NFL: How the Oakland Raiders Can Beat the New England Patriots

As a Raiders fan, it pains me to say this, but the silver and black will have a hard time beating the New England Patriots on Sunday.

Tom Brady will probably light up the defense like a Christmas tree. Fortunately, this is a Raider team with a different attitude than years past.

Coach Hue Jackson has said he wants to build a bully and the Raiders sure knocked the hell out of Mark Sanchez last week en route to a 34-24 win over the Jets.

The Raiders have a puncher’s chance of defeating the Patriots Sunday, but it’s going to take smart game planning to accomplish. Here are the keys to the Raiders making sure the Pats go tuck themselves this weekend.

Pressure, Pressure, Pressure

 Did I mention the Raiders should pressure Tom Brady? Because they should definitely pressure Brady.

I don’t think the necessity of this can be emphasized enough. Sure, it’s easy to say that pressuring the quarterback should be a given, but it happens to be one of the Raiders’ strengths and it certainly can rattle Brady.

Think back to Brady’s biggest defeats in the last few years: Super Bowl XLII against the Giants and last year’s Divisional playoff game against the New York Jets.

Against the Giants in the Super Bowl, Brady was harassed all day long by the kind of fearsome defensive line he wasn’t used to.

Osi Umenyiora, Micheal Strahan and Justin Tuck would all be a handful individually, but put them together on one defensive front and it’s gonna’ be a very long day for the quarterback.

The result? The mighty Patriots offense was held to 14 points and the Giants won.

The Jets game was a totally different story. Brady sees the Jets twice a year, so he has come to expect Rex Ryan sending blitz after blitz against him, adjusting accordingly.

Imagine pretty boy Brady’s surprise when Ryan pulled a Jedi mind trick and decided to basically never blitz in the Divisional playoff game.

He confused the hell out of Brady, who was so flustered he still ended up getting sacked five times in a Jets win (which gave us the unexpected joy of hearing Bart Scott bark “Can’t wait!” to a bemused Sal Paolantonio).

As a side note, that was a brilliant move by Ryan to completely reverse philosophy, but there is no way that will ever work again. I don’t know how he’ll beat New England now.

The Raiders have a great defensive front, but they must commit to blitzing. Al Davis doesn’t like for his teams to blitz, he prefers man-to-man coverage and the four-man pass rush.

But anyone who has watched the Raiders play this year has seen how effective their blitzes have been. If they do not make Brady run for his life, they will not win. It is the primary key to the game.

Need more convincing? In the Raiders' two wins this year, they racked up nine total sacks. In their heartbreaking 38-35 loss to Buffalo: one sack. Did I mention they should pressure Brady? 

Control the Clock

 This is a given for any defensive-minded running team (which the Raiders are).It is especially important against the Patriots because they have been exposed as the reincarnation of the 2004 Indianapolis Colts: great passing game, zero defense.

Seriously, the passing offense is ranked first in the NFL, while the defense is ranked dead last; talk about your extremes. If the Raiders try to get into a shootout with the Pats, they will lose.

Jason Campbell is having a nice year, but Brady will eat his lunch, especially considering our new look NFL, where quarterbacks are putting up numbers I can’t even replicate in Madden.

The Raiders must use their most dynamic weapon, Darren McFadden, to pound the rock and control the clock (that was an accidental rhyme, honest). McFadden torched the Jets for 171 yards (nine yards per carry), so he might go for 250 against the Pats.

The longer a bad defense is on the field, the worse that defense is going to get. If Campbell can keep the Patriots honest with some big plays to rookie sensation Denarius Moore and the now healthy Jacoby Ford, the Raiders should be able to dictate the flow of the game. 

Be Creative

Another early season success has been creative play-calling.

Look at two of their biggest plays in a crucial third quarter drive against the Jets: a busted halfback pass play which McFadden turned into a huge gain and an explosive reverse where Moore scored on a 23-yard rush.

The Jets were so used to McFadden running right at them, they were caught completely flat-footed against these gadget-type plays. That third quarter drive, which gave the Raiders a 24-17 lead, was a critical turning point in the game.

The Jets suddenly weren’t sure what to expect from the Raiders, and just minutes later, Antonio Cromartie fumbled a kick return to give the Raiders the ball back in the red zone. Ballgame.

Hue Jackson has had so many coaching jobs, his personal theme should be Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.”

But all those stops have given him some great offensive knowledge, which he’s started to unleash on the NFL.

Jackson must keep the innovative play-calls going because it will put uncertainty in the minds of the Patriots’ defensive players. The last thing that 32nd ranked defense can afford is uncertainty.