Are The Raiders Outworking The Chiefs During The Lockout?
The Kansas City Chiefs may have won the AFC West in 2010 but the Oakland Raiders had their number.
The hated rivals were responsible for two of KC’s six losses last season. The first game, in Oakland, was a close, OT heartbreaker. The second, in Kansas City, was an embarrassing manhandling that sent the Chiefs into the playoffs with a bitter taste in their mouth.
Personally, I haven’t been able to get over the losses to Oakland. The OT fame sucked but winning in Oakland has always been a tall order. The game at Arrowhead in January, however, showed me that the Chiefs have some major matchup problems against the Raiders. It also showed that the Raiders are improving and are not likely to be a pushover in the coming years.
While I am confident that the Chiefs will make moves to better position themselves to compete with the teams in their division, I worry that the lockout could slow KC’s development. I also worry that the lockout will give some teams an advantage heading into the 2011 season.
Though they are not able to meet with their coaches, players all over the league have been meeting to work out and prepare for the upcoming season. Some teams have been more successful organizing these practices than others.
A recent report from D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog, suggests that the Raiders may be meeting up with the Atlanta Falcons for an an 11-on-11 passing scrimmage. He also has a quote from an email DE Richard Seymour sent to his teammates:
"“Men, I hope that everyone is well and staying in shape because we are going to outwork everyone we face this season,” Seymour wrote in an e-mail to the Raiders. “It starts right now in the offseason.”"
According to Ledbetter, 40 members of the Oakland Raiders are set to hold a passing camp next week with Seymour leading the defense and QB Jason Campbell leading the offense.
To be fair, Matt Cassel has been leading practices with some of his receivers and safeties Jon McGraw and Reshard Langford in Kansas City. While it is good that there are Chiefs working out together, there have been no reports that Cassel has come anywhere close to assembling 40 players.
What do you think Addicts? Does it concern you that the Raiders appear to be getting more players together than the Chiefs? Does this mean the Raiders are more committed or just that more of them are spending their time off in sunny California than Chiefs players are spending their time in Kansas City? Will the success of offseason workouts have an impact on the season once things get rolling?