The Los Angeles Rams kick off their 2018 season by heading north to take on the Oakland Raiders in Monday Night Football’s late game (10:20pm ET) in Week 1. The game can be viewed on ESPN and will be called by Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten, Booger McFarland, and with Lisa Salters reporting from the sidelines.
Here’s a quick look at the past, and present, of Rams vs. Raiders.
Series History
These two teams have squared off 13 times in their history, dating back to 1972, with the Raiders leading the all-time series 8-5. The Rams, however, have won three out of the last four. Scores and stats for every game can be viewed here.
The last matchup between the two teams occurred on November 30, 2014. On that day the Rams scored 52 points. The Raiders decided not to score any points. The last time they played at the Oakland Coliseum was almost eight years ago (9/19/10). The Raiders edged Steve Spagnuolo’s Rams, 16-14, that day. You can watch those game highlights here.
2017 Stats
AP PRO32 Ranking – Rams No. 4, Raiders No. 21
Rams Offense – Overall (10), Rush (8), Pass (10).
Rams Defense – Overall (19), Rush (28), Pass (13).
Raiders Offense – Overall (t-17), Rush (25), Pass (16).
Raiders Defense – Overall (23), Rush (12), Pass (26).
Rams Notes
- The Rams won the NFC West championship in 2017 — it marked the first time doing so since 2003. They lead the league in scoring, averaging 29.9 points per game.
- Sean McVay was named the 2017 AP Head Coach of the Year.
- Sean McVay’s first NFL job was as Jon Gruden’s assistant in Tampa Bay in 2008.
- Los Angeles went from worst to first in scoring in their first year under McVay.
- Rams led NFL with 11 opening-drive scores on offense last year.
- Jared Goff passed for 3,804 yards with 28 touchdowns and 7 interceptions last season, and was one of five QB’s with a 100+ rating. He he’s thrown 22 TD’s and five INT’s, with a 99.1 passer rating in 11 career road games.
- Goff improved his passer rating from 63.6 as rookie to 100.5 in year two.
- Todd Gurley earned AP Offensive Player of Year honors last season. He lead the NFL with 2,093 scrimmage yards and 19 total touchdowns. Gurley ranked 2nd with 1,305 rush yards in 2017. He became the third player in NFL history with 2,000+ scrimmage yards (2,093), 10+ rush TD’s (13) and 5+ receiving TD’s (6) in a single season.
- Cooper Kupp lead all rookie wide receivers with 62 receptions, and lead all Rams’ receivers with 869 yards in 2017.
- Brandin Cooks makes his Rams’ debut on Monday night. He had 65 receptions for 1,082 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2017 while with the New England Patriots. He is one of two players (Antonio Brown) with 1,000+ rec. yards and 7+ touchdown catches in each of the past three seasons.
- Aaron Donald was named the 2017 AP Defensive Player of Year. Since 2014, he leads all NFL defensive tackles with 39 sacks. He’s one of three players with 8+ sacks in each of the past four seasons.
- Making their debut with the Rams are corners Marcus Peters, Aqib Talib, and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Peters has 19 interceptions since 2015 — most in the NFL. Talib has 118 career passes defended; 7th-most among active players. Since 2010, Suh ranks 2nd among NFL defensive tackles with 51.5 sacks.
Raiders Notes
- Jon Gruden will be coaching his first regular-season home game for Raiders since Jan. 6, 2001. He has a 100-85 career head coaching record (including the playoffs). He’s returning to sideline for first time since 2008.
- The Raiders won their last two home openers after losing 11 of the previous 12.
- The Raiders have 31 players on their roster who didn’t play for the team last year.
- The Raiders were last in the NFL in 2017 with five interceptions, and tied for second worst with 14 takeaways.
- Oakland QB Derek Carr matched career highs with 13 interceptions last year. He had his worst season for yards, TD’s, and passer rating since his rookie season in 2014.
- Carr is one of three QB’s in NFL history (Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson are the others) with 3,000+ pass yards and 20+ TD passes in each of his first four seasons. He has 2,868 pass yards (260.7 per game) with 23 touchdowns and 5 interceptions and a 99.7 rating in his last 11 home games.
- Offensive tackle Donald Penn starts his first game on right side after 174 games on the left.
- Marshawn Lynch is 2nd among active running backs with 81 rushing touchdowns, and ranks 4th with 10,003 rush yards. He has 95+ scrimmage yards in six of his past games against the Rams. He has 323 scrimmage yards (107.7 per game) and two rushing TD’s in the past three games at home.
- Doug Martin makes his Oakland debut on Monday. He has 216 scrimmage yards (108 per game) in two career games against the Rams.
- Amari Cooper had a career-high seven touchdown receptions last season.
- Jordy Nelson has 69 career rec. TDs, which is tied for 5th most among active players. Since 2011, he has 63 TD catches — 2nd-most by an NFL WR. He aims for his third in a row against the Rams with 100+ rec. yards and a TD catch.
- Former Rams’ tight end Jared Cook lead the team, and ranked 5th among AFC TE’s, with 688 receiving yards last season.
- LB Bruce Irvin tied a career-high with 8 sacks in 2017.
- LB Tahir Whitehead had 110 tackles with the Detroit Lions in 2017. He has 242 tackles since 2016 — tied for 7th most in the NFL.
- LB Derrick Johnson is one of two active players (Julius Peppers) with 75+ passes defended (77) and 25+ sacks (27.5).
- S Reggie Nelson has 36 career interceptions, which is most among active safeties. He had an INT in his last game against the Rams (11/29/15 with the Cincinnati Bengals).