Oakland Raiders host competitive Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9 showdown – NFL Preview
After getting through a poor 1-4 start to the season, Oakland Raiders (3-4) are now aiming to terminate their losing record as they face equally confident Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9 tie on Sunday, November 04, 2012 at O.co Coliseum, Oakland, California.
Raiders are looking forward to getting their third win in a row while Buccaneers are aiming to get their second consecutive road win.
Despite getting wins against two of the lowest-ranked teams in the league, Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars, Raiders head coach Dennis Allen believes that the team’s winning momentum will be helpful in this game. He said:
“Yeah, I feel like our guys have confidence that they can go out and compete, that we can win football games. Like I told them, this is only important if you're able to go out and win the next one."
Raiders offence has relied more heavily on the running game this season. Running back Darren McFadden is in superb form.
In Week 8 game against Kansas City Chiefs last week, McFadden put up his best performance of the season as he ran for 114 yards on 29 carries.
Meanwhile, Buccaneers running defence has been one of the best in the National Football League (NFL) this season. They have allowed opposing offences an average of just 85.1 yards per game.
Buccaneers will not have the support of their All-Pro left guard Carl Nicks, who is unavailable for this game due to injury. Centre Ted Larsen and offensive tackle Jeremy Trueblood could get some playing time in absence of Nicks. Talking about the impact
of the absence of Nicks in the defensive line, Schiano said:
"It's a tough loss, that's an understatement -- when you have a guy of Carl's stature and ability that he brings to the field each week, but nobody's going to feel sorry for us. So we're going to work some different combinations this week, figure out what's
best and put the best five out there we can put together and go run our offense."
Nicks has played a vital role in keeping Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman safe from opposing defences.
Freeman has scored nine touchdowns in previous three games and has covered 1,010 passing yards.
With quarterback in full form, the offence has averaged 34 points and covered 464 yards per game in last three ties, two of which were won by Buccaneers.
The last time these two teams faced each other was in the 2008 season in which Buccaneers got their only victory against Raiders with a 31-24 win on road.
It will be a fight between Raiders running game versus Buccaneers running defence that could ultimately decide the outcome of this game.
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