***MNF EN EL PANTANO - HOU VS. OAK***
***HOUSTON TEXANS VS. OAKLAND RAIDERS***
For the first time since 2005, the NFL will travel south of the border and host some Monday Night Football in New Mexico. Both of the teams involved will look to stay at the top of their respective divisions for another week when the soul-searching Houston Texans take on the red hot and rested Oakland Raiders. The Raiders have now won three straight and are off to their best start in a very long time. They're peaking at the moment and hitting full stride as they come into tonight's game fresh off a huge victory in the Black Hole two Sunday Night Footballs ago against their rival and defending Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos followed by a bye week. We have seen at times this season that a bye week at the wrong time does more harm than good and seems to mess with a surging team's mojo. However, when up against a shorthanded and limited Texans team tonight, on the Prime Time stage once again, and in Mexico City with an extremely pro-Raiders crowd to boot, I don't think Oakland will get caught sleeping here. These guys are loving the spotlight and positive attention they've been receiving and I believe are using it as fuel to keep the momentum going, with their confidence growing with every win. Beating up on the Broncos on SNF in dominating fashion the last time we have seen them I really believe confirmed for them that they can seriously contend for the title this season. I look at that big victory over the Broncos as the young Raiders "we have arrived" moment. QB Derek Carr has been phenomenal this season and really taken the bull by the horns with this offense. He oozes the confidence necessary to play QB in this league and his leadership qualities have been key as one can see how this entire offense has come together and rallied behind him. Behind probably the best offensive line after Dallas, Carr has the time to air it out to the dangerous duo of Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree at WR, which at times makes them truly unstoppable. The Oakland defense is the obvious achilles heel for this team but they have also gotten better with each win and I believe are feeding off of the team's success as their confidence grows. With a defensive X-Factor like LB Khalil Mack to rally behind, the sky is the limit for this team and I think they now realize it.
The Texans have had an interesting up and down type of season thus far. Their new "franchise" QB Brock Osweiler is not really panning out to be the guy they thought they gave all that big money too this offseason, at least not yet. He has shown flashes of being able to be that guy but has been extremely inconsistent which is probably the best way to describe this teams in one word this year. They have literally won all their home games and lost all their road up until last week when they defeated the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars on the road (barely). It just seems as though even this late in the season, the chemistry is not quite there yet with Osweiler and his WRs and at times that the offense is just not all on the same page. I feel like there just has been too many injuries and interchanging pieces on both sides of the ball for this team to really gain any steam and that tonight's spot and situation will prove to be too overwhelming for them to overcome. The game will be played at an altitude of 7,380 feet, about 2,000 higher than playing in Denver just to put it in perspective. That being said, there are more oxygen masks on each sideline as any NFL game before, and I think if the Raiders get up two scores on this team, they will fold and Khalil Mack and the boys will pin their ears back and have a field day on da'BrockWeiler. Needless to say I see a lopsided victory here, with da RRRRAAAAAIIIIDAAAAZZZZ victorious in the spotlight once again. Man oh man, the Cowboys and da Raiders are amongst the top of the NFL again, what year is this? The NFL does just seem to be a better place when da Raiiidazzzz are in the mix! LOS RAIDERS-6.5
