The Raiders schedule against the run is very forgiving

Don’t ask me how it is done, but there are ways to rank teams expected “strength of schedule” against the pass, against the run, etc. These rankings are used primarily for fantasy football purposes, but fantasy projections are still attempting to predict overall season success. So if FantasyPros say that Marshawn Lynch has the ninth-easiest schedule against the run, that is pretty good, right? Let’s break down what that means, and why it is great for Lynch and the Raiders.

The strength of schedule statistic looks at the opponents each team faces and using the previous season’s defensive rankings and the current season’s projections, creates a ranking for how easy or hard the upcoming season will be. When specifically looking at strength of schedule against the run, only run defense statistics and projections are used. So when it is said that Lynch has the ninth-easiest schedule, it means that he faces opponents who are fairly bad at defending the run.

In 2018, the Raiders will face the following teams: Rams, Seahawks, 49ers, Cardinals, Dolphins, Browns, Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, Colts, Chiefs twice, Broncos twice, and Chargers twice. According to last season’s run defense rankings, seven of those opponents finished in the bottom half of the league (16-32). Those seven opponents combine for nine of the Raider’s games. Two more of the games are played against two teams that finished middle of the road, the Dolphins and Ravens (14th and 15th respectively).

Overall, that schedule is very forgiving for running backs. Now that is merely a projection, but it is all that we have to work with. Obviously, things change from season to season and some of those defenses will improve, and others will take a step back. But worse case scenario, that is a minimum of, let’s say, seven games where Lynch has a great opportunity to dominate.

 Next: No. 1