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Giants - Raiders
Game 9 preview
Sunday Nov 7, 1:00 PM - Raiders at Giants

Giants (2-6) Raiders (5-2)
On Sunday the Las Vegas Raiders allowed the visiting Philadelphia Eagles an opening game touchdown. The Raiders then turned stingy and didn't allow the Eagles to score again until the fourth quarter, once they had a 23 point lead. The final score was 33-22 in favor of the Raiders.
The Monday night game featured the Giants playing in Kansas City with the Chiefs. The game wasn't settled until late in the fourth quarter, when Kansas City pulled ahead with a field goal. The Giants weren't able to match that on the following drive, and they took a 20-17 loss.

Las Vegas Raiders
In 2018 the Raiders gave Jon Gruden the richest coaching contract in coaching history to leave the "Monday Night Football" booth, and to once again coach the Raiders. It was a 10 year contract, but things came to an end last month. Gruden was in his fourth contract year, and eight overall for the Raiders, when he resigned the position after some of his former disparaging emails became known.
Rich Bisaccia, who is the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, took over as the Raiders interim head coach. In the two games Bisaccia's been in charge, the Raiders have beaten the Denver Broncos by 10 points, and the Philadelphia Eagles by 11. This week the team had another major distraction when wide receiver Henry Ruggs was involved in a deadly car crash. Ruggs is facing felony charges, and was cut from the team.

Raiders Offense
This season the Raiders overhauled their offensive line, replacing their center, right tackle and right guard. That's one of the reasons the rushing game isn't there this year. They were an above average team the last two years running, and are near the bottom now. Josh Jacobs has led the team, rushing for 1000+ yards the past two years, and has been dealing with injuries. Jacobs has played in five of seven games, and still currently leads the Raiders in rushing with 204 yards, and at 3.4 per carry, it's the lowest of his career. Jacobs leads the team with 5 touchdowns, and though he suffered a chest injury and did not play in the second half in the Raiders last game before the bye, will start against the Giants on Sunday.
The Raiders are second in the league with their average 308 passing yards a game, and Derek Carr will certainly miss what Henry Ruggs could do on the field. The speedy deep threat receiver had 24 receptions for 469 yards and 2 touchdowns, and was averaging 19.5 yards per catch, second in the NFL. The offensive line is giving up more sacks on average than in past years, and Carr's touchdown to interception ratio (12-5) is suffering. Carr uses his skills, and is one of the top five quarterbacks who have played in all their games, having receivers averaging 8.5 or more yards a catch. Bryan Edwards and Zay Jones have combined for the same number of receptions as Ruggs - 24, and they are averaging 19.2 yards a catch.

Raiders Defense
They are a very good defense overall, better at defending against the pass than the run. Defensive end Maxx Crosby leads the team with 5 sacks, and Yannick Ngakoue is next with 4. Ngakoue and Crosby have both been named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week in games played this year. Linebacker Denzel Perryman ranks second in the NFL in tackles, and leads the AFC with 81 total tackles. The defense ranks 7th overall in allowing 223 average passing yards per game, and has improved over last year in a very important area.
They were near the bottom giving up 29.9 points a game, and now that number is 23.7. Their run defense is the soft spot, where they sit at 28th, allowing 131 yards a game. Unfortunately for the Giants, that's not in their favor with their top running back sidelined. Also, even though Devontae Booker has been doing a decent job, he played for the Raiders all last year, so the coaching staff will be more than familiar with his tendencies.

Giants Offense
The Giants held a late fourth quarter lead against the Chiefs Monday night, and let it slip. We've seen teams do that before, and then when there's almost no time left with the game on the line, come back and win. Daniel Jones and his offense were in that same situation, and it didn't happen. It's hard to count on your offense doing things like that when they are down a number of playmakers. Daniel Jones didn't have Saquon Barkley and Kenny Golladay available, and even Kadarius Toney was a game time decision, as he's been dealing with an ankle problem. Sterling Shepard was playing coming off a strained hamstring.
On that note, the offensive line is still struggling with
Andrew Thomas on injured reserve. Wide receiver Dante Pettis was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury he suffered in Kansas City. Shepard is out as well as Barkley, who will miss his fourth consecutive game. Golladay, who missed the last three games with a knee injury, is listed as questionable, and Toney should be available. Golladay had his best game for the Giants in the win over the New Orleans Saints, with six catches for 116 yards, for a 19.3 yard average. He was injured in the next game with the Dallas Cowboys.
On Monday, the offense showed some improvement in the red zone. They managed to get there only three times, but scored touchdowns on two of them, and settled for a field goal on the other. They just have to get there, and who knows. Tight ends Evan Engram and Kyle Rudolph each caught their first touchdown of the season, and running back Devontae Booker had his best game. Booker carried the ball 15 times averaging 4 yards a carry.

Giants Defense
On Monday they held their own against the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, who seemed stymied at times with their downfield defense. Right at the start of that game Mahomes had to work all the way downfield for 13 plays, until Julian Love intercepted him in the endzone. Unfortunately the defense was back on the field on their own 13-yard line two plays later, after the Chiefs intercepted Daniel Jones throwing his first pass of the game. The Chiefs took full advantage of this opportunity, and scored a touchdown for a seven point lead.
The defense wasn't blameless though in this three point loss. Oshane Ximines fell for Mahomes hard count, and jumped offside. That negated an interception by Darnay Holmes, and the Chiefs continued the drive that gave them the go ahead field goal. That was a reminder of the Giants losing an earlier game with Washington, when
Dexter Lawrence jumped offside on the final snap, allowing a do-over on a missed field goal, and a Giants win turned into a loss.
Bottom line, this Giants team can not afford to make mistakes. The defense must play as well as they did Monday, minus the mistakes, to win against the Raiders on Sunday. They'll be up against a shaky offensive line that can't run the ball. Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence have to use that to their their advantage, as well as the fact that Derek Carr will be playing without his top receiver for the first time. The one thing they can't ignore is that tight end Darren Waller, who missed the last game will be back. Carr has targeted Waller more than any other receiver this year.

Overall
They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. The team was able to quickly move past the Jon Gruden issue, and will try to shake off the release of wide receiver Henry Ruggs because of his circumstances as well. The Raiders have had just one playoff appearance since 2002, and now are coming off their bye week at 5-2, while holding first place in the AFC West.
The Giants had strong showings in games with Washington, the Falcons, and last week with the Chiefs, and they lost those three games by a total of seven points. The Giants mistakes have cost them games, and their 2-6 record has them last in the NFC East. They had their own disruptions this week with a number of false positive COVID-19 tests. With all that, the team that can focus the most on just playing this game, will win.

NFC East Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Raiders (5-2) at Giants (2-6)
Sunday at 1:00pm Broncos (4-4) at Cowboys (6-1)
Sunday at 4:05pm Chargers (4-3) at Eagles (3-5)
The Cowboys are the only NFC East team favored to win in these games.
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Notes.

Giants are ranked 31st in the league in red zone offense, scoring touchdowns on 11 of 23 trips.

Giants Devontae Booker played in all 16 games with the Raiders last year.

Giants have won three of the last four against the Raiders.

Giants will enter their bye week after this game.
Next Games
Nov 22 Giants at Tampa Bay
Nov 28 Philadelphia at Giants

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