The strength of the Oakland Raiders - besides Derek Carr - is their offensive line. They are a huge line that can move bodies when they need to. The stats back it up as the Raiders are a top 10 rushing unit.
This could pose a problem for the Chiefs. The stats say the Chiefs defense is not so good against the run. The Chiefs are 27th in rushing yards allowed. They have given up 100 or more rushing yards in six of the last seven games (that one game was 99 yards).
The positive to look to here is that the fewest rushing yards the Chiefs have allowed in a game this year came against the Raiders earlier this season. Part of that is they got up in that game, obviously, but it was still a strong effort to hold them to 10 points.
The Chiefs are probably a little better against the run now than the stats indicate because they got Justin Houston back and he is a monster against the run. You don’t usually notice how well your pass rushers stop the run but you notice with Houston. He made an immediate impact against the run.
This comes down to the analysis we usually give for the Chiefs: start fast. The Raiders want to make the Chiefs one dimensional and the Chiefs want to do that back against the Raiders. If the Chiefs can get a healthy lead in the first half, they can get the Raiders away from running the ball and setting up play action. Because that’s the other side of this - the Raiders can make the Chiefs pay with their receivers. They can win one on one. It’s not like all they do is run. Derek Carr is an MVP candidate for a reason.
Time for the Chiefs run defense to step up. They need another one of their best games of the year if they want to beat Oakland. Again.