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Thursday, August 31 ESPN.com | ||||||||||||
Week 14 at a glance | Game of the Week | Sunday night | Monday night
Raiders (6-6) at Titans (9-3) 8:20 p.m. ET, ESPN Line: Titans by 3 Preview | War Room preview | Baxter's bits Joe Theismann's Thursday night spotlight Inside the Raiders' playbook: Tim Brown's red-zone route
Why to watch: Despite the three-game difference in these teams' records, this AFC confrontation shapes up as an excellent matchup. The Raiders are happy to be back in the wild-card race, while the Titans are frustrated that they've been reduced to competing for a wild card, rather than the AFC Central title. Tennessee fell two games behind Jacksonville in the divisional race after an embarrassing 41-14 loss at Baltimore last week. Did that game expose a Tennessee squad that has achieved its sterling record against one of the NFL's softest schedules? Or was it just a bad afternoon for a good team? We'll find out Thursday night, when the Titans host an Oakland squad that's coming off an impressive 30-21 victory over the first-place Seahawks. The Raiders, whose '99 trademark has been squandering fourth-quarter leads, broke an ugly two-game skid by finally putting together a full game against Seattle. Still, Oakland remains two games behind Miami (8-4) and Buffalo (8-4) for the conference's final playoff spot. To reach the postseason, the Raiders probably have to win their four remaining games, and then hope for a collapse by either the Dolphins, Bills or maybe even the Titans. That's what makes Thursday's game at Adelphia Coliseum so intriguing. Another loss for Tennessee, and the Titans will not only be questioning themselves, they'll also put their playoff seeding in more jeopardy. Another loss for the Raiders, and their season is probably finished.
Who to watch: The real key for Gannon, however, will be getting time to throw. Titans coach Jeff Fisher will unleash his blitz packages, and Oakland's offensive line must handle Titans rookie DE Jevon Kearse and an underrated front four. Massive Raiders LT Lincoln Kennedy will try to keep the athletic Kearse from adding to his total of 9½ sacks. The Titans have racked up 42 sacks this season -- 10 players have at least two sacks apiece -- and Kearse has collected 6½ in his last six games. Last week, Raiders WR Tim Brown became the third receiver in NFL history to put together seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Titans CBs Samari Rolle and Denard Walker will focus on containing Brown and make speedy WR James Jett beat them. Jett has not caught a TD pass in his last five games and has only two TD catches this season. Raiders TE Rickey Dudley has scored five TDs in his last four games, but he was shut out last week. Dudley will provide a test for Titans OLBs Eddie Robinson and Joe Bowden.
Titans QB Steve McNair has not thrown a TD pass in his last 23 quarters. However, McNair has rushed for four TDs in his last four games. In McNair's defense, he has been missing his top target. Titans WR Yancey Thigpen has missed the last three games with an ankle injury, and he's questionable for Thursday night. Second-year WR Kevin Dyson also has struggled without Thigpen, catching just seven passes for 75 yards and no TDs in his last three games. In fact, Dyson hasn't scored a TD in the six weeks since McNair returned to the lineup. Raiders CBs Charles Woodson and Eric Allen could make life very difficult for the Titans' struggling air attack. To win, Tennessee is going to have to run the ball. That means RB Eddie George, who needs just 84 yards for his fourth consecutive 1,000-yard season, must have a big night. George got just eight carries for 32 yards last week in Baltimore. With Raiders DTs Darrell Russell and Russell Maryland stout up the middle, George will look to do most of his damage on the edges.
Raiders' numbers to know:
Titans' numbers to know:
What it means: As for the Raiders, they have three of their final four games on the road, and the home contest is against the streaking Buccaneers. It probably will take at least 10 wins to get into the playoffs, so Oakland can't afford another loss.
Sean Salisbury's breakdown Gannon is an underrated quarterback. He makes things happen and seems to have a good rapport with coach Jon Gruden. Gannon again will look for Brown, his go-to receiver. I also like the fact that Dudley is finally being productive in the offense. He is creating opportunities for the receivers to get open more. Dudley must continue to make plays down the middle. But the Raiders need Jett to explode for a big home run. He should get his big-play chances against Tennessee because the Titans will pressure and blitz Gannon while playing a lot of single coverage on the outside. They also will roll the coverage toward Brown. They will do everything they can to get containment up the field and not allow Gannon to use his great athleticism to move out of the pocket. One advantage for the Raiders is that Gannon will get the ball out of his hands quickly. The Raiders need to run the ball at Kearse and play physical with him. They should run some lead draws to take advantage of his aggressive, up-the-field push. That should give Wheatley some running lanes inside. Just when Kearse decides to tackle and starts committing inside to stop the run, the Raiders can bounce Kaufman outside around Kearse for big gains. The Titans had trouble with this last week against Baltimore's Priest Holmes.
Titans' game plan: The key for the Titans offense, however, is avoiding turnovers. If they avoid turnovers, they will win at home. When they start to lay it on the ground and throw interceptions, they take themselves out of the game. They can't allow the Raiders to get a lead on them, like the Ravens did last week, because McNair ended up throwing the ball 48 times, getting away from what the Titans like to do. They need to establish George on the ground, get the ball to Wycheck and hope McNair plays mistake-free football.
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