A week two rematch is in the works as the Chiefs travel to Oakland to take on the 3-8 Raiders, last time the Chiefs and Raiders met the Silver and Black left Arrowhead with a convincing 23-8 victory that was not as close as the scoreboard indicates. Darren McFadden ran for 164 yards and his teammate Michael Bush chipped in with 90 yards on the ground and when Damon Huard was injured Tyler Thigpen saw his first action of the season. The Chiefs would like to believe they have improved since the last time they saw the Raiders but the Chiefs will have no stroll in the park Sunday, the Raiders are playing better as of late they lost by one point to Buffalo and have beaten the playoff bound Jets and Broncos.

The Chiefs had better be prepared to stop the run this week as they are likely to get a heavy dose of it again, last week against the Broncos the Raiders ran the ball 41 times compared to 11 passes and won 31-10. The victory kept the Raiders alive mathmaticaly in the divisional race and pulled them within one game of San Diego for 2nd place in the division. Meanwhile the Chiefs are coming off their worst defensive performance in team history as they gave up 54 points at home against the Bills last week. No doubt the Raiders will be licking their chops thinking of turning their three headed rushing attack loose on the Chiefs who have struggled against the run all season and found their most success against more pass oriented offenses.

Chan Gailey has been a key factor in the Chiefs aerial renaissance over the past couple of weeks but Gailey may have relied to heavily on the pass last week. Larry Johnson averaged over ten yards a carry against the Bills but only got seven carries, Jamal Charles also looked electric last week but only got a handful of touches. The whole reason the Chiefs incorporated the spread offense was to take advantage of Tyler Thigpen?s talents and to get the rest of the league to respect the Chiefs passing game keeping eight defenders out of the box. Mission accomplished the rest of the league has got the memo on the Chiefs passing attack this week the Chiefs need to take it to the ground against the Raiders who rank 29th in the league against the rush giving up 160 yards a game.

Keys to the Game

Stop the Raiders rushing attack: The Raiders rank 10th in the league in rushing gaining 122 yards a game, last time the Chiefs and Raiders met the Raiders had their way. Led by Darren McFadden and Michael Bush the Raiders carved the Chiefs up for over 200 yards in that game, The Chiefs have not been able to stop any team that has been serious about running the ball all season, if the Chiefs are going to gain any momentum to finish out the season it starts with a win at Oakland. If the Chiefs are going to win at Oakland they are going to have to stop the run and force the struggling JaMarcus Russell to beat them thru the air.

Give Larry Johnson 20 Carries: For the Chiefs to be successful L.J. needs 20 carries, he does not need 3 TD?s or 150 yards rushing the Chiefs simply need to hand him the ball 20 times. Last week he averaged over 10 yards a carry and only touched the rock seven times, that is inexcusable. The Chiefs were pass happy last week even before the were down big they were throwing in running situations, the benefit of giving L.J. 20 carries is two fold if you give L.J. 20 touches he will more than likely get his yards secondly by the time you get to the 4th quarter the Raiders will be worn down from having to find a way to drag down Larry 20 times leaving no energy for them to keep up with the quick hitting spread offense.

Win the battle of field position: Last week against the Chiefs the Bills had 13 drives 6 of them started on their side of the field that resulted in 54 points. Special teams and turnovers have led to opponents having great field position and on the opposite end the Chiefs have had horrible field position all season and are on their third kick returner. The good news is the kick return duties are now in the hands of rookie Kevin Robinson who was drafted to be the returner of the future and has recently came of the physically unable to perform list and will be looking to add a spark to the return game. The Chiefs could use Robinson?s return abilities and he has five games left to show what he can do.

Injury Report

Donnie Edwards LB Hamstring Out

Adrian Jones G Ankle Out

Patrick Surtain CB Quadricep Out

Tamba Hali DE Ankle Questionable

Alfonso Boone DE Back Questionable

Tank Tyler DT Hip Questionable

Mark Bradley WR Calf Questionable

Raiders Report

Ricky Brown LB Groin Out

Jake Grove C Calf Out

Kalimba Edwards DE Hip Questionable

Zach Miller TE Groin Questionable

Chaz Schilens WR Ankle Questionable

Weather Report: Kickoff in Oakland will be 69 degrees and mostly sunny with a 3 mile per hour south easterly breeze

Final Score: Raiders 13 Chiefs 24

When these teams play you can always throw out the measurables of talent, speed and coaching. Intense rivalry games like Packers – Vikings and Chiefs – Raiders come down to things like want, desire and of course hatred. Even though these teams have been down the past couple of years they still hate each other and both teams want to annihilate the other one. This game will come down to which team can stop the run and get their perspective run game going. This is the Weakest team the Chiefs have played since they played the same Raiders team week two if the young players want to show how much they have grown this game is the perfect measuring stick.