Kansas City Chiefs vs. Oakland Raiders: 10 Keys To Victory for Todd Haley
The Kansas City Chiefs will be traveling to California this Sunday as they prepare for an important divisional match-up against the hated Oakland Raiders.
Second-year head coach Todd Haley has this team flying high at 5-2 and they will need a execute a solid game-plan in order to beat the upstart Raiders. Kansas City has beat Oakland each of the last two years that they have traveled there, and it both times it came down to the last few minutes of the game.
I have come up with ten things that the Chiefs need to in order to leave Oakland with a win on Sunday.
10. Get pressure on Raiders QB Jason Campbell
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The Raiders offensive line has struggled mightily at times this season and as a result, has given up 22 sacks to opposing defenses.
Current Starting QB Jason Campbell has been put on the turf 15 times and the Chiefs need to take advantage of a weak Oakland offensive line and keep the heat on Campbell all day.
Veteran linebacker Tamba Hali should help out in this category as he leads the league in QB hurries and has seven sacks already this season.
9. Secondary needs to limit big plays
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The Chiefs young secondary unit has been burned many times this season off of play-action passes.
This trend needs to stop this Sunday in Oakland has Oakland has a new deep threat in Darrius Heyward-Bey and might have talented receiver Louis Murphy as well.
Kansas City's duo of starting safeties Eric Berry and Kendrick Lewis will need to have sound coverage on a Raiders receiving corps that seems to be on the rise.
8. Pound the ball with Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones
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Clearly, the the bread and butter for the Chiefs offense this season has been the run game. This will need to continue if the Chiefs are going to be the Raiders this weekend.
The Chiefs rushing attack is currently ranked number one in the NFL for yards per game and their star back, Jamaal Charles is number one in the league with a 6.5 yards per carry average.
Also, if KC can successfully pound the rock against a stingy Oakland rush defense, this will take more pressure off QB Matt Cassel and will make it easier for the Chiefs to escape the black hole with a victory.
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7. Todd Haley doesn't gamble too much
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Chiefs head coach Todd Haley has been known to take many gambles this year, and his favorite gamble seems to be on fourth down plays with the offense.
So far, the results are somewhat mixed, but many believe that Haley has left a lot of points on the field with some of his failed gambling attempts.
He will need to limit his gambles this week because if he gets too many wrong, the Chiefs will likely not be able to recover against a hot team on the road.
6. Matt Cassel continues to get the ball to his playmakers
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Chiefs QB Matt Cassel has been very affective this year as a game manager of his offense.
Cassel has down a solid job of getting the ball into the hands of his other KC teammates that can make plays like Dwayne Bowe and rookies Tony Moeaki and Dexter McCluster.
The trio of nine touchdowns between them and Cassel will need to find any of these three solid wide-outs early and often on Sunday afternoon.
5. Charlie Weis cant outthink himself
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Chiefs offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has had a tendency to make some questionable play calls on offense this season.
Last week against Buffalo, Weis elected to pass on third and one and the pass was broken up and the Chiefs had to punt because of it. This kind of scenario has occurred several times this season and seems mind-boggling when the Chiefs have by far the number one rush offense in the league.
Weis can't afford to make these kind of mistakes against a solid Raiders defense or it could be a long day for his offense.
4. They must slow down Raiders RBs McFadden and Bush
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The Oakland Raiders duo of running back Darren McFadden and Michael Bush have been lethal in their ground game this year as the two of racked up 975 yards combined.
McFadden has averaged 133 yards in his last two games and it he will be looking to add more against the Chiefs this week.
The KC defense needs to hold their gaps and linebackers Derrick Johnson and Jovan Belcher, along with rookie safety Eric Berry need to come up often in run support to stymie the NFL's number two rated rushing offense.
3. Limit the penalties
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There is no doubt that Oakland-Alameda County Stadium will be rocking for this upcoming match-up and the Chiefs need to not let it get to them.
On offense, it will be important that Matt Cassel and the rest of his offensive teammates are on the right track as they will have to deal with a very loud and obnoxious bunch of Raiders fans.
The Chiefs have looked lost at times this year when it has come to players knowing their assignment before plays. This cannot repeat itself if the Chiefs expect to win this big division game.
2. Offensive line protects Cassel
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Kansas City's offensive line has been a pleasant surprise this year as it has only given up eight QB sacks in seven games.
The additions of center Casey Wiegmann and right guard Ryan Lilja have done wonders for a line that was consistently awful last season.
The Raiders have a solid pass rush and come at offenses with many different players so this should be a good test for the Chiefs offensive line. They will need to play like they did in Indianapolis earlier this season when they virtually shut down Colts star defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis.
1. Team needs to continue to play mistake-free football
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Kansas City currently ranks 8th in the NFL with a 0.7 turnover margin per game and QB Matt Cassel hasn't thrown an interception in 133 straight attempts.
They have been playing smart, disciplined football for most of the season so far and will need to keep this trend going in a hostile environment this weekend in Oakland.
The Chiefs can't beat themselves because the Raiders will likely be ready to pounce all over it with their home-field advantage.
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