The Oakland Raiders are coming off the first loss of the 2013 NFL season to Andrew Luck’s Indianapolis Colts, but a lot of optimism surrounds this young team with a potentially bright future on the horizon.
Fortunately for Dennis Allen and company, the Raiders will face-off against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at O.co Coliseum and are currently favored to come out on top.
According to Sportsbook.com, the Raiders are currently six-point favorites (-6) heading into their matchup against the Jaguars. Jacksonville struggled to compete with the Kansas City Chiefs from start to finish in Week 1.
Jacksonville only managed to score two points in the loss to the Chiefs due to a blocked punt early in the first quarter. It’s safe to say at this point in time that the Jaguars are arguably the worst team in the NFL moving forward. Jacksonville simply couldn’t get anything going and showed no signs of improvement on either side of the football in comparison to last season.
With Terrelle Pryor putting on a show in Week 1 against the expense of Robert Mathis and company, the Jaguars’ defense will almost certainly struggle to contain the versatile quarterback in Oakland on Sunday. The Raiders will likely attempt to get their ground game going next weekend with an emphasis on getting running back Darren McFadden. Despite scoring his first rushing touchdown since October of last year, McFadden had a poor performance rushing for 48 yards on 17 carries.
Along with McFadden potentially having a breakout game in Week 2, the Raiders will continue to get Pryor involved in both the running and passing game. Pryor began to strike up some chemistry with wide receiver Rod Streater and connected on a touchdown pass with Denarius Moore leading many to believe this receiving corps may be starting to come together.
