Raiders hope Smith will be able to play in Mexico City

The Oakland Raiders are listed at -5 over the Houston Texans.

When they take the field at Estadio Azteca against the Houston Texans on Monday night, Jon Gruden will watch from the ESPN broadcast booth and see a team reminiscent of the ones he led from 1998-2001.

Oakland quarterback Derek Carr has played at an elite level this season, leading the Raiders to their best record in almost 15 years.

“He’s having a heck of a year”, Texans coach Bill O’Brien said.

The same can be said for Dan Williams, who has played well in stretches but has yet to play consistently well. The Raiders defeated the Broncos 30-20.

“A lot of quarterbacks try to get rid of the ball quick”, Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said. Additionally, Lamar Miller and Jeff Allen received a combined $26 million guaranteed to support the still-green quarterback with plenty of it. They also get to see what happens when you miss out on a quarterback and then later overspend on one in free agency. Some of it is not the standard release from the line.

Derek was often at practice and around the facility while David was struggling with minimal talent.

“We’ve been trying to figure that out”. But if they’re to remain on top, the players at the top of their offseason payrolls must start paying greater dividends soon. Together they ran the ball over every part of the line of scrimmage with success.

This is the biggest challenge for Houston in this game. Carr has succeeded by throwing mostly short passes (only 18 percent of his throws are longer than 15 yards, 22nd in the NFL), which has helped him limit interceptions. The Raiders have depth at his position, though, in DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard, so the team may not feel the need to push Murray too hard right now. “We’ve got to be close in coverage”.

This year’s Oakland Raiders team looks much different than it has in recent seasons.

RAIDERS WR Seth Roberts, meanwhile, has been a potent under-the-radar redzone weapon with 4 TD catches, including game-winning 41-yard TD in OT victory over Bucs in Week 8.

Like Cooper, he’s a sizable wideout capable of outmuscling corners at 6-foor-1, 215 pounds. And he also faces a Dallas defense that is very good against the run. That said, Hopkins is always a risky receiver and always has the potential to have a breakout game so the Raiders secondary will have to keep an eye on them. “He’s only thrown three interceptions, I think he’s completing nearly 70 percent of his balls, doing a good job throwing the ball down the field, and he can run. Both guys can take the top off of the coverage”.

They have the pass defense to do it, maybe? The defense needs to have that same kind of fortune against Oakland.

However, the Raiders will know whether or not the division lead is in play well ahead of their kickoff with Houston. One of the things about their whole core of receivers is they’re about 6-0, 6-1 across the board. He’s only had 3 this season on 85 targets, an excellent display of improvement. “I love him. The city was great to myself and my family”.

However, as a member of the LGBT community, I am aware of the homophobic slurs (“puto”) chanted at Mexican soccer games and can not help but be concerned about whether it will happen on Monday Night Football.

“Yes, I’m optimistic”, Blue said.