Oakland Raiders
vs.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Week 7
NFL Pick
10/23/16
Week 7 holds a Game between Oakland and Jacksonville that holds a lot of worth for the winner. The Raiders are tied for the lead with Denver in the AFC West at 4-2. The Jaguars are in third in the AFC South, but a win would keep them highly competitive in a poor division as the NFL season nears its midway point.
Derek Carr seems to get better and better with more experieNCe. This year he has been very impressive, throwing for 1,608 yards, 12 touchdowns and only three interceptions while completing 66.5% of his passes in six Games. It seems, that with virtually no run Game, this Raiders team will go as far as Carr takes them. How about that for pressure? So far, he’s living up to it.
Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree are proving to be a dynamic duo. Combined they are nearly averaging 160 receiving yards per Game. Cooper ranks 4th in the league in receiving yards entering Week 7. Jacksonville will counter with a defense that ranks 8th in both total yards (321.4) and passing yards (218.4) allowed per Game.
The Jacksonville Jaguars, too, almost exclusively rely upon their quarterback for any production their offense creates. Blake Bortles is an up-and-coming quarterback much like Carr, but Bortles has not shown the steady sure improvement that Carr has in his early career. Bortles has thrown for over 260 yards per Game so far, but he has thrown for only eight touchdowns and seven interceptions, already.
Whether or not Bortles protects the ball could well define this Game. He has had only one interception-free Game so far this season. That came three weeks ago against Indianapolis. The Jags won that Game. In the last two Games, in fact, Bortles has thrown for three touchdowns versus just one interception. Now he’ll go up against the NFL’s worst defense. The Raiders are allowing 444.8 yards per Game. They also own the league’s worst pass defense, allowing 312.7 passing yards per Game.
Watch out for the receiving corps of Allen Hurns, Allen Robinson, Marqise Lee and Julius Thomas. None of them are a dominant go-to player yet in the early stages of their careers, but they are all dangerous. Each one of them has had at least one Game this season in which he has gone for over 70 yards receiving. There are a number of guys that can beat you, and the Raiders do not have the defense to match up.
Both of these teams have been iNConsistent scoring the ball. They each have the potential to go off, but haven’t done it with a regular basis.
Bettorsworld Pick – Without a strong opinion on this Game one way or another, we’re going to go against the public. This is one of the plays on Our against the public picks page which stands at 13-4 on the year. Jags -1