Live Thread: Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders
By Ben Nielsen
Will this be the last game the Chiefs and Raiders play in Oakland ever again? Deity, I hope so.
The Chiefs and Raiders will play ‘football’ in the dump that is the Oakland Coliseum tonight, and the weather isn’t helping matters much. Rain has caused some pretty brutal turf conditions so it looks like the ground game is going to be of utmost importance for both teams.
On one hand that is a bad thing. The Chiefs are not the best at stoping the run and are coming off of two straight very physical games. Going through another pounder of a football game may be one too many for the Chiefs’ defense.
On the other hand, the Raiders can’t run the ball worth crap. The Raiders’ offensive line is pretty decent in pass protection but they cannot open up holes to save their lives. In addition, both Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden have proven they are pretty much washed up as running backs. There’s simply not a lot to work with there for the Raiders to work with.
In addition, the Chiefs are one of the better running teams in football. The offense looks so much better when they are using the run to set up their passing game. While Oakland is better defensively agains the run than they are the pass, it may be in the Chiefs best interest to not be lured in to trying to throw the ball in this weather.
Prediction: Chiefs 27, Raiders 10