Antonio Gibson of the Washington Football Team has the potential to cause problems for the Las Vegas Raiders this Sunday.
The Raiders will need their run defense to show up again in Week 13 after holding the Dallas Cowboys to 64 rushing yards. The matchup against the WFT is anything but a ‘gimme,’ and Las Vegas is in no position to overlook any of their remaining opponents. Gus Bradley will soon have his work cut out for him. Washington comes in having rushed for 288 yards the last two contents. Gibson, for his part, has yet to eclipse 100 yards on the ground, but he’s inching closer. In Week 12, Gibson compiled 95 rushing yards against the Carolina Panthers, and tonight on Monday Night Football, he’ll face a Seattle Seahawks defense that’s given 1,222 yards on the ground to their opponents; that’s 23rd in the NFL.
Was Thanksgiving a mirage for the Raiders?
The Raiders defensive coordinator has yet to field a game plan that can consistently stop the run. So far this year, the Silver and Black have only contained opposing running backs to under 100 yards rushing on three occasions. Bradley’s unit is ranked 25th in terms of opposing rushing yardage, having given up a total of 1,385 this season. Was the performance on Thanksgiving the beginning of a turnaround or simply a mirage?
Lawrence Dukes of Fansided recently pointed out that Washington has been the winning the battle for time of possession. More so in the last two games as Dukes wrote, “Washington has been able to regain their winning form with a ball-control type of offense. In the past two games, the Washington Football Team has won the time-of-possession battle… Last Sunday, the team used three different centers against the Carolina Panthers, but ran for a season-high 194 rushing yards.”
While Gibson has had his fumble issues, he’ll test the run defense with his bruising style. He’s totaled 287 yards after contact with 14 broken tackles to his credit, per Pro Football Reference. While Gibson’s longest run of 2021 had only 27 yards, we’ve seen the Raiders’ run defense give up yards in bunches all year. This is more true later in the game. For example, once the defense was exhausted, we saw the Bengals’ Joe Mixon pile up yards late in Week 11. Raider Nation will surely keep an eye on Monday Night Football as the WFTÂ looks to continue dominating on the ground.
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*Top Photo: NBC Sports/Jerome Miron
