Raiders overwhelming favorites to topple the Patriots in their quest for a Super Bowl
By Erik Lambert
The New England Patriots maintain an iron grip on the AFC. Can the Oakland Raiders or anybody else possibly knock them off the NFL perch?
More than a few prominent analysts believe Oakland is now the best-equipped team in the entire conference for that endeavor. Given where they came from just a couple years ago, that’s amazing to even comprehend. Nonetheless, it’s a reality. GM Reggie McKenzie has steadily rebuilt the entire roster, aided by a pair of emerging superstars in Derek Carr and Khalil Macks. Since then things have really begun to take shape.
Whether that’s enough to topple Tom Brady and Bill Belichick though? ESPN asked some of the top experts their opinion on which NFL team can half a sixth Super Bowl run for the incomparable duo. Surprisingly a majority of them went with the silver and black.
"“Matt Bowen, NFL writer: The Oakland Raiders have some of the key traits necessary to challenge the Patriots: pass-rush ability; an offensive line that can control tempo; and enough offensive weapons to create explosive plays. To beat New England, you must have a physical identity on both sides of the ball. And Oakland has that under Jack Del Rio.Dan Graziano, NFL Insider: The addition of Marshawn Lynch allows the Raiders to play more physically than in 2016, which gives them options that should only help their explosive passing game. They have a game-changing pass-rusher in Khalil Mack and enough pieces on defense to give the Patriots a tough time head-to-head. I like Oakland’s chances to hold off Kansas City and Denver in a tough division, if Derek Carr can stay healthy.Aaron Schatz, editor of Football Outsiders: I’m going with the Raiders too. The Patriots travel to Pittsburgh, giving the Steelers a leg up on passing New England for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. But Tom Brady has sliced through the Pittsburgh defense so many times now that I have no faith in the Steelers beating the Patriots in the postseason without a huge defensive leap forward and a change in scheme. Oakland will probably need to beat the Patriots in a neutral-site Mexico City game if they want home field in the playoffs, but at least Raiders’ young talent will give the Patriots something different to try to beat.”"
Carr has not seen the Patriots since his rookie year in 2014. By that same token, they haven’t seen how much he’s improved. The arrival of Marshawn Lynch also adds that potential extra dimension to make the Raiders offense diverse enough to handle that elite Belichick scheming. The big questions lie with the defense. Oakland simply wasn’t very good outside of Mack.
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If they want to hang with the big boys, they need to start getting more stops. That’s a big reason their first three picks in the NFL draft were defensive players. Jack Del Rio knows it will take a complete team to beat the longtime powerhouse in Foxboro.
Houston, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta all failed that test in 2016. Oakland ranked 26th overall and 20th in points allowed last season. Not going to cut it.