FanPost

Over Looked is just Fine for Your Chiefs and My Raiders




I am visiting you once again from the rival brother site of Silver and Black Pride which means that yes, I am an Oakland Raiders fan. I wanted to point that out right away so as not to be confused since the great Marcus Allen is a Hall Of Fame Chief along with being an all time Raider great and my namesake. I believe this initial paragraph and the title has gotten my Raider fanhood overly clarified however I am not here to troll so you can continue reading without worry or fear of abusive intolerance.

I decided to come over and post on your site about some things that have caught my own attention:

  1. The Denver Broncos acquisition of Peyton Manning has once again thrust us into the shadows in the mass mainstream media for AFC West Champion considerations.
  2. Our teams are incredibly similar in many ways. It sets us up to once again be incredibly worthy adversaries, thus continuing our storied history as the best and most under-appreciated rivalry in all of the NFL.

As for the first topic listed above I say just one word: GOOD. I love being the underdog and being unjustly written off before the season even begins. Yes my team has had many years of deservedly being written off the face of the earth but in recent years we have regained the heart that was missing for far too long. So has your franchise, although your low was not as far down as ours had been.

The fact that everybody is looking to the Rockies for our division's next championship means that we will be able to get that much closer to their turned backs before they realize we are poised to attack. I believe that our teams will be battling for the division title this year, despite the 6 foot 3 220lb QB with a laser rocket arm joining our division rival.

I believe that our division has gone from being considered lowly and uncompetitive to being possibly the best division in all of football. The press is of course behind this train of thought but the world will see the impressive development of our once proud division when the season is in full swing. There is not a weak team in our division anymore, every single team (even the annoyingly arrogant Chargers) has things that can be pointed to for reasons to believe that next season will be successful.

I hope (as I always do) that it is us battling for the championship though, because as I have believed ever since the days of Marcus Allen that the NFL is just plain better when both our teams are playing well. Our rivalry is often ignored when talking about the greatest rivalries in sports but there is no question that we belong at the very top of that list. From the AFL to the NFL, from the Late Mr. Hunt to the Late Mr. Davis and beyond our teams have battled and will continue to deliver top notch, lay it all on the line and light up each other performances. At least our own fans will always appreciate each and every Raider/Chief game.

The things that strike me as very similar for our teams are mostly on offense but I think our defensive line is very similar as well. Both of our defensive lines are fast and strong with motors that do not quit. If we have to run you down from behind we will and if we get our hands on you then you will be going down. You have Tamba Hali who I consider the best DE in all of football, while we have Richard Seymour who is one of the best leaders in the league for any defense. We both want to win by dominating the point of impact.

Offensively though what strikes me the most is that we both have quarterbacks that are disrespected and overlooked for the good things they do due to their inconsistencies in some other departments. Cassell and Palmer I think are both poised to have impressive years.

Cassell makes great decisions and his low interception rate gets over looked because sometimes he is too safe, where Palmer's high interception rate makes people over look his impressive control at the line of scrimmage. Both have areas they need to work on but are not nearly as bad as many people try to make them out to be. They both even get low blows from their own fanbases at times too. They are far better than the general opinion seems to rate them.

We both have very strong and young wide receiver cores that need to have breakout seasons for either of our teams to be successful. You have Bowe who is a clear cut number one where we really haven't had a receiver come out and clearly deserve to be considered a number one. Darrius Heyward-Bey has grown leaps and bounds which people all across the country have not really taken notice of. He could earn the right to clearly be considered a number one this year, but will always be downgraded for being drafted too high.

The last major similarity for the offense is that our young running backs are coming off of major injuries. Charles and McFadden when healthy can battle any other player in the league for top honors at their position. Both kill you with speed and vision. Each can make a play that seems like it is going no where turn into a huge gain and both are chomping at the bit to get back on the field. If either of our teams expect to succeed then even more important than our young receivers stepping up is having our all pro running backs stay healthy all year.

Last but not least on our similarities is with our coaches. We both have strong minded, defensive orientated coaches. Romeo showed his worth last year in the final three games, especially with the impressive defensive performance against the then undefeated Green Bay Packers. Dennis Allen took over an awful Denver defense and made them play to the very best of their abilities. Both earned their spots as the head of our respective teams with great defense and great player communication. Players want to get on the field and give them their all, and they want to do it out of love not fear.

I know you guys do not think highly of my Raiders but I think that is a mistake to underestimate us, which is the same as my fanbase with your team. We often disrespect each other due to the rivalry but we both need to keep an eye out for each other in 2012. I use disrespect as a term based off the player personal though, because we have always had that begrudging respect for each others team that makes playing each other so much fun! Good luck to you and yours, although obviously I hope my team has better luck. No matter what happens lets make an agreement to keep those dang Broncos out of the winners circle this year!

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.