By:  Warner4Prez

Oakland won’t know what hit them. When the Rams come to town, they enter as a different team than most of the NFL is familiar with. Just ask the Arizona Cardinals, it almost cost them a victory last week.

Sam Bradford and the spiral-horned gang had a pretty good outing last week. The stats show three interceptions, but two of those were fourth down desperation passes on what was believed to be the final play. Just about every NFL QB throws those interceptions, certainly rookie QBs do. But it was a learning experience last week.  With their backs against the wall, the offense came out and executed.  They moved the chains when the chips were down, and with five ticks in the game, they went down swinging. The Oakland Raiders are a team that you can classify with those Cardinals, a team fighting for relevance.

Mark Clayton led the Rams receivers with 10 catches, a solid outing against Dominique Rogers-Cromartie who is a CB on the rise in the NFL.  All CBs are rising to the occasion of Nnamdi Asomugha, THE shut-down corner in the league.   Asomugha will make life difficult for Bradford and his new favorite target Clayton, and it will likely shift focus to guys like Danny Amendola and Laurent Robinson both of whom had promising outings against the Cardinals last week.  The most promising part about this game is looking at the Raiders depth chart, nearly every CB on their roster is nursing some sort of injury; minor or otherwise.

The best battles this weekend though will be fought in the trenches. The offensive line held up well against the Cardinals 3-4 defense, and is looking to carry that success over to a Raiders defense that is under-valued.  Richard Seymour is a great veteran that plays at both DT and DE he will be a nightmare for guys all over the line.  Tommy Kelly is also a solid proven vet.  Lamarr Houston is a bit of a project player drafted as a DT out of Texas he’s been shifted to LDE and could be a player the offense will pick on.   Matt Shaughnessy is a bit of an unknown on the RDE spot, but does often have flashes of great play so his match-up against Roger Saffold will be one to watch.

Steven Jackson didn’t light up the highlight reels last week, but he didn’t really have to.   His 81 yards on 22 carries helped to put the Rams offense in some good places on the field. I expect that Shurmur won’t have Bradford throwing 55 times this week, especially after Chris Johnson had a field day against this same defense last week.   Jackson is an expert at finding the right holes to run through, and if he gets a bit of daylight he can take full advantage of a banged up Raiders secondary and a young LB corps.  It will also be vital to get him some receptions on screen passes.   He was able to pull in four receptions last week and could do some damage if he gets those looks again this weekend.

The TE situation has been muddied up since last week.  Going into the regular season it was viewed by many as a possible strength, but with the injury to Mike Hoomanawanui and an ugly game by Billy Bajema it may have put a ceiling at a spot where the sky was the limit.  It’s a shame because the middle of the Raiders defense could be a soft spot.  Daniel Fells will have to redeem himself as a go to guy in this spot.  Rolando McClain is a player with great potential, but he’s looking to put it together in his first NFL season.  Kamerion Wimbley was traded from the Browns where he played as 3-4 OLB and now is at a more traditional 4-3 spot.  Trevor Scott plays the ROLB spot and he’s another project player who figures to be more of a DE than LB. If the   Rams are able to penetrate the middle of that Raiders defense, they could strike gold.

Chris Long is going to make a statement this week.  He was within arms length of Derek Anderson all day last week.  Tomorrow he goes up against Langston Walker, a long time veteran with a checkered past as a blocker.  Long is a player who’s motor will not stop and by the third quarter this could turn into a lop-sided battle.  Mario Henderson is a sound player at LT, not an elite blocker, but certainly no slouch.   The middle of the line will prove to be an important battle.  Robert Gallery is doubtful to play which bodes will for Fred Robbins and Co. Darren McFadden hasn’t exploded like the Raiders hope, but he’s still a dangerous man with the ball in his hands and has some explosive capability.  Zach Miller is the man to watch downfield for the Raiders.  He sees a lot of targets and is a hard man to take down.  Between Miller, Heyward-Bey and Jacoby Ford, the Rams LB corps could be in for a long day.  To keep the running lanes clogged up the middle will be a big asset to this defense and allow the LB corps to man the outside zones.  Jason Campbell isn’t the greatest QB in the world, but if you give him time to throw he can be effective.   Thankfully I don’t think the Rams defense will do him any favors and keep him on the run.

Everyone knows the Raiders WRs are sketchy at best.  Louis Murphy has set himself up as the go to guy with Darrius Heyward-Bey still trying to adjust to the NFL.   The Raiders wide outs are some of the fastest in the NFL, but what they offer in speed they lack in sure-handedness.  Ron Bartell showed last week that he is capable of being a top-flight corner, and if he carries that over to this weeks battle vs. Murphy, it could force Campbell to throw to other guys who aren’t as ready to handle the rock.  Brad Fletcher doesn’t quite have the speed that Heyward-Bey offers, but does have the physical tools to cover him and should be able to make plays while Heyward-Bey adjusts for the ball.

There are a couple of players you should be keeping an eye on this week.   First off watch Danny Amendola out wide. Whether Asomugha is healthy or not, he’ll be giving Clayton a hard time so whomever is opposite those two should have easier going and Amendola can certainly make plays in the open field.  On defense watch Bartell on Murphy.  He had a great game against Larry Fitzgerald and should capitalize on that against some lesser talent.  If these guys hold up their end of the bargain it’ll be a great sign.

These two teams are both going to be fighting to keep from going 0-2. I believe the Rams will be fighting just a bit harder to correct what happened last week against the Cardinals.  This team will have to take advantage of all the opportunities given to them (injuries on the Oakland defense included).  If they can do that and avoid major slip-ups on defense, I can see them winning this game handily. Either way, it’s a victory for the team in blue, white and gold.

A tentative prediction:  24-13.