Sunday afternoon is a great opportunity for the Las Vegas Raiders, and it is a make-or-break game to snap a three-game skid after starting the season unbeaten. Their opponent? The 2-4 Los Angeles Rams, once considered the undoubted Super Bowl favorites with a superteam built, only for injuries and inconsistencies to batter the franchise.

Head coach Klint Kubiak has been coaching an explosive offense led by NFL passing touchdown leader Kirk Cousins. While the Raiders' defense will be the highlight in this matchup, special teams will be the biggest key in this game for both teams. The important third unit could help the Raiders get their fourth win of the year.

Raiders Look for Improvement vs. Rams

For the past two seasons, the Rams’ downfall has been their special teams. Somehow, head coach Sean McVay cannot seem to get this unit right and continues to make bad decisions on this front. Those decisions have led to what we have today, with Los Angeles having maybe the worst special teams unit in the NFL, which has cost them games this season.

Raiders special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis will play a big role on Sunday as his unit looks to take advantage of the Rams' pitfalls in an important phase. A longtime special teams coach who won a Super Bowl in 2021 with the Rams, DeCamillis has the best punter in the league, AJ Cole, and a steady veteran kicker, Matt Gay.

The key for Las Vegas is being consistent this week, according to DeCamillis, tackling in space, getting bodies around the ball carrier, and going stride for stride with the hang time on punt coverage.

“The one thing we got to improve on is our punt coverage, and that's space tackling,” DeCamillis said. “Got to get better at space tackling. Got to get more population around the ball, and then we've got to match the distance to the hang time, and I think those three things are things we worked on this week, and we got to just keep plugging and trying to get it done."

Return Game Will Be Key

One thing the Raiders would like to do this weekend is create explosive plays in the return game. Last week, the Buffalo Bills did well to contain the explosive and quick Dylan Laube, Las Vegas’s third-string running back.

“Yeah, we tried to start moving him around,” DeCamillis said. “If you watch that, we tried to do some different things to try to get it to him. [The Bills] did a good job of placing [the ball] where they were. So, we just have to, like you said, be intentional of trying to do that, try to work the formations as much as we can to get him the ball.”

Two of the key players I listed for the Raiders this week were Laube and Mailk Benson, their top two return men. Laube could be the most important, as DeCamillis praised the running back’s downhill toughness on Friday.

“Dylan's done a good job for us. He's a straight line downhill tough kid that hits it hard, and that's what this play requires.”

What Laube also brings is good vision, balance, and open-field short-area quickness to make moves in space. Benson is a lightning-quick and explosive runner himself, and the two could bring a spark for the Raiders' kickoff and punt coverage. 

As we saw with the Arizona Cardinals last week, their special teams play, or the terrible play by the Rams, helped them win that game. We could see the same thing at Allegiant Stadium as the Raiders look to improve to 4-3 and create the most disappointing season in recent NFL history for Los Angeles.