alex Smiths and Trevor Siemians or other mobile quarterbacks in this league, that can keep the defense on the field and lead to points.