They were behind, and the tempo of the game wasn't in their favor. Another story will be Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe . A lot will be made about Sharpe having experience against the Raiders from his days with Denver. That's a really, really, really big-time overblown idea. No player knows it well enough to give the coaches detailed information about blocking schemes or anything like that.
Players can give a little bit of a personality background, but that's as far as it goes.
The thing about Shannon Sharpe being familiar with the Raiders is that he's familiar with the Raiders as a Bronco, with Mike Shanahan calling the plays. None of that will translate to Brian Billick and what the Baltimore Ravens do. Another topic of discussion will be the Raiders having had an extra day of rest while the Ravens have to travel cross-country for this game. But that's not a big deal. It's a little bit of an advantage for Oakland, but it's nothing like the week before, where one team was coming off a bye week.