Oakland travels to Cleveland to take on a gritty Browns team, which will present its own set of challenges. But the biggest challenge for the Raiders this Sunday will not be the team they play against—the Raiders will be fighting for a win in the Eastern time zone.
It sounds silly, but Oakland's struggles in 1 p.m. ET time slots are well-documented. The last time the Raiders won a game on the road at 1 p.m. ET was Nov. 17, 2013 against the Houston Texans.
Looking at the graphic below, you can see that the Raiders haven't been a morning team in recent years:
The keys to turning around the Raiders' road woes lie in the hands of head coach Jack Del Rio and quarterback Derek Carr.
Above all else in Oakland's Week 2 victory over Baltimore, it was apparent that the Raiders have finally found a coach who can keep his team in check after a devastating loss. After imploding against the Bengals in Week 1, the Raiders bounced back with a solid win.
Coaching is key, but players must execute at a high level if the game plan is to come to fruition on Sundays. Against the Ravens, Derek Carr did just that.
Take a look at some advanced statistics from Pro Football Focus on Carr's Week 2 performance, relayed by Bleacher Report's lead NFL writer Matt Miller on Twitter:
Those are certainly impressive numbers, but Carr must put together a similar performance against Cleveland this week to prove the Ravens game wasn't a fluke.
Raider Nation might be optimistic after looking at Carr's stats from last season's game against the Browns, which was on the road b...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
