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The Raiders have waived CB DeAngelo Hall just 8 games after signing him to a huge free agent deal in the off season. Hall played in 8 games for the Raiders this season and he made 49 tackles, had 1/2 a sack, had 3 interceptions and he defensed 13 passes. The Raiders appear to have lost their minds in the front office as they are making Hall a scapegoat for awful all around play by the defense. He was quickly snapped up by the Washington Redskins.
The Raiders have lost starting fullback Justin Griffith for the season due to a torn ACL. Griffith played in 7 games for the Raiders this season and he carried the ball 2 times for 2 yards (1.0 ypc). He also caught 9 passes for 85 yards (9.4 avg) with a TD grab. This will hurt the Raiders running game a bit as Griffith is a solid blocker.
The Falcons are a surprising 4-3 on the season while the Raiders are 1-1 under new head coach Tom Cable. The Falcons will likely attack the Raiders on the ground first with Michael Turner (655 yards rushing, 4.5 ypc, 6 TDs) and Jerious Norwood (285 yards rushing, 6.3 ypc) as the Raiders allow 144.1 yards rushing per game and 4.5 ypc. As soon as the Raiders cheat up to stop the Falcons running game look for rookie QB Matt Ryan to throw deep on play action getting the ball to Roddy White. White has been unstoppable this season and the Raiders allow 218.4 yards passing per game.
The Raiders will also come out running the football as they average 129.3 yards rushing per game and 4.3 yards per carry. The Falcons’ defense doesn’t really do anything well allowing 128.6 yards rushing per game and 232.9 yards passing per game so this could be the game that JaMarcus Russell plays well. Coach Cable has wanted to take the training wheels off of Russell and this is the perfect opportunity to do it.
PREDICTION: ATLANTA FALCONS 24, OAKLAND RAIDERS 20
