Guideline Thoughts: Week 4 – NE @ OAK

Okay, so the Patriots did just come off of a shootout loss in Buffalo, and the Raiders did just run the Jets straight off the field and flying back east with their heads still spinning. So bad in fact, that the game brought on second-guessing comments from the likes of Joe Namath, who questioned the Jets’ preparation.

Personally, I don’t believe that was the reason for the lopsided score in Oakland last week. The Raiders offense simply features too many explosively fast options these days. Darren McFadden has been unstoppable in his quest to prove fellow Fantasy Guideline writer Tom Schriner right about being the best fantasy player this year. Now with the emergence of weapons like Danarius Moore and Jacoby Ford, the Raiders are looking more and more like a multi-threat offense.

One thing that does not work in the Raiders favor these days is their secondary. Since the absence of Nnamdi Asomugha, the Raiders are the 28th ranked pass-defense in 2011 thus far. This does not bode well for them in a game facing ” Tom Terrific” and the relentless Patriot offense.

As mentioned before, the Patriots lost last week. But that was mostly due the fact that their 30th ranked pass-defense ran up against a red-hot Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tom Brady managed to throw four picks in the same game. The Patriots pass-defense is bad, yes there is little doubt about that. But will Brady throw four, or even three interceptions again when he is facing this Nnamdi-less defense? I have serious doubts about that being a likely outcome.

Deion Branch did not get looks from Brady last week in Buffalo, but I fully expect that to change this week in Oakland. Welker should have another strong game, and no team in football has a better pair of tight-ends than the Pats. Provided we don’t see more end-zone drops from Ochocinco this week, I don’t see any reason to believe that the Patriots cannot keep the pace going, even when the line of scrimmage is in one of the NFL’s only two infields. – Will be the last one remaining next year when MLB’s Marlins finally get their own place.

Quentin Groves and the Raider linebackers have played solidly so far this year, so I’m not expecting anything special from “the law firm”- (BJGE) or Woodhead. So that’s really the only the only primary difference I see between these two teams going in to week four; Raiders should have much more success on the ground, and Brady should likely be lighting up the Oakland sky more than Jason Campbell. But if Jason Campbell is to prove anything to Oakland fans this year about him being the man deserving to work with these ‘speedy gon-fadden’ -type weapons, then this is the game in which to do it.

This should be one of the most exciting games of the week, and I would be shocked if it wasn’t extremely high-scoring. Last time I checked, Vegas had the points on this game set at 55. Wouldn’t it be surprising to see this game not go well over that total? I’ve got the Patriots stealing a wild west shootout this week by a score of 41-31.

As always, thank you so much to our readers out there. Be sure to check back for the entire week’s predictions from myself and other writers here at Fantasy Guideline. Another week of exciting football is on the horizon! – Drink responsibly.