Game Day! Raiders! Are you pumped? I'm about as wound up as I was for Opening Night. Late game today so everyone has time to read their Kansas City Chiefs news. Be loud today, Flowers has assured us they hear us through the TV. Go Chiefs!!
The series had some good moments in the interim. Jerome Woods saved a Monday night victory in 2003 with a tackle on the 1 on the final play. The Chiefs won a wild Christmas Day game in 2004 on a late Lawrence Tynes field goal. Jarrad Page had an end-zone interception in the final seconds that preserved a Chiefs victory in 2006.
But those aren’t the stories that will be handed down to future generations. Those stories involve Len Dawson, Otis Taylor, George Blanda, Ben Davidson and others from a long-ago era.
After lean years, Chiefs-Raiders rivalry means something again from KC Star
Kelly said he and his linemates anticipate the kind of physical battle they haven't seen all season, with Charles and Jones -- 1,204 yards combined -- pounding on them from the outset.
"You're going to get plenty of opportunities to have a conversation with both of 'em," Kelly said. "So, we just got to do like we did last two weeks, come out fast and, hopefully, we can stop the run, put the game in (Chiefs quarterback) Matt Cassel's hands and see if we can get him to win it. "... This is definitely a week you got to put your big boy pads on."
Raiders-Chiefs game looks to be an old-school clash of the league's top two running games from The San Jose Mercury News
Today: Periods of rain, mainly before 4pm. High near 62. South southwest wind between 14 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.
Game Day Forecast from The National Weather Service
Mothership Video: CHIEFS GAMEDAY REPORT: WEEK 9
NFL.com Video: Scout's take: Raiders' renaissance
Bottom line
It’s difficult to pick against the Raiders, the way they’ve been playing. We’re doing it today only because the Chiefs have the right formula to go on the road and win a game against this particular opponent. They can and probably will run the ball well and they take extraordinarily good care of the ball. If they can avoid a turnover for the fourth straight week, they’ll have their third straight win. Prediction: Chiefs 24, Raiders 20
Chiefs-Raiders scouting report from KC Star
The Raiders have fumbled the ball 18 times this season (third most in the NFL). They have lost only six of those 18.
If there is something that can be exploited about Oakland, it probably is their inability to hang onto the ball. It's just that KC would need to do something the first six opponents have not done - recover the ball.
Chiefs vs Raiders: Biggest game yet. from Upon Further Review
Although the Raiders' 4-3 hasn't been as solid against the run, the left side of their front four has been getting a good push of late. "(Tackle) Richard Seymour and (rookie end) Lamarr Houston have been really physical," an NFL team scout said. "They also like what they're getting from (rookie middle linebacker) Rolando McClain."
A good battle to watch will be Seymour against Chiefs right guard Ryan Lilja. Another key will be the matchup of Raiders rookie left tackle Jared Veldheer against outside linebacker Tamba Hali, the Chiefs' best pass rusher who has seven sacks.
Collision course: Chiefs, Raiders brace for old-school battle from The Sporting News
The midseason showdown has generated so much enthusiasm Oakland Coliseum is sold out. And with the Black Hole full, the Raiders' blackout streak of 11 straight games will come to an end.
It'll be just the 45th game out of the last 125, a run that dates to 1995, to be shown on TV.
Fun has returned to Oakland Coliseum from The Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Remember the 12th man? He rode shotgun with the Raiders through their best seasons, sitting beside them at the Coliseum in the 1970s and early '80s, returning at the dawn of the new millennium. He ached when they bled, sobbed when they lost and shared their moments of triumph.
When the team was at its most imposing, the 12th man, representing a sellout crowd and home-field advantage, offered yet another degree of intimidation.
So it will be quite intriguing this afternoon when Oakland and its long lost friend greet Kansas City in perhaps the most important regular-season game since Al Davis brought the Raiders back to town in 1995.
Monte Poole: Oakland Raiders welcome the return of the 12th man, must ensure he sticks around from The San Jose Mercury News
The Kansas City Chiefs have opened a new team Hall of Fame in the main concourse of Arrowhead Stadium, and it is spectacular. It covers more than just the Chiefs; it's actually the true AFL Hall of Fame...
...There are other kiosks that show highlights from every game of the Chiefs' 1969 Super Bowl season and the greatest plays and players in Chiefs history. Included is a video of a 1961 game in Boston's Fenway Park in which a last-play-of-the-game pass by K.C. QB Cotton Davidson was broken up in the end zone by a Boston fan who ran onto the field, unbeknownst to the officials. (The fans had crowded around the boundary of the end zone because they thought the game had ended on the play before and had rushed onto the field.)
A beautiful mind: Martz's mastery elevates Bears from The Buffalo News
In the NFL Network's series ranking the top players in NFL history, which was produced by NFL Films, former San Francisco 49er wide receiver Jerry Rice edged out former Cleveland Browns halfback Jim Brown and former New York Giants outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor as the top player...
...Time has a way of taking away the memories of great players, but I could not believe that former Grambling defensive tackle Buck Buchanan was left off the list.
The Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle was the most dominant defensive player in the American Football League and was voted to the All-AFL team six times. He was also named to the Pro Bowl in 1970 and 1971.
Dempsey's mark still in books from HoumaToday.com
LET 'EM RIDE THE PINE
Matt Cassel, QB, Kansas City -- I received an e-mail this week asking about Cassel, so I'll address it here. Although he has thrown for six touchdowns versus no interceptions over the past four weeks, Cassel simply isn't a viable fantasy option. The Chiefs are a run-first team, and Cassel doesn't have any sort of big-play threat, which limits his numbers every week.
Fantasy Adviser: We're on a hot streak now from The Hilton Head Island Packet
There is nothing pretty about the way the Chiefs go about their business, but they get the job done. This is old-school, NFL Films style football with Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones grinding down the competition for wins. Sprinkle in a hard-nosed defense, and this team would make John Facenda proud. The knock is that the five victories have come against teams with an 11-27 mark, but if Charlie Weis can develop a passing attack, the Chiefs will go far.
NFL notes: Winners, losers at midseason from The Patriot-News
Givens apparently doesn't see eye-to-eye with Lane's pick of the Raiders downing the Chiefs as the former Patriots wide receiver likes Kansas City going into the "Black Hole" in Oakland and downing the Raiders in an AFC West showdown.
David Givens Siding With Pair of Road Teams, Including Patriots, in Week 9 Grid Picks (Video) from NESN.com