The Packers suck at stopping the run. It is easily the worst part of their defense. That runs contrary to their defensive rankings, but if you look beyond those hollow surface stats it becomes apparent fairly quickly.

The Surface Stats

Green Bay is 31st in pass defense and 13th in rush defense. That is based on yards allowed. That is worthless.

The Real Story

The Packers force teams to throw to catch up. And they've spent much of the season not caring if teams hit short passes and gain what amounts to meaningless yards. This also means they don't care if the team runs the ball, which skews the rushing totals, but by number of attempts in meaningless situations, this taints the rush totals far less than the pass totals.

Green Bay is 29th in yards allowed per rush at 4.9. They have been even worse over their last three allowing 5.9. Their last three games have been the Bucs, Lions and Giants who are ranked 12th, 13th and 32nd respectively in yards per rush. The Raiders are seventh.

The Packers are not doing anything well on run defense. They are 28th in power plays, 29th in stuffed plays, 28th in the second level and 22nd in the open field.

This is all great news for the Raiders. Those rankings are very similar, but worse, to San Diego's. And we all remember Michael Bush shredding the Bolts. Jump over for more....

Whining Fan

It would really kick ass to have Run DMC for this game.

Conclusion

The Raiders offensive line has been getting its ass kicked the last two weeks. It's time for them to look in the mirror and take it out on the defending champions. Michael Bush needs to explode and dominate. The Raiders need sustained drives, and lots of them.

They need to keep Rodgers off of the field for long stretches and wear out the Packers' D while keeping theirs fresh. This need to be a no nonsense, bully game plan.

The Packers run a lot of defensive plays in a two down lineman nickel set. This isn't just for passing downs either. They'd be wise not to do that against Oakland. If they do, the Raiders need to crush them with the run.

Samson Satele and Cooper Carlisle are both more effective on the second level than the point of attack, and Bush is a load for an LB to bring down.

Run, run, run the ball Hue—bully it down their undefeated throats.