(My Sportsbook) - AFC West action heats up again this Sunday when a pair of bitter rivals face-off, when the
Oakland Raiders take on the
Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Raiders are struggling following back-to-back losses to St. Louis and AFC West leader San Diego. Oakland suffered a disappointing 27-21 overtime defeat at the hands of the Chargers last week. The Raiders actually came back from a 14-point deficit during regulation, but were unable to stop San Diego in the extra frame. Oakland is suddenly slipping after being unbeatable just a few weeks ago.
"The NFL is crazy, no doubt," Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown said. "That's why you play 16 games. We knew winning four [straight] games was not going to win the Super Bowl. Losing two games doesn't take us out of it."
Kansas City is in a freefall as well, dropping consecutive games to dip below .500 for the first time since Week 2. The Chiefs have lost their last two contests by a total of four points, including last week's 37-34 overtime defeat to Denver. Kansas City blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter for the second consecutive week. The Chiefs' inability to stop the Broncos' offense led to their downfall once again.
"I think everybody saw what happened. We couldn't hold them. That's been our profile for a while right now and I don't know how to solve the problem," said Chiefs head coach Dick Vermeil. "We've got to find a way either to get further ahead and/or just keep getting better on defense and don't give up the one big play score."
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 84th regular season meeting between these two original American Football League members. Oakland leads the series, 41-40-2, including winning five straight meetings. The Raiders have won three consecutive meetings at Arrowhead Stadium, including last season's 27-24 decision on September 9.
Oakland won the last meeting, 28-26, at Network Associates Coliseum on December 9, 2001. Rich Gannon completed 18-of-24 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown in the win. Five of the last six meetings between these rivals have been decided by three points or less.
Vermeil has struggled against the Raiders in his career, posting just a 1-4 mark. Oakland head coach Bill Callahan will be making his career debut against Kansas City.
RAIDERS OFFENSE
Oakland still possesses the top-ranked offense in the NFL with 433.8 yards per contest. Gannon is one of the main reasons for the Raiders' offensive success, throwing for the second best yardage total (2,048) in the NFL and posting the best quarterback rating (101).
Last week, Gannon completed 35-of-45 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns, while only being picked off once. The 36-year-old's efforts went by the wayside partially because of his squad's lack of efficiency in the red zone.
"We're horrible in the red zone," Brown explained. "We're not cashing in."
Gannon has made it clear that there is plenty of blame to be spread throughout the offense. However, the seasoned veteran believes the losing streak is another challenge for his club.
"It's a test for all of us," Gannon said. "I don't know of any team in the NFL that doesn't go through adversity...This is our time."
The Raiders' most lethal receiving weapon in recent weeks has been 40-year-old Jerry Rice. Gannon found Rice nine times for 86 yards and a touchdown against the Chargers. Over the past two weeks, Rice has 16 catches for 219 yards and a score.
Rice needs just one touchdown to become the 1st in NFL history to score 200 in his career. The wideout has been outstanding on the road this year, averaging 101.3 receiving yards per contest.
Brown and Jerry Porter are also talented pass catchers for the Raiders. The duo has combined to post 54 catches for 725 yards and six touchdowns this season.
Running back Charlie Garner has been a dangerous pass receiving threat out of the backfield. Garner has hauled in 32 balls for 337 yards and three scores this season. The University of Tennessee product has also racked up 419 yards on 57 carries (7.4 ypc) and three touchdowns.
Due to an early deficit, the Raiders' running game went flat against the Chargers. Garner only received seven carries, rushing for 24 yards in the loss. Expect the Raiders to hand the ball to Garner much more often in this contest.
CHIEFS DEFENSE
The Chiefs' defense has folded like a cheap suit this season, surrendering a league-worst 441 yards per contest. Vermeil isn't ready to lay all the blame on defensive coordinator Greg Robinson's shoulders.
"What would you like me to tell you? He's my defensive coordinator, I brought him here, he's a damn good football coach and the other coaches that work with him are responsible for the performance of the defense and I am, number one, responsible for the defense," said Vermeil.
"I'm not going to sit here and criticize my coaches for you and if you already have your story written write it."
Kansas City has been especially weak against the pass, surrendering a league- worst 322.1 yards per contest through the air. The Chiefs' young corners weren't the problem last week, as Broncos' tight end Shannon Sharpe had a career day with 12 catches for 214 yards and two touchdowns.
The Chiefs' linebackers were victimized in man-to-man coverage with the future Hall-of-Fame tight end. Mike Maslowski, who led the team with 11 tackles in the game, was beat badly on an 82-yard score for Sharpe. Vermeil thinks he knows why his team is giving up big plays.
"We haven't had safety support. We treat the scheme to keep safeties more in a position to help out. That's why we play more double zone which we got beat on twice the other day," said Vermeil. "Actually this year this is the first time we've had a problem with it. When you play more of it there's more of a reason to attack it."
Losing S Jerome Woods early in the season to a broken leg has hurt the production of the safeties. Strong safety Greg Wesley, who should be back this week after missing two consecutive games with injuries, and free safety Shaunard Harts must help out more this week or the Raiders will have a field day against the Kansas City secondary.
The Chiefs have been relatively successful at stopping the run, limiting foes to just 118.9 yards per contest. However, they have been allowing 4.9 yards per carry, which is 15th in the AFC.
Kansas City's run defense hasn't been helped by rookie nose tackle Ryan Sims being out for the year with an elbow injury. Defensive tackles Derrick Ransom and John Browning must do a better job if the Chiefs expect to slow down Garner.
CHIEFS OFFENSE
The Chiefs are one of the few teams in the league that have a comparable offense to the Raiders. Kansas City's offense is run-based though, as All-Pro running back Priest Holmes is the focus of the attack.
Holmes has racked up 766 yards and 12 touchdowns this season, ranking him second behind only San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson in rushing. The former Baltimore Raven has rushed for over 100 yards in four of seven contests this season.
Holmes proved himself up to a stern challenge last week, as he managed to post 113 yards against the NFL's top-ranked rush defense (Denver). The 29-year-old ate up 4.7 yards per carry against the Broncos, who are surrendering only 3.6 per attempt on average.
Kansas City will likely be feeding the ball to Holmes a lot this week after watching Tomlinson register 153 yards on the ground against the Raiders last week. It will take a dedication to the run though, as it took Tomlinson 39 carries to muster his yardage.
The Chiefs are a solid passing team as well led by starting signal-caller Trent Green, who owns the third best quarterback rating (95.1) in the AFC. Green has completed 64 percent of his passes for 1,656 yards and 15 touchdowns this year.
Green didn't post gaudy numbers against the Broncos, but he did connect on 20- of-33 attempts for 172 yards and no picks. The 32-year-old wasn't given much time to find the open receiver, as he was sacked four times in the narrow loss. It didn't help that he was playing on an extremely sore ankle in the contest.
The Chiefs' offensive line must protect Green better this week, considering Oakland has registered 15 sacks this week. It will be crucial that Green make intelligent snap decisions to avoid the pass rush.
All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez must find open space and present himself as a target for Green. Gonzalez has only seven catches for 69 yards a touchdown over the last two weeks. The Chiefs also need a wideout to step up and become a viable option in the offense.
RAIDERS DEFENSE
Despite allowing Tomlinson to wear them down last week, the Raiders still have one of the best defenses against the run in the NFL (94.7 ypg). Oakland must prove that this week against Holmes. The Raiders understand the challenge that Holmes presents.
"It's time to go to work," linebacker Bill Romanowski said. "All we can do is see what we did wrong, work on it, practice to fix it and work on the next opponent -- because the last I heard, he's a pretty good back himself."
Oakland struggled staying in its gaps against the Chargers and Tomlinson took advantage. Free safety Rod Woodson thinks a lack of trust is part of the problem.
"I still believe it," Woodson said. "You've got to trust each other. You have to play within the system, and you have to take care of your gaps. When people are not in their position...when you're all doing that, you're going to get holes. And these guys are paid to find them. Marshall found them with two big runs. LaDainian, it was just all day long."
Callahan must have his linebacking corps playing at its best this week to keep Holmes from beating him. Eric Barton and rookie Napoleon Harris will have to fill the gaps successfully, limiting Holmes' cutback lanes.
The Raiders' secondary suffered a big loss this week when rookie cornerback Philip Buchanon was diagnosed with a broken wrist and had to undergo surgery. Buchanon, who was having an excellent inaugural campaign, will miss at least the next eight weeks.
Oakland's pass defense has already struggled this year, giving up 242.5 yards per contest. The return of Charles Woodson is huge, but losing Buchanon limits the Silver and Black's depth in the secondary.
The Raiders will be on a mission to stop Holmes, but they better keep their eyes on Green or he will light them up. Kansas City is impossible to stop, but the Raiders will do an adequate job slowing it down.
