Week 17, Chiefs Host Raiders:
OPEN THREAD
by Laddie Morse | December 30, 2018
Yep, it’s Raiders Week, but not just any old Raiders Week. This one holds special significance… not for the Raiders mind you… it’s special because our Kansas City Chiefs are on the verge… they can lock up a #1 seed in the AFC and rest for the next two weeks, heal up, take two weeks to game plan, then play in the cozy — well, January may not be so cozy — but in the friendly confines of Arrowhead Stadium. If that happens, the likelihood of the Chiefs winning that first playoff game goes up significantly and if they can win that game, low and behold, they will be hosting the AFC Championship Game: the Lamar Hunt Trophy Game, for the first time in the history of that trophy. In the event that the Chiefs can host an AFC Championship game… the odds stay better than 50% that they’ll win that game and then represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIII (53) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta Georgia in February.
Just think of it… the Chiefs playing in February.
That about sums up the importance of this game for the Chiefs. If they don’t win today? In that case, they will have to go on the road next weekend and probably the next, and the next and will have to go through several other team’s stadiums enroute to an AFC Championship. The likelihood of the Chiefs accomplishing wins there… when they can’t win at home vs. one of the league’s worst teams — the Raiders — goes waaaaay down should they fail today. It’s the difference between being the 1-seed or as low as the 5-seed.
In other words… the Kansas City Chiefs are in a must-win situation.
In other-other words… the playoffs begin today for the Chiefs. Will they be eliminated if they lose today? No, but for all intents and purposes the Chiefs will have almost nearly guaranteed themselves another early playoff exit should they get beat by the Raiders today.
In other-other–other words… the Kansas City Chiefs have a chance to make up for decades of bleeping blunderous bloopers when it comes time for the playoffs to begin, and that starts today. Yes, a win against the Raiders will be a step towards setting things aright.
There’s been some speculation that the Chiefs would be better off if they didn’t have a week off and that the team needs to be playing games to improve especially on defense where they have some younger players who need experience. I’m not one of those people who are in favor of the Chiefs playing the first week of the playoffs. In fact, I will always be in favor of the Chiefs sitting in week one of the playoffs because it also means they get to host their first playoff game and don’t have to go through the hassle of playing on the road.
Some have also speculated that Raiders coach Jon Gruden won’t want to go all out to win this game because he’d rather have a better draft position. To that I say: Bah, Humbug! You can count on Jon Gruden doing everything he can to take the Chiefs down a peg and ruin their run for a #1 seed going into the playoffs. Now, if the Chiefs are up by three scores going into the 4th quarter, then I can see Gruden putting some backups on the field, guys he’d like to get a look at.
Greatest Concerns
In the event that the Raiders can make a game of it, it will be because QB Derek Carr if having an excellent game (and he has been known to have good games vs the Chiefs before) which will help open the door for their running attack and if their running attack takes off too, then the Chiefs defense could have problems. For that to happen, TE Jared Cook must go on a tear, like he usually does against the Chiefs, and the Raiders will need to go to him early and often. However, that formula can only work for the Raiders if, and only if, their defense can hold the Chiefs to under 24 points, which no team has been able to do this season.
To accomplish that, they will need to shut down Tyreek Hill (and they held Hill to one reception in their first game against the Chiefs), then limit Travis Kelce (because he usually rips them a new one — 12 catches for 168 yards in the first game against the Raiders), and get after Patrick Mahomes thereby forcing him to throw early and errant passes. While those may be the greatest concerns I have about the specifics of this game, none of it seems likely.
Scratched or Broken Records
If Patrick Mahomes throw 2 more TD passes in this game, he will become only the third QB to ever achieve that feat. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are the other two. If Mahomes throws for 184 yards today, he’ll reach the 5,000 yards in a season plateau. Only Manning has ever thrown 50 or more TDs in a season while also throwing for 5,000 yards or more so Patrick Mahomes could become only the second QB ever to achieve that and would obviously be the youngest ever to join that club. Wow!
At this time tomorrow the Chiefs will likely have a quarterback who threw for 50 touchdowns in a season. FIFTY. No matter how all this ends, this has been one of the most spectacular rides of all time.
— Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) December 30, 2018
TE Travis Kelce currently has 1,274 yards receiving and with 54 more yards today can break an NFL all time receiving record, for a single season, for Tight Ends. If Kelce gets 118 more yards, he’ll become the Kansas City Chiefs All Time Leading Receiver. Double Wow!
Tyreek Hill has1,378 receiving yards this year and needs 14 more yards to break the team’s franchise receiving record in a single season. Triple Whammy Wow!
Personally, I’d trade all those records for a Chiefs Super Bowl victory. I have a feeling they would too.
Today’s Weather at Arrowhead
Today should be a very good day for football. Here’s a peek at the temperatures during today’s game.
Greatest Entertainment Value
The Raiders played on Monday Night Football this past week and they had the satisfaction of beating another AFC foe, the Denver Broncos, in what is likely to be their last game ever played in Alameda Coliseum in Oakland. That was really the Raiders swan song for the 2018 season. The short week, and the travel, and the Chiefs, will pose too much of a problem for the Raiders to overcome and the Chiefs will blow them out this afternoon.
An important note to consider: the loss of teammate Kareem Hunt was an enormous personal loss for the Chiefs, as individuals. He was such a vital cog in the offense but was more than just a running back on the roster. He had/has extensive friends and relationships with so many of the other Chiefs players and his expulsion is not something you just get over in one day, or one week, or one month. Many of the players interviewed later still called him a friend. The last game that Hunt appeared in was against the Rams on November 19, and the team hasn’t played very well since that time, going 2-and-2 over that period. While I’m not blaming the team’s downward trend since then, on the loss of Hunt, his absence can’t be ignored and it goes beyond any on-field dynamics. The contract that the Chiefs offered to RB Damien WIlliams plus the 5 weeks which have gone by, should be enough of an adjustment period now for the players to lick their wounds personally, and this game today should be a coming out party, to a degree. I look for the Chiefs to make a statement today.
My prediction for this game is: Chiefs 38, Raiders 16.
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