Raiders vs. Washington 2017 live updates: Scores, highlights, and results from 'Sunday Night Football'

The Raiders will try to move to 3-0 when they take on Washington on Sunday night.

The Oakland Raiders haven’t shown any signs of slowing down after last year’s 12-4 campaign, racing out to a 2-0 start behind strong offensive performances. They’ll look to keep the momentum going when they face a 1-1 Washington team on Sunday Night Football (8:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports).

The Raiders took care of business in Week 2, dispatching the New York Jets without much trouble, 45-20. Derek Carr threw three touchdown passes to Michael Crabtree and the running game sliced up New York’s defense all day. Marshawn Lynch, Jalen Richard, Cordarrelle Patterson, and DeAndre Washington combined for 180 rushing yards on 27 carries.

Lynch’s return has been one of the best feel-good stories in the league this year. Healthy and rejuvenated after a year away from the game, he looks like the Beast Mode of old, trucking defenders and dragging them for extra yards. The Raiders are clearly trying to limit his usage, but players like Richard and Washington are perfectly capable change-of-pace options. Lynch’s presence gives an extra dimension to an offense that was already explosive with Carr, Crabtree, and Amari Cooper soaking up yards.

Washington remains something of an enigma, getting blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1 and scrapping together an unconvincing win over the Los Angeles Rams last week. They’re also dealing with multiple key injuries this week. Rob Kelley is questionable with a rib injury, although he’s expected to play after practicing all week. Meanwhile, tight end Jordan Reed is all kinds of banged up, listed with toe, shoulder, and chest injuries. He was limited in practice and likely a game-time decision this week.

If Reed misses the game, that’s a big problem for Kirk Cousins, who’s struggling to adjust without DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, and hasn’t really developed a connection with Terrelle Pryor yet. Cousins threw for just 179 yards in Week 2 against a Rams defense that just gave up 332 yards to Brian Hoyer on Thursday night. Combine the offensive struggles with a largely nondescript defense, and Washington could be in trouble if the Raiders force them into a shootout scenario.

Pregame reading

Su’a Cravens won’t play in 2017 and Washington clearly isn’t happy about it.

The team initially put Cravens on the exempt/left squad list to give him time to decide what he wanted to do about his future, and he was expected to miss about a month of playing time. Placing him on the reserve/left squad list does free up a roster spot for Washington, but it still retains the rights to Cravens.

Silver and Black Pride examines the biggest keys in this game.

The Raiders are playing another opponent that they match up with very well. If they can shut down Washington’s dangerous running backs and force them to throw the ball their defense will have a chance to hit the quarterback. The Raiders offense is loaded with weapons to take advantage of the Redskins coverage issues in their secondary. Like the Jets game, this game will get out of hand quick if the Raiders get a lead. Expect them to be sitting at 3-0 after this weekend and hopefully alone in first place in the division.

Khalil Mack jumped offsides on one play against the Jets, but maybe that was a good thing?

Once Mack won the Defensive MVP award last year, many people started to talk of him as a “finished product,” as if he has hit his ceiling. That is very far from the truth; Mack is really just scratching the surface. Physically and technique-wise, he can still make some improvements, but the big steps ahead of him are going to be mental and here we are starting to see evidence that Mack is putting in the time and effort to make that leap.

Yeah.

That offsides penalty may have been a minor annoying footnote for most, but for me, it was a real exciting indicator of great things to come.

Montae Nicholson is filling in for Cravens, and might even be the long-term answer at safety.

Nicholson acknowledged he plays both free and strong safety, he explained the difference between the two: “I believe in our system it’s just who is in the box more, our strong safety is in the box a lot because he’s covering down on tight ends, free safeties we’re in the post covering down on receivers. It’s really not that big of a difference other than the strong safety is just in the box a little bit more.”

Nicholson has an opportunity to cement himself as the Redskins starting safety alongside Swearinger, he’s been limited this week in practice due to a shoulder injury, but I fully expect him to earn the starting role in the weeks to come for Washington.

Hogs Haven believes a balanced offense is Washington’s best formula going forward.

The Redskins thrived running the ball down the Rams gut, rushing for 122 yards on 16 attempts right down the middle of their defense. The key comment in Thompson’s second quote was “keep it up.” Under Kirk Cousins, a balanced offense has always been the winning formula. Often when McVay or Gruden would get pass happy, it applied more pressure on Kirk to win the game on his shoulders, while increasing the chances for a mistake to be made.

Cousins himself acknowledges on a consistent basis he needs weapons around him to be successful, although he still had a shaky performance against the Rams, his best role is one where he doesn’t have to do too much. Consistency in play calling from Gruden along with execution from the offensive line will allow the Redskins to “keep it up” throughout the season.