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The Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders are up this afternoon and this game will go a long way to answering questions we have about these Chiefs. Where is this season headed? What's Jackie Battle and Jonathan Baldwin's role moving forward? Will turnovers be an area of strength for KC?
Lots of questions entering today's game we hope to have answered. Here are five of them:
Is this going to be a meaningful season for the Chiefs? If they lose and move to 2-4 with the Chargers up potentially three games in the division then this season is basically dead, as far as the playoffs are concerned. "Must win games" aren't truly must win very often but I think this is for the Chiefs. They gotta win today to keep things interesting in the AFC West.
Can Brandon Flowers make a comeback after last year? It's been a rough start to the season for Flowers because he's going up against the best receivers the opponent has to offer but this game in particular should have some extra meaning to Flowers. Last year, he was burned in overtime against Oakland on a 47-yard pass to Jacoby Ford and that's a huge play that contributed to the Chiefs loss. I remember that well and I known Flowers does, too. A year later, he sees the Raiders again. After a slow start, and after what happened in Oakland last year, does Flowers have a big game in him?
Is Jackie Battle really the Chiefs new feature back? He's had one good game and, with the bye week last week and not much to talk about, Battle's been getting a lot of hype as the Chiefs new feature back. It's funny what one game with 19 carries can do for you. Today will be a good test for Battle against Oakland's defensive line. Was Week 5 a fluke or is Battle a legitimate option for the Chiefs running game?
How does Jonathan Baldwin affect Dwayne Bowe and Steve Breaston? When talking about Baldwin and whether he'll play this week, Todd Haley noted a couple times that Bowe and Breaston have good chemistry going with Matt Cassel. It sounds like Haley didn't want Baldwin's involvement to negatively affect the momentum Bowe and Breaston have. So that's what we could find out today -- how does the Chiefs offense look with all three B's on the field?
Will the Chiefs keep the turnover-free streak going? The Chiefs started their first three games with 10 turnovers -- three against Buffalo, six against Detroit and one against San Diego. The last two games, however, they haven't turned the ball over. That's obviously the key to winning games for the Chiefs. Can they keep the streak up and continue playing like they did in 2010?