Tennessee Titans, Oakland Raiders: NFL Week 1 Preview and Prediction

The Oakland Raiders come to Nashville to take on the Tennessee Titans for Jason Campbell's first game leading the Black and Silver. The Raiders and their fans have high expectations for the new team leader, but his first test won't be the easiest he will have this year.

He will be going into the game without his number one receiver and will need to rely on Louis Murphy and Darius Heyward-Bey to carry the wide receiver load. Campbell does have Zach Miller the tight end who has shown he can catch passes and score touchdowns in the past.

The Tennessee Titans will be starting with the leading rusher from last year, Chris Johnson. Vince Young will take the helm from the beginning of this season in hopes of continuing his winning ways after an 8-2 record last year as a starter.

The game will be in a packed house at LP field. This should give the Titans some early momentum that will help them get to a quick start. Chris Johnson shouldn't have too much trouble gaining yards seeing as how no one on the field will be able to catch him in open space.

The Raiders however do have hopes of a better passing game this year which should help open holes Sunday for Darren McFadden and the rest of the Oakland running game. Plus the Raiders pass defense, which ranked seventh in the league last year, should be able to keep the Titans receivers in check most of the day, but Nate Washington and Justin Gage are always a threat for the deep ball, even though Nate had some deep drops last year.

The Oakland Raiders hopes may not reach the expectations of their passing game during this game seeing as how Cortland Finnegan could be in arguments with Darrelle Revis as one of the best corners in the game. Cortland is starting his new role this year as being the Corner that lines up across from the number one receiver on every play and doesn't play just one side of the field. This could however easily help the Raiders if they get him confused on which side he is playing from.

I feel the Raiders will come out this year and break their streak of seven straight 11+ loss seasons (NFL Record) and win the division by a game or two over the Chargers. However, with that said I do not think they get started off on the right foot Sunday as it will take a couple weeks to get everything flowing the way it should be.

I believe the Titans will have everything going and really surprise people with a much improved defense from last year even with the losses of Keith Bulluck and Kyle Vanden Bosch. I see the Titans winning this game 24 - 14.