Jacksonville Jaguars at Oakland Raiders

The Raiders are the featured team in this week’s AFC West preview—an accomplishment only made possible by the fact that the other three teams in the division are enjoying their respective bye weeks.  So it is that the match up in MC Hammer’s hometown between Oakland and Jacksonville takes center stage. 

The almost embarrassing fact surrounding this game is that, barring a tie, one team will have to win, or at least finish with more points on the scoreboard than the other.  Blaine Gabbert and Carson Palmer have played a similarly horrific brand of quarterback thus far this season, the only discernible difference being that Gabbert is young and Palmer is old. 

In fairness to the elder of the two, Palmer’s numbers are actually middle-of-the-pack.  However, the Raider offense ranks 29th in the league in points per game, so clearly the man at the helm is having his difficulties.  While Oakland is struggling to generate much scoring offense, they look like the 1999 St. Louis Rams compared to the Jags, who enter this weekend as the lowest scoring team in football, at just 13 points per game.  Gabbert ranks 29th in passer rating and is dead last in passing yards per game.

Lest we focus solely on the negative, each team does feature a very capable running back.  Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew is averaging 81.6 yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry, while Darren McFadden has demonstrated his extraordinary game breaking ability a handful of times.  Unfortunately, for McFadden, the Raiders have either trailed by substantial margins (rendering the running game worthless) or failed to take full advantage of his skills with less-than-spectacular play calling. 

Both defenses rank in the lower third of the league, while also struggling to create turnovers.  In a game between two 1-4 teams, give the advantage to Oakland who is playing on their home turf.