If it were flex season yet among the TV networks, Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders would be a candidate to get flexed to the Sunday night game. It's an old-school rivalry and it actually means something in the AFC West. (Yes, it's still weird to type that).
You can usually gauge how big games are by looking at where networks like ESPN and NFL Network send their crews. If that's the case, then this is a big game. Raiders DT Tommy Kelly tells Peter King he's seen those folks coming out to Oakland this week.
"A couple TV people came around this week, and I saw 'em, and I said, 'Hey, I've seen them on TV.' But they've never been here before,'' defensive Tommy Kelly told me, laughing. "You know how it's been for us. We go home and watch the shows Sunday night, and our game always get one highlight.''
Kelly says it's the biggest game in his career. He came into the league in 2004 and the Raiders haven't won more than five games in a season since then (though that's not to say the Chiefs weren't down for a few of those years).
So is this the game of the week in the NFL?
Other candidates include
Dolphins-
Ravens, Bucs-
Falcons,
Giants-
Seahawks and
Colts-
Eagles. The current Sunday night game -- Dallas at Green Bay -- doesn't seem so great anymore. I'd give the edge to the Chiefs-Raiders and Bucs-Falcons because a division game means more and the ultimate nod to Chiefs-Raiders because of the long rivalry.
Check out the rest of Peter King's story. It includes all those interesting stats we've been hearing this week: Raiders have never had two straight 500-yard games until the last two weeks, the Chiefs have only allowed more than 20 points once this season, etc.
