The Morning Fix: Chiefs New From Around The Web

The Raiders dominated Kansas City at the line of scrimmage to throttle the Chiefs 31-10. Oakland finished the season with a 6-0 division record and, despite missing the playoffs, felt they were the best team in the AFC West.

“I’m going to remind them of is last year this Raider team came in here and they whipped us pretty good and will feel like they can come in here and do the same thing again,” Crennel said. “So that’s what I’ve got to get them prepared for and I’ve got to remind them of that hey, you beat the Green Bay Packers, that was great. But now, if you don’t prepare, if you don’t get ready to go then we will lose to the Raiders and then everything we gained will be kind of down the drain.”

CRENNEL: “Well yes, it is a big week, and it’s a big deal because it’s a division game. And generally all division games are good rivalries because you definitely want to win them. And we definitely want to win this game so that we can stay in the hunt and stay in the race. And so it is a big week. We went out there and we played them good out there but what I’m going to remind them of is last year this Raider team came in here and they whipped us pretty good and so I feel like they will feel like they can come in here and do the same thing again. So that’s what I’ve got to get them prepared for and I’ve got to remind them of that hey, you beat the Green Bay Packers, that was great. But now, if you don’t prepare, if you don’t get ready to go then we will lose to the Raiders and then everything we gained yesterday will be kind of down the drain.”

“We need to get that energy level and keep it the same with the Raiders coming to town and not having all the hoopla that came with Green Bay being an undefeated team and (having) a great quarterback,” Crennel said. “We’re trying to get our guys to understand that we cannot get the big head. We really haven’t done anything yet. We’ve won one game. Let’s see if we can win two. To win two, we’re going to have to have the same focus and energy and effort, if not more, on a Saturday on a short week.

The Chiefs don’t have a great quarterback, but Kyle Orton is good enough to identify those weaknesses and attack them in a variety of different ways. They used play action to get Orton out of the pocket and allow him to see the field on crossing routes, making it harder for Woodson to pop out behind a linebacker or a lineman for an opportunistic pick. Orton found little-used tight end for Leonard Pope for two big gains, and they both took advantage of backups. The first was a play-action pass that saw Pope simply travel up the seam behind Smith, who was looking in the backfield and seemed to have no clue that Pope was running free. That went for 39 yards.