Game Overview ::
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- QB Geno Smith has yet to practice this week with injuries to his throwing shoulder and back. It was Kenny Pickett who stepped in for the injured Smith at the tail end of their Week 14 loss.
- T Lane Johnson remained sidelined through Thursday for the Eagles. He is looking at another absence this week.
- A.J. Brown in the previous four games: 0.34 targets per route run (TPRR), 41.2% air yards share, 2.85 yards per route run (YPRR), six red-zone targets, a 41.6% first-read target rate, and 0.64 fantasy points per route run (FP/RR).
- Pickett has a career 6.2 yards-per-attempt mark, which is about the same as Spencer Rattler (6.2) and Justin Fields (6.17) this season.
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NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday that Smith is considered unlikely to start in Week 15, setting Pickett up to grab a spot start against the Eagles. The Raiders are already averaging the second-fewest yards per game this season (257.2) and Pickett has a career 6.2 yards-per-attempt mark. For comparison, Rattler has a 6.2 yards per attempt and Fields has a 6.17 yards per attempt this season. Smith was at a modest 6.67 yards per attempt in this offense for the bulk of the season. There is just very little to get excited about, any way you slice it. Adding a run game averaging the fewest rush yards per game doesn’t help matters, highlighting one of the biggest shortcomings of this offense, their offensive line. This is likely to be an uphill battle for the Raiders from the start.
The Raiders have the worst rush grade and have generated the second-fewest yards before contact per attempt this season, while also averaging the fewest yards per carry. Again, not a lot of hope here, any way you slice it. Ashton Jeanty has operated as a true workhorse since the team’s Week 8 bye, playing 81% of more of the offensive snaps in four of those six games. He has also averaged 6.3 targets per game in that span, leading to three games of 23 or more opportunities in his last six. Even so, he managed more than 15.3 DK points in only two of those games and has one game all season north of 24.8 DK points, which was a three-touchdown outburst against the Bears in Week 4. The Eagles have allowed 4.5 yards per carry and 25.2 DK points per game to opposing backfields, representing the clearest path for the Raiders to move the ball in this spot.
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The departure of Jakobi Meyers at the trade deadline and subsequent signing of veteran Tyler Lockett has left this team with Tre Tucker, rookies Dont’e Thornton, Jack Bech, and Lockett at wide receiver, with tight ends Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer rounding out the pass-catching corps. The Raiders have been utilizing 12-personnel on over 70% of their offensive snaps since trading away Meyers. What is more shocking is the fact that no pass-catcher has a TPRR greater than 0.19 (Mayer), 1.48 YPRR (Bowers), or 0.37 FP/RR (Bowers) since Week 10. Those are borderline atrocious marks. Things should not materially improve with Pickett under center, leaving very little to get excited about this week.
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