Chiefs vs. Raiders: Inside The Ememy Camp

The Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders will be fighting for their playoff lives Sunday when they clash at Arrowhead Stadium.

To get you ready for all of today’s action against the evil silver and black, I sat down with Chris Shellcroft of Just Blog Baby, FanSided’s Oakland Raiders site.

Let’s go Inside the Enemy Camp With Just Blog Baby!

McFadden and his injury issues seem to be a problem. Do you worry he will never play 16 games?

Call it the injury bug. Call it bad luck. Whatever it is Darren McFadden has it. Nobody questions his toughness. Nobody doubts his dedication. McFadden just cannot stay healthy. I highly doubt we’ll ever see a full season from McFadden. Hue Jackson is a coach that doesn’t believe in rushing players back from injury. Even so the amount of time McFadden has missed is alarming considering Matt Schaub shut it down with the same injury. No telling what the future hold but I’d bet on the Raiders showing Micheal Bush the money after this year. Could be the most expensive insurance policy in football but well worth it you’re seriously trying to build around McFadden.

At first I thought giving up what the Raiders gave up to get Palmer was totally insane. Then for a couple of games I thought it might work out for them. Now it is looking like a bad idea again.

Where are you at on all this?

My head is swimming from this whole season. On the one hand, Palmer is capable of making the Oakland offense among the most explosive and dynamic in all of football. Considering he has yet to take a single snap with Darren McFadden there is plenty of reason for hope. In that case the price paid is pennies compared to what the Raiders get in return. On the other hand Palmer has been a turnover machine. We all gave him a pass after his first game against the Chiefs. Chalk that up to rust. But since then there has been no excuse. The jury is still out on this one. Once he plays with an offense at full strength there will be no more excuses. Until then the Raiders are just going to have to get creative with 6th and 7th round picks.

With Palmer struggling, when are the Raiders going to give my boy Pryor a shot? With the way the Donkeys are winning with Tebow, couldn’t the Raiders run a similar offense with Pryor? I watched him play at Ohio State and he would make comical plays with his legs.

Pryor is a long way away from being ready to play. Al Davis made it clear that TP would be a prototypical quarterback when he was drafted. Thus far Pryor has taken only one snap this year and he false started on a QB sneak…yeah…

I don’t see Oakland going all Tebow. No disrespect to the Lord and Savior of Football but Pryor is actually capable of tossing a ball that doesn’t flutter like a wet Nerf. I could see the occasional wildcat package or even a run/pass option type play every now and then. Overall Oakland just has too many weapons both running and throwing to go full Tebow. But in the future it may be a sin not to run a 1920’s style offense so I will hold off on giving a definite answer until this whole Tebow thing either blows over or consumes the sports world the way it has ESPN.

I thought the Raiders should have sent Richard Seymour packing and used that money to re-sign Nnamndi. Agree or disagree?

Half a dozen in one, $15-million in the other. Either way the Raiders would have had to pay. You can argue this either way. On the one hand as great as Nnamdi was it was all too easy just to avoid him and run the rock on Oakland. Asomugha’s greatness didn’t exactly equal wins.

Seymour, on the other hand, gave the Raiders an immediate presence defending the run and rushing the passer. In addition Seymour is a vocal leader that commands respect. Asomugha never demanded much of his teammates. He was the quiet, lead by example type. Nothing wrong with that but this franchise needed an anchor. Seymour has been that and then some.

In all honesty, I have nothing but respect for Nnamdi for so many reasons most of which have nothing to do with football. He is truly one of the few honest role models in sports. However this is football and winning is what this business is about. Though Oakland’s secondary has been a huge weakness without Nnamdi there is no arguing how much has changed since Seymour arrived. That is not coincidence. In the end Al Davis made the right move.

Prediction for Sunday?

This one feels like an old school Raiders-Chiefs clash. I haven’t checked the weather but you get the feel this should be played in wet conditions. I like Oakland in a 13-10 slug fest. Ugly football for the SportsCenter crowd but the stuff this rivalry was built on.