Chiefs at Raiders, Regular Season Game 2: OPEN THREAD

Chiefs at Raiders, Regular Season Game 2: OPEN THREAD – Raiders week has commenced and it’s game time! If the Raiders first game win over the Denver Broncos is a real clue, then they may be a more formidable opponent than many are thinking. If not, then we can expect another outcome somewhere between last year’s two outcomes, both wins for K.C.: 40-33 and 35-3.

If you like the mathematical approach, by taking those two games and adding them up… the outcome would be 75-to-36… or half of that: 37.5-to-18.

The Chiefs scored 40 points on a Jags defense that should finish better than the Oakland Raiders defense. So, while 37.5 is a target you can feel comfortable with as far as the points this offense should put up this week, if they don’t surpass the 40 they hung on Jacksonville, it should only be — God forbid — if Patrick Mahomes has to come out of the game like he did in the last half of the last quarter vs the Jags.

Also, I highly doubt that Derek Carr will complete 13 of his first 13 passes like QB Gardner Minshew did last week. The Raiders over the top-underneath passing game is dependent upon the performances of WR Tyrell Williams and TE Darren Waller. If, as David Bell suggested earlier today, the Chiefs can shut down the running game of Josh Jacobs first and force Derek Carr into a catch up game via the pass, then the Chiefs should win going away. However, that may be precisely what Jon Gruden is counting on the Chiefs Defense attempting to do early on so I would expect to see a lot of passing early out of the Raiders O.

Seth Keysor, of The Athletic, makes a great point about the Broncos response to the Raiders play-action and how the Chiefs will adapt to that. Take a look:

Then Keysor makes this point:

“Watch all three linebackers get sucked toward the potential ball carrier during the fake. Although all of them recover and work to get depth, they look a bit lost and even turned around attempting to locate where receivers are at in the middle of the field. This happened several times, but the Broncos didn’t take advantage of it. The Chiefs aren’t going to do the Raiders any such favors.”

That’s another reason the Chiefs will beat the Raiders today. 

The only way I can see the Raiders winning is if everyone on the Chiefs side of the ball have a bad game, including the coaches… and... they control the clock with a slow-mo ground attack. One of my favorite memories from last year was listening to Raiders $100 Million Dollar coach Jon Gruden explaining his feelings about Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid:

“Andy Reid is a heck of a coach and he calls some good plays, but they don’t always work, and when he calls a play and they’re covered and there’s nothing there… there’s just nothing there… and he [Mahomes] gets a 28-yard gain or a touchdown out of it, it’s sickening, isn’t it? It’s maddening to people who aren’t fans of the Chiefs.”

I’m looking forward to more comments like that this year.

Game Time Weather

The weather at game time should be ideal football weather.

Last Game at Oakland Coliseum

The Chiefs are 9 1/2-point favorites to beat the Raiders in Oakland and oddly enough, those odds come to us from Vegas… the Raiders new home in 2020.

The Chiefs have a 29-28-1 record vs the Raiders on the road so a win for the Chiefs will secure their legacy in Oakland Coliseum.

Injury Reports

Chiefs – Eric Fisher is a game time decision but he pulled up with a groin injury late in the week. If Fisher can’t play at 100% it’s bad for the Chiefs OL. I’d rather see Andrew Wylie move over there than have Cam Erving take snaps at LT.

Raiders – With Johnathan Abram out (on IR), if CB Gareon Conley can’t go, the Chiefs WRs might as well walk into the end zone. The Raiders were weak on the back end as it is.

A Word About the Rivalry

The Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders rivalry began back in the 1960s when the game of football was a distinctively different game. They didn’t have all the rules which exist in today’s NFL. What was allowed, included: the head slap, horse collars, spearing with your helmet, tripping, clotheslining, stickum, and plenty of actual knock-down drag-out fights… after which players were allowed to resume playing in that same game. All those aspects of the game (and more) were featured in the Chiefs and Raiders games and when you hear old timers say they “hated” the Raiders… they meant it. Back then, the bad behavior was mostly relegated to the players on field of play, but now, the game on the field has been sterilized, for the most part, and the fans are the ones who have embraced the bad behavior by some equally bad actors. My distaste for the Raiders has a history, however, I would never want to see anyone, not even a Raiders player (or fan), hurt in any way… except to see them go on a long and miserable losing streak. Now, it’s time for the 2019 Chiefs to hand the Raiders a huge loss. If there was ever a good time to hang a 50-burger on them, now is that time. However, I’d probably get as much satisfaction out of seeing them finish with double-donuts — 00 — on their side of the scoreboard too. How about… 48-to-00.

Go Chiefs!

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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