Around the AFC West: Raiders, Chargers take steps back
By Ellen Mathis
Week 4 in the AFC West featured the Broncos first win and tough losses for other rivals of the Chiefs.
Welcome back to another edition of Around the AFC West. If you are just waking up and haven’t opened Twitter yet, we are seeing a smattering of COVID positive test results that will bring up questions about this week’s schedule.
The Tennessee Titans continue to remain barred from their facility putting their game against the Buffalo Bills in jeopardy while the Patriots’ star cornerback Stephon Gilmore officially tested positive after hugging Patrick Mahomes on Monday. Great.
Finally, the Las Vegas Raiders have positive results that could cause chaos for Sunday’s divisional matchup. These are crazy times so let’s just reflect back on what happened in Week 4 in the AFC West.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Las Vegas Raiders hosted the undefeated and red-hot Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The Bills have been on fire, led by early MVP candidate Josh Allen, while the Raiders have been up and down. Hoping to bounce back from a butt-kicking by the Patriots, the Raiders faced their own challenges as injuries have been piling up, in particular on the offensive line.
In true Raider fashion, however, turnovers and penalties caused the Raiders to drop the game. After a scary moment in which Josh Allen took a nasty hit and headed to the locker room, he returned ready to continue to rain fire on the Raiders defense. The Raiders could not do much offensively against the Bills whose defense stepped up. If tough defense is enough to put away the Raiders, I like the Chiefs’ chances.
On top of the injuries that have already piled up, the Raiders lost defensive tackle Maliek Collins when he injured his shoulder in the third quarter. The Raiders must hope to get some injured players back if they hope to stand a chance in their upcoming game.
On Sunday, the Raiders travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in a high noon showdown. The weather looks great for this divisional matchup. You can bet the Raiders are coming into this game with something to prove.
"To make it a rivalry, we've got to win some games...it makes us mad." - #Raiders QB Derek Carr, on playing the #KCChiefs
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) October 7, 2020
Given that he’s never defeated Patrick Mahomes or won at Arrowhead, Carr will be looking to silence the doubters. I doubt he will do that. The defense of the Chiefs is playing too well and the offense will shred a young secondary. I predict this is another loss for the Raiders.
Game time is Sunday at12:00 p.m.