Oakland Raiders v Kansas City Chiefs: X-Factors To Keep An Eye On

The Other Guys

Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper are going to draw the lion’s share of the attention from Kansas City’s secondary. And rightly so. The dynamic duo is one of the best receiving tandems in the league. Teams have to scheme and game plan to stop the both of them. Or – at least, try to stop them. Nobody has had a tremendous amount of success shutting them both down at the same time.

But with so much attention going toward Cooper and Crabtree, that could put slot receiver Seth Roberts and tight ends Clive Walford and Mychal Rivera in position to see more targets and have a big impact on this game.

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Walford and Rivera, because of their size and skill, present matchup problems for a lot of linebackers and have the ability to chew up big chunks of yards. And the speedster Roberts is a bit of an unsung hero for this Raiders team, catching 31 passes for 332 yards and five scores on the season.

If the Raiders can get their running game working, it’s going to soften up that middle a bit, which might allow Walford, Rivera, and Roberts to get a little space to make some plays.

Effectively using his slot receiver and tight ends to keep the chains – and the offense – moving and in a steady rhythm, will not only allow the Raiders to dictate the pace of the game, but it will keep the offense off the field – and give Smith and the Chiefs a taste of their own medicine.