This Studyball we are taking a look at the other Saturday Wild Card game and that is the Bengals against the Raiders. They played earlier this well with the score ending at 32-13 Bengals. I know when you look at the score you think Cincinnati killed them, a walk in the park. But actually, it was a really close game. 16-13 well into the 4th quarter and then the Bengals scored 17 points in the last 5.5 minutes in the game. But this was a close game all the way. Was not a lot of offense in this game. Both of these teams are big play teams. The Raiders were able to generate some big plays. I’ll show you that their one touchdown drive came with three big plays. I don’t know if they can sustain a bunch of drives, or if they’re good enough offensively to dink and dunk the ball and still win the game. They are going to need to generate those big plays. Darren Waller coming back is going to be key. On the other side, Cincy has also been a big play team and they have zero pass plays over 20 yards in this game. That is almost unheard of from this team! We have seen how explosive they can be. Joe Mixon however, was the key. Ran for over 100 yards, got a couple big touchdowns. That was the difference in this game. That is something to watch for. The big plays for both of these teams in this matchup.
In the first Wild Card game, there are some things to keep an eye on. Pressure by four by the Raiders. Can Joe Burrow and company make them pay, can they hold up long enough to get those shots down the field? I don’t know if they can hold up on the back end. Maybe Burrow beats them with a big play or two with his legs to slow down the pass rush. On the other side, the Raiders will be all about the big plays. I’m not sure they’re built to be able to run the football and have success that way all day long and they are going to have to generate some big plays and maybe some big touchdowns that way. They are pretty good when things get tight in the redzone. But to get down there, big plays are needed to match the Bengals. The Raiders had big plays and weren’t able to get the ball into the end zone. A couple things to keep an eye on when you watch this game. I have a feeling that the team that has the most big plays wins this football game. #NFLPlayoffs #Bengals #Raiders
