Raiders' Rush vs. Ravens' Defense
Jan. 11 -- The road to the Super Bowl will go through the trenches in Oakland, where the Raiders' fleet-footed "Committee" faces Baltimore's ferocious front seven on defense on Sunday in the AFC Championship.
The Raiders (13-4)
How they got here:Clinched AFC WestBeat Miami Dolphins 27-0 in divisional playoff
Oakland owns the NFL's No. 1 rushing attack, a group of five backs known simply as The Committee. Coach Jon Gruden barely looks old enough to drive but he's wise enough to know that having a quintet of able rushers is like having a Mercedes in the driveway and four more in the garage. When Napoleon Kaufman injured his knee, Gruden had four other backs to call on and never sacrificed depth in the backfield. Such depth also has kept defenses off balance because each rusher has a different style — Kaufman tends to be more speedy and fluid while Tyrone Wheatley powers forward, for example.
Still, The Committee needs to have one heck of a meeting on Sunday to beat a Ravens defense that hasn't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 35 games. Baltimore middle linebacker and Defensive Player of the Year Ray Lewis picks up the play so fast and zeroes in on runners before they can see much daylight beyond the line of scrimmage. Oakland needs to be fairly merciless in its ground game to try and chip away at the Ravens with multiple running backs. Ideally for Oakland, the Raider rushers will be fresher come the fourth quarter than a tired Ravens defensive line.
The Raiders run by committee but pass essentially to one guy: Tim Brown. For Oakland to avoid a consistent stream of three-downs-and-we're-out, it will need to vary its passing game by incorporating its tight ends more and dumping the ball off to Andre Rison and James Jett occasionally to take the pressure off Brown.
A scrambling Rich Gannon is key to beating blitz-friendly Baltimore. The 13-year veteran quarterback won't have much time to unload the ball and will need to move a bit more in the pocket to elude Rob Burnett and Michael McCrary and to buy an extra second or two for other plays to open up. That puts extra pressure on the Raiders' offensive line, which allowed three sacks against a tough Miami defense last weekend.
