The rest of the AFC West is doing its best to catch up to the Kansas City Chiefs, who have been steering the division ship for nearly a decade now. While the Broncos and Chargers both made the playoffs last season, the Raiders continued to do what they normally do and floundered to a four-win season.
This offseason has seen the Raiders hire Pete Carroll and trade for Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith in the hopes of slowly turning things around and becoming a stable franchise again. Smith discussed this recently and said that "it’s like the stars are all aligning" for the Raiders, a comment that is sure to make Chiefs fans roll their eyes.
Geno Smith claims that 'stars are aligning' for Raiders
Chiefs fans will find this comical because how many times has a team in the division said this since the Patrick Mahomes era began only to find out that nothing has changed? The Chargers have had this happen to them a few times as have the Broncos and now it appears to be the Raiders' turn.
There does seem to be a belief that Tom Brady is going to help turn things around for the Raiders. While he's only a minority owner with the team, Brady has clearly been a big part of the decision-making group for the Raiders and has helped bring in both Carroll and Smith. The new Raiders quarterback said that he thinks the move to Vegas will be good for him and Carroll.
“It’s all the things that you would want. I could see Pete, but all the guys that he would want to be a part of it? We’re here, we’re doing this thing together. And I was sick, man, when [Carroll] left Seattle—I was sick. And I didn’t see this coming. I think it’s going to be great for both of us.”
At this point, what else is Smith supposed to say? Of course he has to say that the stars are aligning for the Raiders to be better and onto something better because otherwise, that'd be pretty depressing to bring in a quarterback who doesn't believe in what the franchise is doing.
Chiefs fans know better though. Just like how until a team comes in and can officially take the Chiefs' crown from them, it's their division to lose, until the Raiders show they can consistently compete with the top teams in the league, it's hard to truly believe it.
manual