Raiders Have Been Big Winners in the Turnover Battle

There are plenty of reasons why the Raiders are 7-2. They have a solid running game, a terrific offensive line, an electric passing attack and a defense that seems to be getting better as the season progresses.

Another factor, too, is ball security.

The Raiders are tied for second-best in the NFL with just six turnovers, having lost just three fumbles while Derek Carr has been intercepted just three times. On the flip side, the Raiders have taken the ball away 15 times (eight interceptions, seven recovered fumbles). That gives the Raiders a plus-9 this season on takeaways/giveaways, the third best total in the NFL behind the Chiefs (14) and Vikings (12).

In their most recent victory, a 30-20 win over the Broncos before this past week’s bye, the Raiders took the ball away twice while committing zero turnovers. In a 33-16 win over the Jaguars two weeks earlier, the Raiders also had no turnovers while taking the ball away three times. In a 17-10 win over the Titans earlier this season, the Raiders forced three crucial turnovers.

On Monday night, the Raiders will face a Houston Texans team in Mexico City that has been on the opposite side of the takeaway/giveaway ledger. The Texans rank near the bottom of the league with a minus-5 total, having committed 13 turnovers – nine interceptions and four lost fumbles – with eight takeaways (four interceptions, four recovered fumbles).

The Texans are 6-3 and lead the AFC South, but that turnover margin has been a problem. Quarterback Brock Osweiler has had too many picks, for one, and head coach Bill O’Brien says his team must take better care of the ball over the second half of the season.

“Overall as a team, we have to make sure that we try to flip the turnover-takeaway ratio,” O’Brien told the Houston Chronicle this week. “It’s not very good. In the past couple years that we’ve been here, we’ve been able to turn that around. We need to try to turn that around because that stat right there points right towards the won-loss record. Those are things that we need to get better at.”