Oakland Raiders: Five Games To Circle On Team’s 2016 Schedule
By Kevin Saito
Week 6 vs. Kansas City Chiefs
After starting the 2015 season 1-5, the Chiefs went on an incredible run to close out the year – winning ten in a row, and then dismantling the Houston Texans in the Wild Card Round before falling to the Patriots in a divisional playoff game.
The Chiefs showed last season, that they too are a formidable unit. With the league’s ninth ranked offense and third ranked defense, Kansas City was so compelling last year, that many pundits are picking them to run away with the division. A few have even penciled them in as Super Bowl champions – yeah, we’re rolling our eyes at you, Maurice Jones-Drew.
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But given their success last season – including two wins over the Raiders – it’s not surprising that the Chiefs are currently the sexy pick to win the division.
If the Raiders are going to take the next step forward and put themselves in a position to win a division title and return to the playoffs, they will have to overcome the Chiefs first. The Chiefs will be poised to build on their top ten offense last year with the acquisition of former Raiders receiver Rod Streater, which will give the Chiefs a bona fide threat to play alongside Jeremy Maclin.
Between Maclin and TE Travis Kelce – who accounted for almost 2,000 of QB Alex Smith‘s 3,486 passing yards between them – Streater will give Kansas City another dimension, and Smith another weapon to work with.
Working against the Chiefs however, will be the loss of CB Sean Smith to the Raiders – which is the second year in a row Oakland was able to poach one of Kansas City’s prized free agents. The Chiefs believe that Marcus Peters is going to be just fine, but there are some who believe his terrific 2015 season – which featured his eight picks – was a direct result of Smith’s presence on the other side of the field.
The Chiefs also sustained a big blow with the news that the heart and soul of their ferocious defense, LB Justin Houston could potentially miss the entire 2016 season after needing surgery to repair his ACL. Some believe he’s well ahead of schedule in his rehab, which would be good news for the Chiefs, but it’s entirely possible that he misses a good portion of the season – which would be a big blow to Kansas City’s defense.
Whether Houston is back in time for the Week Six matchup or not, the Raiders will need to play a solid, complete, error-free game against the Chiefs. HC Andy Reid has this team clicking and if the Raiders hope to claim the AFC West crown, they will need to go through Kansas City to do it.
Next: Week Seven