5 bold predictions for Raiders against Cowboys
By John Buhler
The Las Vegas Raiders have come crashing back to earth after suffering three straight losses.
Even though the Las Vegas Raiders have cratered back to .500 after three straight losses, the Silver and Black have to pick up the pieces fast because they are playing the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.
At one point in the year, the Raiders were 5-2 and looking very much like a playoff team. However, they have struggled of late with Rich Bisaccia serving as the interim head coach. Though they had a shot to stop the bleeding when the Cincinnati Bengals came to town, Joe Burrow and company had no issues carving up a bewildered Raiders defense. Las Vegas has to win on Thursday or else.
Here are five predictions on the Raiders’ side of things for when they take on the Cowboys.
Las Vegas Raiders: 5 bold predictions vs. Dallas Cowboys in Week 12
5. Darren Waller will break century mark in receiving for second straight week
If the Raiders want to pull off the big road upset of the Cowboys, they are going to need to steal a page out of Andy Reid’s playbook for what worked well on the Dallas defense last week. Though the Chiefs did not march up and down the field on Dan Quinn’s defense, that is what it will take for the Silver and Black to win. In short, they need tight end Darren Waller to go Travis Kelce on them.
Despite the Raiders’ struggles vs. the Bengals defense last week, Waller had a monster day in the receiving game for Las Vegas. He led the team with seven receptions for 116 yards. Though it is exceedingly rare for a tight end to break the century mark, Waller is the type of talent to pull it off. Given the way the Raiders have to play to win this one, he will break the century mark once again.
For this to happen, Waller will need around the same number of receptions. So if he is in the six-to-eight range, this could conceivably happen. Though his yardage is not indicative of if the Raiders will win the game or not, it cannot hurt if he is around or approaches 100 receiving yards through the air. Simply put, there is no way the Raiders win in Dallas without Waller going off.
Look for Waller to have around seven catches for 105 yards and a touchdown for the Raiders.