The high flying Los Angeles Rams visit the Oakland Raiders on Sunday night with high expectations. Second-year head coach, Sean McVay, cut his coaching teeth under new Raiders head coach Jon Gruden. McVay's success in his first year has led to much optimism for year two. For starters, he has Jared Goff coming off a very good season. It will be interesting to see how well Goff does this year now that offensive coordinator, Matt LeFleur, has moved on to Tennessee (LeFleur is given a bunch of credit for Goff's turnaround after a rough rookie season). Goff will hand the ball off to Todd Gurley which gives the Rams an explosive running game. Gurley enters his fourth season and ran for a career-high 1305 rushing yards last year. Goff will be throwing to Brandin Cooks now that Sammy Watkins has departed. He'll also have Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp and, of course, Gurley out of the backfield. Behind a veteran offensive line the Rams offense should be very explosive. Defensively, they added Marcus Peters and Aquib Talib to the secondary.
How To Watch
Where: Oakland, California
Start time: Monday, Sept. 10, 10:20 p.m. ET
TV Network: NBC
Stream Online: Watch live on WatchESPN.com
The Raiders made a splash in the offseason by coaxing Jon Gruden out of the broadcast booth and back on the field with a 10-year, $100 million dollar contract to bring their franchise back to prominence. Gruden got his coaching start with Oakland only to be traded to Tampa Bay where he won a Super Bowl. He's back and hoping to turn back the clock with Derek Carr to the 2016 season, where Carr threw for nearly 4000 yards. He also threw 28 touchdown passes and only six picks. Those numbers were down significantly in 2017 with his picks rising to 13. Under Gruden, you can expect an increased workload for Marshawn Lynch. Gruden likes to use big backs behind fullbacks and blocking tight ends. It would help Carr a lot if Amari Cooper returns to his 2016 form as well. All of his numbers were down last year too. The Raiders added Matavis Bryant and Jordy Nelson to the receiving group giving Carr more weapons down the field. Behind a rebuilt and beefed up offensive line the offense should be much improved in 2018. Defensively you can say the Raiders are in unknown territory. Deciding to rid themselves of Khalil Mack was questionable but something Gruden thinks will help the team in the long run by saving a chunk of money.
