Raiders-Falcons: Blood Feud or Shooting Gallery?

Well, this should be interesting.

Or, at least that was the thought before the season started.

On paper, the Oakland Raiders had picked up DeAngelo Hall, who was supposed to give them two lockdown corners for the first time since Lester Hayes and Michael Haynes had the duty years ago.

In Atlanta, the Falcons were dispirited, lacking a coach and a QB, and had multiple questions on offense.

Now, from what we've learned, Hall was a bit of hype, and he gets burned more than anything, Matt Ryan has made a lot of people forget some guy named Vick, and Michael Turner is doing a decent job running the field, unsaddled by LT's ego.

The scene will be in Oakland.

First of all, the last time they were here, the Raiders finally solved the Favre puzzle, rushing him early and often. They rewarded a rowdy, loud crowd, with a critical win, keeping them in close tandem with San Diego, only one win behind.

With San Diego out this week on bye, Oakland now can look at this as a chance to get into a tie with the Chargers. We'll get into the tiebreaker argument later.

As for Atlanta, I'm sure Matt Ryan was told by his coaches about playing in hostile territory. Oakland isn't exactly a walk on the beach; loud, passionate screaming fans await the rookie. And then comes the question: Will someone warn him about throwing toward Nmandi?

You can only hope...after all, it's been pretty boring for him.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Raiders will be looking to regroup after a horrible showing against the Ravens. You can't blame them too much, but you can still wonder what they were thinking, going for it on 4th-and-21...or again, at their own 10-yard line with five minutes to go.

Defensively, these clubs stack up against each other well. Both give up about the same number of points; the Raiders have better sack numbers and forced fumbles; Atlanta scores more points. But then, this is the same club that came apart against the Bucs' defense.

I'm thinking we'll see a career game from Hall, maybe a TD toss from Russell...give Oakland another loud evening.

My prediction: 24-10 Raiders.