Oakland Raiders' Young Core Still Not Ready to Topple Top Competition

The Oakland Raiders have teetered at or around the .500 mark for the entire season with rave reviews on their growth and potential to contend for a playoff spot sweeping the NFL landscape in recent weeks.

Starting Monday morning, Raider Nation must brace itself for the wave of skeptics following an embarrassing home loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Let’s prepare for what the critics may dig up on this year’s team.

San Jose Mercury News writer Tim Kawakami addressed the strength of Oakland’s schedule:

The Raiders have only beat one winning team, the New York Jets. They’re accumulating victories against non-playoff contenders, which depreciates the quality of wins. Although, it’s safe to say the Raiders are no longer at the bottom of the barrel.

Second, look at the teams that beat the Raiders—three division leaders (Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Vikings) and a wild-card team (Pittsburgh Steelers). Oakland’s only loss to a sub-.500 club (Chicago Bears) came on the road on the back end of consecutive games on the East Coast. 

In a postgame press conference, head coach Jack Del Rio told local reporters this team will take its lumps: 

As Oakland flirted with an above .500 record, hopes for a wild-card spot reached an all-time high. However, let’s not forget there’s more growing and more lumps to take before standing toe-to-toe with division leaders. This doesn’t mean Oakland cannot make a playoff push, but the road will remain rocky.

Commitment to Excellence

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Despite the Vikings' paltry passing offense, any resistance from the Raiders secondary deserves some recognition.

Oakland's pass defense held Teddy Bridgewater to 140 passing yards, and none of his receivers caught more than two passes. 

Yes, it’s a small victory, but it’s the type of confidence a secondary needs after carrying the tag as the worst pass defense in the league, allowing 314.6 passing yards per game heading into Week 10. 

It’s also worth mentioning a pass rush that recorded four sacks to go hand-in-hand with a solid performance from the secondary.

Going forward, the Raiders must find ways to corral mobile quarterbacks capable of extending drives with their feet and short passes.

Silver Lining

CSNBayArea.com reporter Scott Bair shared an observation that should make Raiders fans smile a little bit. 

Backup center Tony Bergstrom didn’t fail miserably in his second career start, but the ground attack suffered with Vikings defensive tackle Linval Joseph eating up space in the middle. 

For the fourth time this season, starting running back Latavius Murray failed to reach 50 rushing yards—the Raiders lost all four games.

There’s so much talk about the Raiders' passing offense, but the ground attack keeps opposing coverages honest in design.

On Sunday, quarterback Derek Carr’s struggles in the vertical attack resulted from the defense not respecting production out of the backfield.

The Vikings didn’t need an extra safety in the box or a linebacker closer to the line of scrimmage with Murray’s subpar performance or fullback Jamize Olawale running between the tackles.

Minnesota’s sixth-ranked defense sat on its heels and dared the Raiders to beat it through the air with enough coverage to keep yards per catch and deep shots to a minimum.

Bair’s observation on Hudson seems promising considering the lack of protection on his sprained ankle. Hopefully, he returns in Week 11 along with the Raiders' ground attack.

Black Cloud

Ken Norton Jr.’s run defense continues to lose its luster, giving up 458 rushing yards in two games. Once upon a time, Oakland’s interior defense ranked second in the league and set the tone for physical play.

The Raiders knew running back Adrian Peterson would lead the Vikings offense but failed to keep him bottled up in the backfield.

Peterson’s 80-yard touchdown run put the finishing touch on a stellar performance that wore out the Raiders defense.

A leaky run defense presents a huge problem with the secondary on the mend. Oakland cannot afford to allow chunks of yardage on the ground and through the air. If so, those playoff hopes will soon evaporate.

As previously mentioned, Norton usually comes out with a sound game plan but fails to counter the opposition’s adjustments. It’s the likely explanation for one exceptionally good half followed by an awful second half for any portion of the defense. Throughout the week of practice, plan B holds as much importance as plan A. 

Follow Maurice Moton on Twitter for news, updates and intriguing discussion about the Oakland Raiders.

All statistics are provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com, Pro Football Focus and Team Rankings unless otherwise noted.