Steelers' Chances to Defeat Raiders Abound, but Recent History Cannot Be Ignored

On Sunday, the 4-4 Pittsburgh Steelers play host to the 4-3 Oakland Raiders. The Raiders are a team that has given the Steelers much trouble in recent meetings. And this Raiders team is different from those past versions—better, on both offense and defense. So the Steelers would be wise to not overlook Oakland as they have in the past.

Since 2005, the Raiders and Steelers have met five times during the regular season, with the Steelers coming away with just one win: a 35-3 victory in 2010—the year the Steelers last reached the Super Bowl and a year in which the Raiders finished with a respectable 8-8 record.

The other four losses came against Raiders teams with two wins (2006), five wins (2009), four wins (2012) and four wins (2013). The Raiders have become the team to turn to when criticizing the Steelers for playing down to lesser opponents.

At least, in Sunday's meeting, the Raiders are no "lesser" foe. In fact, the two teams are well matched. While Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is no Ben Roethlisberger in terms of experience, he's seemed to have turned a corner in his second season in the NFL, to the point that the Raiders have the 10th-best passing offense in the league, averaging 265.6 yards per game.

And that passing offense isn't just netting the Raiders yards, it's also leading to points—25.4 per game on average. Of their 20 touchdowns this year, 17 have been passes, the third most in the league. In contrast, the Steelers are averaging only 21 points per game and have 10 passing touchdowns, while averaging 223.4 passing yards per game.

Of course, those low passing numbers and touchdowns are very related to Roethlisberger's four-game injury-related absence. But it must be noted that Roethlisberger had a rusty, mistake-prone return in the team's Week 8 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, in which Pittsburgh's offense scored 10 points.

While it's easy to assume Roethlisberger can shake off that rust quickly and not repeat last week's performance, he will have to be on top of his game in order to match what the Raiders do on offense. And, fortunately for him, the Raiders defense may be able to comply with this strategy.

	Pass YPG	Rank	Rush YPG	Rank	PPG	Rank
Steelers Offense	223.4	21st	125.8	9th	21.0	T-22nd
Raiders Offense	265.6	10th	99.7	20th	25.4	8th
Steelers Defense	269.5	26th	97.0	8th	18.4	5th
Raiders Defense	302.1	31st	82.9	2nd	24.7	T-18th

Oakland's pass defense ranks 31st in yards per game allowed, at 302.1. And in the three games in which Roethlisberger has started and finished, the Steelers have averaged 313 passing yards per game. Oakland is also allowing an average of 24.7 points per game to be scored against it this year, which means there is more than a small opening for Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh's passing offense to match wits with the Raiders.

Or will they? Because Pittsburgh's defense has steadily improved this year and is getting far better against the pass, mainly due to strong showings by the front-seven and its pass rush.

The Steelers' defense has 22 sacks already this year (compared to 33 in all of 2014), led by linebacker Bud Dupree with four and defensive ends Stephon Tuitt with 3.5 and Cameron Heyward with three. And Tuitt, who has missed time with an ankle injury, is expected back in Pittsburgh's starting lineup this week. 

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Defensive coordinators love to face inexperienced quarterbacks like Carr, who they can more easily confuse with disguised coverages and camouflaged blitzes. But Carr has been sacked only eight times this year in 229 pass attempts.

This isn't the Raiders pass protection the Steelers are accustomed to seeing. The battle in the trenches will be a tough one for the Steelers, but if they can pass the test, it could be the most difficult day Carr has seen all season.

And, when the Steelers aren't successful at bringing pressure, the defense is still giving up 269.5 passing yards per game. That could mean big things for Carr and the potential for an aerial-based shootout to unfold.

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Both teams are stingy with rushing yards, with Oakland giving up 82.9 yards per game on the ground, and the Steelers, 97. And Pittsburgh will be without back Le'Veon Bell on Sunday. While DeAngelo Williams has proven effective already this year, to the tune of 63 rushes for 310 yards and three scores, the Raiders' stout run defense could prove challenging for him this week. 

All told, these are teams that have more similarities than differences, which means a very new kind of meeting between the Raiders and Steelers than in years past. The Steelers now have to play up to a very real challenge rather than stooping down to match a muddled, confused and unfocused Raiders team.

The Raiders, therefore, could bring out the best in the Steelers rather than enhancing the team's worst qualities. And if that's the case, the Steelers should win. But don't underestimate the 2015 Raiders. Anytime the Steelers have, it's led to a loss.