Oakland Raiders vs Tennessee Titans: Only one can survive

Crushing down

Excitement about the Raiders' season was through the roof, but two weeks were enough for it to evaporate into thin air. Oakland is coming off of two awful performances. First, they lost by 30 in New York to the Jets and then got humiliated in Kansas City, which was actually their opportunity to take over the division lead. Chiefs showed who's still the boss in AFC West and although that didn't come as a surprise to most of the people, Raiders' performance in that game was very underwhelming.

We know that Chiefs passing offense is difficult to slow down and I don't think anybody expected Oakland to do that. But the offense was supposed to move the ball with their running game, control the clock and keep themselves alive for a hail mary attempt in the last quarter. That didn't happen. Derek Carr threw a couple of interceptions and was uncharacteristically inefficient that day. They fell behind early which forced them to abandon their running game and pass the ball more. Steve Spagnuolo disguised the coverages well and confused Raiders' QB, while receivers had a lot of problems with beating their matchups and getting open.

Looking for the fourth in a row

On the other side, we have a team going in the opposite direction. After a slow start and benching of Marcus Mariota, things looked very dark for the Titans. But Ryan Tannehill grabbed the opportunity with both hands and showed that he can still lead an NFL team as a starting quarterback, even though the Miami Dolphins didn't think that he can. They are on a three-game winning streak at the moment, just one win behind the Texans in AFC South and in prime position to get at least one of the wildcards into the playoffs.

They are expected to extend their winning streak today in Oakland, but their injury report doesn't look pretty. Tennessee is missing both starting corners in Malcolm Butler and Adoree Jackson. That is a position that is very difficult to play in Mike Vrabel's scheme, so they might be forced to change some things with backups playing outside. And they are also without Adam Humphries and Delanie Walker, which leaves them without a reliable option working those short routes over the middle.

Raiders vs Titans best bet

Oakland has some problems on their own, with right tackle Trent Brown out of the game. He was playing through a minor knee injury for most of the season, but this latest pectoral injury was just too much. David Sharpe will probably draw a start in his absence. Josh Jacob's shoulder injury is also very concerning. He is obviously tough enough to try and play through it, but I doubt that's in long term interest for the Raiders. His playing style is very physical and could lead to making the injury even worse.

Bottom line, these latest results obviously affected these betting lines drastically. I believe that we're seeing an overreaction, where the public wants to fade the Raiders at any cost here. But getting three points at home doesn't seem all that bad to me. I don't think the Titans have the ability to disrupt Oakland's offensive efficiency the way Kansas did it last week. Especially not with Butler and Jackson out. Raiders will go back to the fundamentals, that launched them into that strong start of the season and it should help them win this game as well.