Division toppers Oakland Raiders take on struggling Minnesota Vikings on Week 11 Sunday – NFL Preview
Struggling Minnesota Vikings will face off against the division toppers from the American Football Conference West Oakland Raiders on Sunday in game week 11 of the National Football Conference at the Mall of America Stadium in
Minnesota.
The Raiders with a 5-4 record sit top of the AFC West and will look to remain on their perch as they continue to face injuries to star players. Raiders are missing their regular quarter back Jason Campbell through a collar bone
injury and also Running back Darren McFadden and receiver Jacoby Ford.
Oakland have converted holdout Carson Palmer who was signed from Cincinnati Bengals into their quarter back with Michael Bush and rookie Denarius Moore taking over the running back and receiver positions.
Raiders got the top spot in the AFC West division as they beat San Diego Chargers 24-17 on Thursday November 10th with Palmer having his best game of the season with a 70% pass completion rate including two touchdown
passes.
The Raiders are third overall in the league on the offensive rushing yards with a 156.2 yard average and will be up against a Vikings defence which is struggling yet is pretty solid at stopping offensive rushes limiting the opposition
to 93.9 yards sixth overall in the league.
The Vikings, on the other hand, come into the game on the back of a 45-7 drubbing at the hands of the unbeaten Green Bay Packers with a poor 2-7 record as they remain bottom of the National Football Conference North.
"Just disgusted," Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said, "I mean 45-7, are you kidding me? I haven't lost this bad since I don't know when.
"We've got some issues we've got to get cleaned up. We've got to play better. They throttled us out there."
The Vikings are giving up an average of 27.1 points per game while scoring just 19.9 points as they struggle on both ends of the field giving up 272.8 passing yards on average to the opposition.
"You've got to figure out some things and try to get some things turned around," Coach Leslie Frazier said. "But for us right now, learning from this game and getting ready for the Oakland game is going to be the most important
thing."
The Raiders are favourites for the win as their team is starting to gel and with their super stars getting closer to return from injuries they will become a formidable opponent this season. ESPN’s AccuScore predictions are pointing
to a 52% chance of a Raiders victory from 10,000 match simulations as Carlson Palmer is settling wonderfully into his new role and the Raiders offense starts ticking.
The Vikings can cause an upset as they look to bounce back from their Packers defeat and will be counting on rookie quarterback Christian Ponder to give their offense a solid base.
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