Silver and Black Report

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For years, Oakland has attempted to play spoiler at the end of their campaigns – up till 2010 – where they knew going into the final weekend that the post-season was not an option.

Year after year, Oakland generated one of the league’s worst records and consistently found ways to tank it at the end of the campaign. In 2011, they have a chance at the playoffs and the team who hasn’t had a losing record since the 2003 season has a chance to spoil it all.

The San Diego Chargers are cherishing an opportunity to send their rivals packing for the winter.

“Oh yeah,” said Pro Bowl bound safety Eric Weddle. “I don’t want the Raiders to go. I don’t want Denver to go. I want us to go. We have control over one more game. We’ll try our hardest to spoil their seasons.”

The Raiders can clinch an AFC West title with a win and a Denver loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. A wild card berth can be had with a win, and help elsewhere as well.

“We don’t get paid to come in and mope around and lay down and b.s. through the last game,” stated Chargers guard Tyronne Green. “You’ve got to go out and try and give yourself some edge on next season. Going out on a loss makes it a long off-season. Better to go out with a win.”

Oakland will surely get help from Kansas City, as they aren’t planning to lay down and let Denver parade into games the following weekend.

“If some guys want to look at it as spoiling [Denver’s] season and that’s how we’ll get a win, then it is what it is,” commented Chiefs cornerback Javier Arenas.

This could mark the biggest game in Oakland since their AFC Championship game versus the Titans during the 2002 season.

It’s customary to see many Raider fans in San Diego when the two foes meet in Southern California. This weekend, I doubt we’ll see many Charger fans filling the seats at the O.co Coliseum.

Antonio Garay stated: “We all know the feeling between the Chargers and Raiders and their fans. They don’t like each other.”

Neither do the players. And for the first time in a long-time, the tables are turned on the field, so expect a lot of intensity on Sunday.

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The Oakland Raiders had a key win today at Kansas City, defeating the Chiefs 16-13 in overtime.

Hue Jackson’s team can clinch an AFC Wets crown with a win versus the San Diego Chargers at home next week and a Denver Broncos loss versus the Chiefs.

If by chance the Bengals, Jets, Titans and Raiders are all 9-7 by the end of next weekend, Oakland would get the final wild-card seed.

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Richard Seymour

I’ve talked about the veteran showing up and leading by example, and how he has failed to do so in vital games this season. Well, today, Seymour keyed Oakland’s road win with two blocked field goals. At the end of the half, with the game tied at three, Seymour got his hands on a Ryan Succop’s kick, his first miss since September. Then, with momentum on the Chiefs’ side and the game clock hitting all zeros, Seymour blocked Succop’s game winning attempt to send the game into overtime.

He also led a charge on a 4^th down that Kansas City could not convert on.

Denarius Moore and Darrius Heyward-Bey

Both wide receivers made important plays all afternoon. After a Hue Jackson time out in the 3^rd quarter, on a 2^nd and 18, Moore streaked pass Kansas City’s safety and Carson Palmer hit him for a 61-yard score. That gave Oakland a 10-3 lead.

On the first play of overtime, Heyward-Bey hauled in a 53-yard bomb, which set up the game-clinching field goal. Jackson stated: “Sometimes you save a play in your pocket,” Romeo Crennel said after the game that on both plays, the safeties were victimized and it was similar coverage played in both critical downs.

“We set it up all day with the run and then called it. That was Carson Palmer at his finest,” Oakland’s head coach was quoted after the game.

Moore had four catches for 94-yards and Heyward-Bey finished with 70-yards on four grabs.

Special Teams

Bryan McCann: Oakland got going quickly on the road with McCann’s 91-yard return. That set-up Sebastian Janikowski’s first field goal of the game and gave the Raiders a quick 3-0 lead in the opening minutes.

Shane Lechler boomed a 76-yard punt that helped altered field position and Janikowski had three field goals (28, 31, 36). John Fassel almost pulled off another touchdown on a fake field goal, but it was nullified by a delay of game. Brandon Myers scampered 36-yards to paydirt on a beautifully executed fake.

The dangerous combo of Dexter McCluster and Javier Arenas were held to 44-yards of total return yards.

Matt Giordano and Stanford Routt

Routt had some chain moving penalties and was beaten by Dwayne Bowe for a touchdown late in the 4^th quarter, but he had a crucial interception earlier to thwart a Kansas City drive. Giordano also had a momentum swinging pick in the end zone that he returned 62-yards, on a 3^rd and 3 when the Chiefs looked like they were going in for a score.

MORE FROM THE GAME…

PENALTIES A-PLENTY

Oakland had 15 penalties for 92-yards. Many of them wiped away good plays or extended Kansas City drives. The Chiefs were also infracted many times, tallying 88-yards on 11 penalties. There were two illegal formation flags on Oakland when they tried to bulk up the line with additional linemen on (S.Heyer & K.Barnes), a holding on Jared Veldheer that nullified a nice Michael Bush run and the delay of game on the Myers score.

“They’ve been playing good defense and we knew it was going to be a physical game, that it was going to be ugly,” Palmer said. “We talked about getting an ugly win. An ugly win is always better than a pretty loss.”

The Raiders have been penalized 155 times for 1,293 yards this season. Kansas City has the NFL record with 158 for 1,304, set in 1998.

WHERE’S THE RUN?

Inexplicably, Jackson was pass happy with his play calling early in the contest against the 24^th ranked rush defense. Bush had a workmanlike 23-carries for 70-yards, but with Palmer throwing early picks and pressured into miscues, it could’ve been in Oakland’s best interest to establish more of a run presence.

Jackson said: “When you win like this, you take the win however you can get it, especially this late in the season. We should enjoy this. Last week we lost a game like this. I wish we could win 40-12, but we haven’t had one of those yet.”

CRENNEL AFTERWARDS…

“We had a couple of field goals blocked, we got a couple balls thrown over our head, we turned the ball over a couple times. In the NFL, it’s hard to win when you do those kinds of things.”

UGLY BOTH WAYS…

It wasn’t pretty either way, as both teams combined for 26 penalties, 6-of-23 on 3^rd downs and both passers had two interceptions apiece.

Oakland allowed 435-total yards of offense and were bad on defense late when they needed to close the game.

McCluster’s 49-yard catch and run, weaving through Chuck Bresnahan’s defense was troubling, especially after they surrendered the lead last weekend versus the Lions. After Janikowski gave the Raiders a seven point lead, Kansas City drove 80-yards on five plays to tie the game with 1:02 remaining.
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Hue Jackson declined to rule Darren McFadden out for Saturday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. But after weeks of saying he’s getting closer, healed up and heading for action eventually sometime in the season, he had this tidbit, on the rusher and Jacoby Ford, “Obviously, it doesn’t look great if a guy’s not out here moving around.”

He continued: “But they’re not totally ruled out as of yet.”

Huh? More ambiguous comments, which has infuriated many fans.

The Oakland Raiders will head to Kansas City on Friday, where they will assess his condition and decide if he can suit up on Saturday. It’s unlikely he’ll play with two-months of inactivity and no practices under his belt.

Here was a time-line of events after McFadden’s injury, with Jackson’s comments about his progress throughout the tail end of the season:

Raider Time Line: Darren McFadden’s Injury

WHO HATES THE RAIDERS?

When asked if he hated the Chiefs’ fiercest rivals, interim head coach Romeo Crennel said, “Do I hate the Raiders? To be honest with you I really don’t hate anybody. But I dislike the Raiders because they are a divisional opponent and they are going to try to whip me basically. And I don’t like to get beat so I’m going to put the best foot forward and I’m going to do a good job against these guys but I don’t hate the Raiders. It’s a big rivalry, I understand that and the fans, they might want to hear me say I hate the Raiders. But that would be me walking down the street and you want me to say I hate this guy over here because he’s just walking down the street. That’s not the case, when you talk about hate, I think hate is a strong word and I don’t hate anybody.”

A complete opposite of what their former coach said some time ago:

“I never liked the Raiders.” – Todd Haley

For more memorable quotes from this great rivalry, go to this archived piece written in 2010:

Chiefs vs. Raiders: Quotes to Remember

MORE

Al Saunders on Oakland playing on the road:

“I think we’ve done a real good job as an offensive football team handling venues away from here. Every team is equipped to handle the silent count mechanics in an away game. I was there for 15 years, a lot of years in Kansas City with Marty [Schottenheimer] and Dick Vermeil. It is, for the opponents, it is a difficult place to play from a noise standpoint and now they’ve restructured the stadium and it seems like it comes down on you even more. I was with Baltimore last year and we played there in the playoffs and the noise hasn’t changed. It’s difficult but probably no more than the indoor venue in Minnesota. That was quite a noisy place for us to play and we handled Denver very well in the first game of the year so that shouldn’t be a problem for us.”

In eight career games versus the Chiefs, Richard Seymour has only one sack. C.Palmer is 69-of-116 for 756 yards, 4 TD and 6 INT career against Kansas City.
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On Saturday, two teams who need a victory and loads of help for a post-season berth will meet at Arrowhead Stadium. The Oakland Raiders (7-7) have squandered a divisional lead and are in the midst of a three-game losing streak. The Kansas City Chiefs (6-8) are coming off a victory against the unbeaten defending Super Bowl champs and feel good under interim coach Romeo Crennel. History dictates this could be a solid match-up with a thrilling ending, as many times in the past, both of these rivals have met late in the season with either or both needing a win to make the playoffs.

OAKLAND RAIDERS

On Offense:

Oakland has lost the personality that made them such a tough football team earlier in the season. They used to be a ground-based club, but since Jason Campbell’s injury and Darren McFadden’s absence, they’ve leaned heavily on Carson Palmer and have not been as successful running the football.

Carson Palmer has a career record of 3-5 versus Crennel and is very aware of his coaching prowess. “If there is one thing that I know, it’s that Romeo is a good coordinator. I don’t know what he’s going to come out in. I just know that they’ll be well-prepared and well-coached,” stated Palmer.

Palmer is 158-of-249 for 1,834 yards with 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions against Crennel defenses.

Kansas must realize that this is not the same Palmer they faced weeks ago. Safety Kendrick Lewis stated: “He has a better feel of how to get his play-makers the ball. You can just see that he’s a different quarterback because he’s comfortable with the playbook and everything that they’ve since setup for him.”

On Defense:

The seat could get hotter for Chuck Bresnahan if the Raiders’ defense collapses again or carries over their horrid play from last Sunday.

A few days later, Bresnahan was still answering questions regarding Calvin Johnson’s performance. “At the end of the day, we failed because, when you allow somebody to have 200-plus yards in receiving yardage and making impact plays like he did, we obviously didn’t do a good enough job on defense,” said Bresnahan.

Oakland must pressure Kyle Orton, who sprayed the ball around to ten different targets and amassed nearly 300-yards passing on Sunday.

No pass rush this week for Oakland will equate to a long afternoon.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

On Offense:

“That was about the most fun as I’ve had on a football field,” Orton stated about their game versus the Packers.

They ran the ball for 139 yards, led by Thomas Jones’ 15 carries. Steve Breaston, Dwayne Bowe and tight end Leonard Pope, led the way last weekend.

What will be imperative for the Chiefs is their play calling and execution when they get inside the 20-yard line. They needed three Ryan Succop field goals to pull off a win last weekend. “We have to try to get touchdowns when we get to the red zone, which will become critical for us in the next couple of weeks here so we have to try to get that done,” Crennel said.

On Defense:

Tamba Hali will go against one of the better left tackles in the AFC. “Tamba comes to work every day,” said Crennel.

The speedy defender has five sacks in his last four games, and in 11 career contests against the Silver & Black, he has tallied 6.5.

Derrick Johnson has played fabulous football in 2011 and a lock to make the Pro Bowl. He also is furious about their recent lack of success at home versus Oakland.

“That just has to stop,” ILB Derrick Johnson said. “A couple times they came in and whipped us. That has to change. We remember last year where they just punked us good.”

GAME NOTES

• “There’s a good chance he could be back out there and give us a little spark and a little lift in another area for our football team,” Hue Jackson said of rookie Denarius Moore and the possibility of seeing him back on special teams on Saturday.
• “He’s carried the ball quite a bit,” Jackson commented on RB Michael Bush. “There was a stretch there where he was averaging 30 attempts a game.” Bush has surpassed career totals in rushing and carries.
• Jacoby Ford, Darren McFadden and John Henderson will likely be out. It doesn’t look good either for Michael Huff, who was inactive versus the Lions and was a no-show in practice.
• Marcel Reece on Oakland’s chances at the post-season: “We’re still playing for the playoffs. We’re playing for each other right now. And that’s what it all comes down to, playing for the next man, that man next to you because that’s what we want… We’re still playing for the playoffs because we still believe we have a chance.”

KEY MATCHUPS

Kyle Orton vs. Carson Palmer

Both passers have the ability to light it up. Palmer was impressive last week, and his only miscue was an overthrow to Moore. Orton was sacked five times last time he met the Raiders, but that was in Denver and he did not have this set of wide receivers.

Special Teams?

Dexter McCluster and Javier Arenas are elusive and dangerous. Oakland’s pair of kickers will be vital, both putting up points in a tight game and shifting field position with their powerful legs.

PREDICTION

Raiders 27 – Chiefs 23

Oakland has been a better road team this season. The Chiefs would love to end their season, but talent will win out, as Oakland will get back to running the football. Kansas City will play a solid game, but the Raiders are more desperate and playing in a hostile environment. That will raise their focus and keep them alive another week.
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Following a last-minute touchdown by the Detroit Lions that handed the Oakland Raiders their third straight loss, the Raiders now need some help from other teams in order to find themselves in the postseason for the first time since 2002.

Rookie wide receiver Denarius Moore will return to his punt-returning duties for the Raiders this week

In order to make the playoffs by winning the AFC West, the Raiders must win their final two games and get some help from the team they play this week, the Kansas City Chiefs. In order for the Raiders to catch up to the first place Denver Broncos, the Chiefs must defeat the Broncos in the final week of the season. This would give the Raiders a 4-2 divisional record, and the Broncos a 3-3 divisional record, giving the AFC West crown to the Raiders.

Winning the AFC West is definitely the desired outcome, as it would give the Raiders a first-round playoff game at home. But the Raiders have another possible route to the postseason but also requires help from the rest of the NFL.

In order to win the last AFC wildcard spot, the Raiders still need to go 2-0 but also have the Cincinnati Bengals go 0-2, or 1-1 with losing to the Ravens in week 17, and the Tennessee Titans, and New York Jets lose at least one of their remaining games to get the Raiders into the playoffs because of the conference record tie-breaker.

Bottom line is that the Oakland Raiders must first start by defeating division rival Kansas City Chiefs at noisy Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs are coming off of a week in which they saw former head coach Todd Haley get fired and then witnessed interim head coach Romeo Crennel lead them to a win against the then-undefeated Green Bay Packers.

Quarterback Carson Palmer made his Raider debut against the Chiefs in week 7, but finished 8-21 with three interceptions

The Raiders last took on the Chiefs in week 7, the same week that they acquired quarterback Carson Palmer from the Bengals. Following an emergency entrance of Palmer in the second half, the Chiefs ended the game with six interceptions total on Palmer and starting quarterback Kyle Boller. Palmer finished the game 8-21 for 116 yards and three interceptions after being on the Raiders roster for just a few days.

Palmer will hope to have a much different day against the Chiefs this week as he takes on their ninth best pass defense. The Chiefs are only allowing 209.6 opposing passing yards per week thus far.

Unfortunately for Palmer, it looks like he will not be seeing the return of wide receiver Jacoby Ford this week either, as he has still not returned to practice from his foot injury. After returning last week from his own foot injury, it looks as if rookie Denarius Moore will get the start again along side Darrius Heyward-Bey who is having a breakout season and becoming a favorite target of Palmer.

Head coach Hue Jackson also hinted that Moore is likely to be used as the Raiders primary punt returner on Sunday in hopes of providing a spark.

With the return of star running back Darren McFadden nowhere in sight yet, it will be Michael Bush who once again gets the nod. Bush has a career-high 841 yards this season thus far, and hopes to break the 1,000-yard mark for the first time of his career.

Rookie speedster Taiwan Jones returned to practice this week and will provide a solid option should Jackson look to spell Bush with a quicker, shiftier back.

Jones and Bush will be going up against a Chiefs defense that is ranked 24th in the NFL, allowing 130.4 yards per game on the ground.

Oakland’s defense will be facing a different Chiefs quarterback than the one they faced earlier this season, yet it is a familiar face indeed. Incumbent starter Matt Cassel was placed on the IR with an injury to his throwing hand, causing the Chiefs to claim former Denver Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton off of waivers.

In their only meeting with Orton this season thus far, Orton finished 24-46 for 304 yards, one interception and one touchdown as the Raiders came away with the 23-20 win in Denver for the season opener.

Rookie running back Taiwan Jones returns this week from injury to give Hue Jackson some more depth at the running back position

The Raiders defense has proven to give up the big play and is allowing 243.8 passing yards per game, including 391 yards to the Lions last week. The Raiders will need to keep an eye on star wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, who leads the team with 69 receptions for 986 yards and four touchdowns.

Oakland will also need to contain the Chief’s rushing attack, which is composed of veteran Thomas Jones, utility back Dexter McCluster and their bruising back Jackie Battle, who were all forced to take on a larger role after star running back Jamaal Charles went down with a torn ACL in week 2.

The Raiders gave up 139 yards to the Chiefs in their week-seven meeting, and will look to slow the Chiefs down this week. In order to do this, middle linebacker Rolando McClain and the rest of the defense will have to maintain gap control and not over pursue.

The Raiders must also find a way to cut down on their penalties, not only if they hope to win the remaining two games, but also if they hope to not break the record that is currently held by the 1998 Kansas City Chiefs.

With two weeks remaining in the season, the Raiders are 109 penalty yards short of the Chiefs 1,340 penalty yards, and 19 penalties short of their 158 penalties in 1998.

Should the Raiders defeat the Chiefs on Sunday, they must finish the season strong by defeating the San Diego Chargers in their final game of the season at O.Co Coliseum on New Year’s Day.

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Carson Palmer has a career record of 3-5 versus Romeo Crennel. The Chiefs’ interim coach is very familiar with Oakland’s passer, and Palmer knows it.

“If there is one thing that I know, it’s that Romeo is a good coordinator. I don’t know what he’s going to come out in. I just know that they’ll be well-prepared and well-coached,” stated Palmer.

The quarterback is 158-of-249 for 1,834 yards with 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions against Crennel.

“The more you play against him, the more you have to guess,” Palmer commented. “He does such a good job of changing things up and giving you different looks, different pressures, different alignments and different coverage. I’ve played against him in three different places and this may be his best group as far as the talent level of his defensive players from top-to-bottom.”

Kansas City made Palmer’s debut in Oakland a rough. But that was an entirely different quarterback, fresh out of semi-retirement and just getting acclimated to his new playbook and teammates.

“As I look at him now, it looks like he is used to [his teammates],” Crennel said. “He knows the receivers, he knows the runners, he knows the system and I thought last week he did a really good job of getting the ball to the playmakers, by what Detroit was giving him and he probably should have won the game.”

Safety Kendrick Lewis stated: “He has a better feel of how to get his play-makers the ball. You can just see that he’s a different quarterback because he’s comfortable with the playbook and everything that they’ve since setup for him.”

To place any of the blame on Palmer during Oakland’s current losing streak would be foolish.

This was a player thrown into the fire at mid-season, with no training camp, to save an offense that had just lost Jason Campbell.

Considering the situation he was in and lack of inactivity, Palmer has handled himself well and played admirably, with stretches of brilliance, mixed-in with periods of rust.

Add to that, a revolving door of injured targets, a dip in the offensive line’s play, nowhere near the powerful ground attack Oakland had in the first half of the season and their most dynamic talent missing since Palmer’s insertion, and we’re talking about a guy who has acquitted himself rather nicely after a much talked about trade.

All he’s trying to do now is lead a team sliding into the post-season.

“We’ve had a little bit of a rough stretch and had some tough losses,” Palmer said. “The good thing is that we have a chance to forget about all of that if we win the next two games and get a little help from the outside.”

He continued, “This is our playoff game.”

“We’ve spent a lot of time this week talking about where we are as a team and where we can end up if we don’t handle our business. We have to win. This is a must-win game, our backs are against the wall and that’s well known in this organization.”

PLAYOFF PERMUTATIONS FOR THE RAIDERS

The Raiders cannot clinch a playoff spot in week-16. Oakland can be eliminated this week with:

• A loss and Bengals win or tie.
• A loss and Jets win or tie.
• A tie and Bengals + Broncos win.

The Raiders can clinch a division title with:

• Wins in their final two games and a Broncos loss to Chiefs in week-17.

Michael Huff was inactive vs. the Lions & may miss the contest vs. the Chiefs.

Darren McFadden jogged lightly and worked with trainers during Tuesday’s practice session.

The Oakland Raiders injured rusher has been sidelined since October 23 with an injured foot that he sustained versus the Kansas City Chiefs. He’ll likely be out again this weekend, as the Silver & Black travel to Arrowhead for their final meeting of the campaign against their divisional foes.

Hue Jackson has stated for weeks that he expects McFadden’s return and just recently reported that he will not need surgery. Jason La Canfora on Sunday reported that McFadden will likely be out for the remainder of the season and the post-season, if Oakland qualifies.

Taiwan Jones and Bryan McCann were back at practice. John Henderson (knee) and Michael Huff (hamstring) were out. Jacoby Ford (foot) is not expected to suit up this weekend – he was injured during their Thursday night match-up at San Diego.

Yesterday, Oakland inked nose tackle Travis Ivey to the practice squad, presumably to aide a defensive line that could miss Henderson again this weekend.

CRENNEL ON THE RAIDERS

Romeo Crennel addressed the media today regarding their upcoming contest in Kansas City versus their rivals.

On Oakland:

“The Raiders, they are a very talented team on both sides of the ball and they always play us tough generally. I remember the games last year when we went out there and lost in overtime and then they came here and they got after us pretty good. So this year hopefully we can flip it a little bit because we went out there and got after them pretty good and then when they come in here this time hopefully we can get them. That’s what we are going to try to get done but they do have a lot of talent. I think our guys still have a good feel from the Sunday game but I am trying to get them to put that in the background and let’s focus on the Raiders because this is the most important game of the year.”

On the rivalry and do you hate the Raiders:

“Well as it turns out that’s the case, that’s the way I feel right now. I would like to win only one game this year and it happens to be the Raiders who are coming in. That’s why I tell the guys the next game is the most important game, and this being the Raiders makes it doubly important. We’re going to be fired up to play the Raiders. Anytime we play at home we are fired up, but particularly when the Raiders come to town. We’re excited about it, I’m excited about it. Sometimes, I told you, my demeanor is a pretty even-keeled demeanor so don’t take that as I’m not getting up for the game because I’m up for the game and our guys will be up for the game.”

On his team’s playoff hopes:

“I told the players yesterday, I said by winning against Green Bay, we’re still in the hunt and that’s all I want to hear about, is we’re in the hunt. And now we have to beat the Raiders and I want all the talk and focus to be about the Raiders.”

On Tamba Hali:

“Tamba comes to work every day. He comes to work every day and particularly on Sunday. He is relentless in rushing the passer, he works at his trade.”

STATS

• In 11 games versus the Raiders, Hali has tallied 6.5 sacks.
• The Chiefs are 31-13 against the Raiders since 1990. Kansas City leads the series: 55-48-2. Oakland last lost in 2006 at Arrowhead.
• Since Nov. 20, KC has held opponents to a 27.9 3rd-down conversion rate. Oakland was 1-of-9 on 3^rd downs versus the Lions.
• Last 5-games versus the Chiefs, the Raiders have averaged 151.4 yards rushing per game.

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Rivalry week will take a whole new meaning this time around for Chiefs and Raiders.

When the Oakland Raiders faced the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead last season, one team was locked-in and playoff bound, the other was on their way towards vacation.

This time around, playoff hopes hinge on the outcome and both teams desperately need a victory to stay alive.

Romeo Crennel’s team is coming off a stunning home win against the undefeated Green Bay Packers, but he’ll be reminding the players about the 31-10 outcome in last year’s finale, not the 28-0 beat down they gave Oakland earlier this season.

Crennel said: “We went out there [week-seven] and played them good, but what I’m going to remind them of is last year, this Raider team came in here and they whipped us pretty good.”

What about Raider week’ and the lore behind that?

“Well yeah, it is a big week. It’s a big deal because it’s a division game. Generally, all division games are good rivalries,” said the Chiefs interim coach.

“We definitely want to win this game, so we can stay in the hunt and stay in the race.”

The Chiefs need to win both of their final games and get a lot of help from around the league to make the post-season. One more loss for the Chargers and a Buffalo victory versus the Broncos will put Kansas City in the playoffs.

“The best part about it is that our next game is a home game, and even though we had more Cheese Heads in the stadium than I would like, we prevailed,” Crennel said. “Playing at home is always a plus for us and that’s good because our fans are wonderful fans. Saturday we hope they are out and enjoying the holidays and come cheer us to another victory.”

Two weeks ago, Oakland was atop the west at 7-4, with a one game lead on Denver.

Oakland now must hope for a Broncos loss, or two, and a two game winning streak to end the season for a divisional crown.

Or, finish ahead or tied with the New York Jets and earn the final wild-card spot. Oakland wins the tiebreak by virtue of defeating the Jets in week-three.
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With two weeks to go in the regular season, the Denver Broncos (8-6) are leading the AFC West.

But all of the sudden, things are getting tighter, as the Oakland Raiders (7-7) are fading away, losers of three in a row, while the San Diego Chargers (7-7) are making a late run.

Heck, even the Kansas City Chiefs (6-8) have shown some life, handing the Green Bay Packers (13-1) their first loss of the season, in Romeo Crennel’s first game as interim coach.

If the post-season were to begin today, the Patriots would have home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, with the Steelers right behind them as the second seed.

The Texans (3^rd seed) would host the Jets (6^th seed) and the Ravens (5^th) would have to travel to Denver to face the Broncos (4^th).

Oakland is currently ranked ninth, behind the Bengals (8-6) and the Titans (7-7).

The Raiders have to travel to Kansas City next, but luckily for them, they’ve enjoyed success in recent years there, last losing in 2006 at Arrowhead. But they’re in the midst of a three-game losing streak – their first since 2009.

Last season, Oakland needed help a lot of help to get into the playoffs, finished 8-8 and were stung by key losses at home to Miami and on the road to Jacksonville. Veterans talked about placing themselves in a better position the following season and snatching destiny into their own hands. Well, it happened this year – very briefly – and they failed a few times to take advantage of a weak division.

Now, they face two rivals that would like nothing more than to put them out of their misery.

The Chiefs want to defend their home field. The Chargers, once declared dead, want to shock the NFL-world. Oakland… well, they are hanging on by a thread.

After today’s stinging loss, who knows how the Raiders will react?

“To be winning like we were winning and then just not being able to close. … That definitely hurts especially because we knew how important this game was,” said safety Mike Mitchell.

Oakland probably knew how important the game was, but they played late in that contest as if they earned the right to coast to a victory.

“But we’ve got two big games left, and who knows what happens with other teams. We need help obviously, but we’ve got to get over it,” said Carson Palmer.

Getting over it is the easy part… going out there and winning is another story.

NOTES

“We showed today that we’re not ready to go to the playoffs and make a push,” Broncos CB Champ Bailey said after their 41-23 loss versus the Patriots. “We’ve got to get better and we only have two or three weeks to do it. If we don’t, then we’ll be sitting home.”

“It was a rough six-game stretch, but we hung tight together and fought our way back to .500 with two to play and we’re still alive,” commented Philip Rivers after the Chargers trounced the Ravens, 34-14.