It’s quite rare to see a 12-4 team as underdogs to a 9-7 in a NFL playoff game, but that’s life with the Oakland Raiders sans Derek Carr. You saw Carr’s NFL MVP bonafides last week as you saw what Oakland degenerated into without him. Yes, the Houston Texans are favored over the Raiders, and by how much depends on who you do “for novelty purposes only” with.
The house always wins, but some houses are giving the Oakland Raiders +2.5 points while others are all the way up to a touchdown.
Make no mistake about it- this game could get ugly, not just for Oaktown, but for the network broadcasting it as well. We covered the potential for shitshows, from both an on field stand point and from a sports business perspective at this link.
Saturday, January 7 Oakland Raiders (12-4) vs. Houston Texans (9-7)
ESPN and simulcast on ABC Kickoff is 4:35 p.m. ET.
Former Head Coach and current Monday Night Football Analyst Jon Gruden on the Oakland Raiders:
“As an alum of the Oakland Raiders, it’s good to see them back in the postseason. They have done a nice job adding quality free agents, not only players, but men with a pedigree, winners – two world champions on the defense with Bruce Irvin and Malcolm Smith coming over from Seattle.”
“Smith is their leading tackler and Irvin is as much of a playmaker as Khalil Mack on the tapes that I see.”
“Throw in Reggie Nelson, a perennial playoff player, in the middle of this defense.”
“They have also added some big-time players to the offensive line – (Kelechi) Osemele and (Rodney) Hudson to name a couple. They have had a couple of nice drafts, they’ve added quality free agents and they took the world by storm. It’s unfortunate (Derek) Carr got hurt, but they’re going to have to rally around young Connor Cook it appears.”
Is Connor Cook the savior? We covered him in detail over at this link. Gruden on Raiders quarterback Connor Cook, who was part of Gruden’s QB Camp in 2016:
“I liked Cook coming out of Michigan State. I think he’s a gunslinger. I don’t think he threw a bunch of bubble screens in college like you see on Saturdays. He was aggressive. He handled a lot of volume coming out of the huddle at the line of scrimmage. It was an extensive offense. He was a finisher too.”
“He went back to East Lansing, finished his career. I give him a lot of credit for that, and he won. That’s why I really liked him. His arm talent is very good.”
“He just has some Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde in his play that he needs to clean up. He’s inconsistent and he showed that a little last week against Denver. He has to take better care of the ball and be a top-notch decision-maker, and he’s got to prove that he can do that for 60 minutes.”
Prediction: Houston 21, Oakland Raiders 17
Sorry, we like Cook a lot #GoGreen #V4MSU but we just don’t see him getting it done. I think he’ll do enough to keep it close though most of the way.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.