Oakland Raiders vs Kansas City Chiefs: The matchup details

Ah, what a week has taught us.

Kansas City, coming off a week that saw it knock out a league MVP, and still lose the game....and Oakland, coming off a week, where the offense was ok, but the defense, was....offensive.

What do we get to look for, in this fun game? Well for one, if San Diego wins in Denver, whoever wins this game, will be part of a three way tie, at 1-1 in the division. Sure, tiebreakers aside, it's still very, very early in this season.

Both teams do have positive things to bring from their prospective games. Oakland, while defensively inept, did have a QB with a rating over 110. Russell, once he was allowed to go play, didn't throw a pick, and finished with 2 touchdowns. Pretty fair, considering it was his 2nd start ever. The Raiders also had decent starts from Darren McFadden, who was above 5 yards per carry, and Ashley Lelie hauled in one touchdown.

Kansas City, for it's effort, wasn't slouching either. The running back tandem of Charles and Larry Johnson both proved viable, gaining yardage as needed, considering that the QB situation in KC is moving again. With Brodie Croyle out 2 weeks, the word is that Damon Huard is going to start, and that the backup Tyler Thigpen could see action in the KC backfield, makes things all that more complicated.

Oakland can vouch for one thing....they know tinkering with a lot of QBs in the backfield isn't helpful to a team. Last year oakland had 4 different QBs work...and that many wins too.

A lot of the questions that will show, will be if either team's defenses will be out to play. Early on, KC looked shaky against the Patriots, but after Brady's injury, Cassell relied on a more conservative approach. Nothing dangerous, but relying more on safe play, and let the defense stop the Chiefs.

Oakland meanwhile, is waiting to see if their defense will be better, after it's trashing at the hands of Denver, who had Jay Cutler passing at will....and usually catching Hall off guard all night long.

Numbers up and down, both these teams want to win, badly. Oakland wants to prove they can get past the last 5 years, while KC wants to prove that last year was an aberration.

For the books, Oakland is -7 in the overall series, while KC in KC, has been a near perfect lock. However, Oakland last year did manage to win one in KC, when Herman Edwards elected to go for it on 4th down, instead of calling for a field goal. After getting stopped, KC never touched the ball again, allowing the Raiders to run out the clock. It was Oakland's first win in the AFC West, in several years.

My opinion? If Oakland can keep KC from using the Running Back tandem, they have a chance. But Oakland will need to score early and often, to make it work.

Oakland 20 Kansas City 17.