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Preview: Raiders at Green Bay Packers

When the Green Bay Packers host the Raiders on Sunday, it might be a battle of the two worst run defenses in the NFL. Here are the rankings from Football Outsiders:

Packers Raiders
Pass Offense 1 18
Pass Defense 21 10
Run Offense 10 9
Run Defense 29 32
Special Teams 12 21

As bad as the Packers run defense has been, they've never let a team control the game's tempo with their rushing attack. The Raiders have the potential, but they appear to be slipping. Over their last three games, Michael Bush has been held to well under 4 yards per carry. The low point was when he was held to 18 yards rushing last week in Miami. The Dolphins run defense has played better than the Packers this season, but they're not the best in the NFL either. I expect the Packers run defense will allow some yards, but they won't let the game get out of hand, so long as they don't allow a LaGarrette Blount type touchdown run.

The Packers pass defense could struggle against Carson Palmer. I pointed out earlier this week that he's been wildly inconsistent since he took over as their starting quarterback, so it's not easy to predict whether he'll show up on Sunday. He could throw for a couple touchdowns as he's done in three starts this season. But against a weak Dolphins pass defense last week, he was mostly useless while they fell behind by 34 points. Only a couple of late touchdown passes made his game stats look respectable.

The Packers pass offense hasn't been stopped by any team this season, and the Raiders don't look like they'll be the first team to do it. The weather should be clear with little wind, and Aaron Rodgers should have another Rodgers-like game. It's been probably the worst week ever for Raiders (and ex-Packer) starting CB Chris Johnson, but he did return to practice and should play on Sunday. While the Packers run offense is better than you might expect, Football Outsiders has them ranked at No. 10 overall, they clearly missed RG Josh Sitton (who's out again this week). Still, the Packers should have no trouble putting together another big game on offense.

Packers 31, Raiders 14.