The board has this close to a coin flip, with New York a short home favorite, and for 2 teams this alike that looks about right. Both clubs are 1-4 over their last 5. Both lost to the Patriots. Both have spent the month finding new ways to fall just short. The difference is in how they lose. The Raiders keep getting into shootouts and coming out on the wrong end of them, while the Jets keep getting stuck in the red zone.
The Raiders defense is what this game turns on. Over the 4-game skid it has allowed 30, 45, 33 and 35 points. Against the Rams, interior linemen Jonah Laulu and Thomas Booker IV were both inactive, along with DE Cian Slone and safeties Dalton Johnson and Tristin McCollum, and Patrick Johnson left with a stinger. That is a lot of the front and the back end missing at once. Facing them is a Jets offense that just found 3 real weapons: rookie Omar Cooper Jr. caught all 5 targets for 115 yards and a score, Mason Taylor caught 2 touchdowns, and Braelon Allen ran 17 times for 104 yards with Breece Hall inactive with a quad injury.
New York's own health questions sit on the defensive line and in the trenches. T'Vondre Sweat was ruled out for the rest of the Miami game with a knee injury, guard Dylan Parham has been inactive, and OT Max Mitchell sat too. Las Vegas still has receiving options that can hurt a defense: Brock Bowers was back to a full practice last week, and Michael Mayer had 7 catches for 95 yards against Buffalo. The Raiders' run game has been the quiet problem. Ashton Jeanty managed 22 yards on 10 carries in the Bills loss, which puts everything on whoever is throwing.
Kickoff is 1:00 PM ET on Sunday, November 1, under a cloudy, mild forecast at MetLife with little wind, so weather shouldn't be an excuse for anybody. The Raiders' last early East Coast kickoff ended 45-17 in Foxborough. Watch Kubiak's quarterback call this week, then watch whether this Raiders front can get off the field. If neither happens, Glenn gets a week of breathing room he badly needs.