The Kansas City Chiefs have lost 3 games in a row and have only scored 19 points in their last two games.  The Oakland Raiders have lost 7 games in a row and have been shutout twice during that streak.

Look for Coach Edwards to be ultra-conservative with the offense this week and just hand the rock to Larry Johnson (1,516 yards rushing) as often as possible.  The Raiders defense has been poor against the run as they allow 134.1 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per carry so far this season.  After the Chiefs establish the run, look for Trent Green to run some play-action passes and try to get the ball to Tony Gonzalez and Eddie Kennison.  Also, look for maybe a deep pass or two to Samie Parker or Dante Hall.

The Raiders always seem to want to run the ball, but they never stick to it.  The Chiefs run defense is allowing 121.6 yards rushing and 4.1 yards per carry so far this season, so Justin Fargas could find some running room.  It’s important that the Raiders at least have the threat of the run to slow the opposing pass rush down.  The Raiders have allowed 66 sacks so far this season which has killed the offense many a time.  Aaron Brooks is starting this game, but Andrew Walter finished last week so Brooks is probably on a short leash.  Ronald Curry has been stepping up lately so the Chiefs will have to watch him.

The first time these two teams met, the Chiefs won a nail-biter at Arrowhead 17-13…so they better take this game seriously.  I think they will and they should win this game by a decent margin as Larry Johnson could have a monster game.

The Chiefs didn’t play well in any facet of the game last night.  Trent Green completed 23 of 41 passes for 185 yards and a interception.  Larry Johnson had a good game with 19 carries for 84 yards (4.4 ypc).  Tony Gonzalez had a decent game with 6 catches for 53 yards.  Eddie Kennison also caught 6 passes, but for only 43 yards. 

The defense didn’t play that well either.  Kawika Mitchell led the Chiefs with 9 tackles.  The Chargers pushed the Chiefs around in the running game as they carried the ball 38 times for 265 yards (7.0 ypc).  The Chargers only completed 8 of 23 passes for 88 net yards passing.

The Chiefs fell to 7-7 on the season with this loss.

The Chiefs have lost two games in a row.  The Chargers have won 7 in a row after losing in Kansas City 30-27.

The Chiefs must try to jump out to an early lead in this game.  I’m certain that the Chiefs will try to do it by running the football with Larry Johnson (1,432 yards rushing) who had 132 yards in the first meeting between these two teams.  The Chargers have only allowed 93.2 yards rushing per game at home, so it will not be easy.  It might be smart of the Chiefs to throw the ball a little more than usual providing that they can protect Trent Green from the Chargers defense that has 48 sacks this season.  Tony Gonzalez will be a mis-match with the Chargers safeties and the Chiefs will need to throw his way at least 10 times in this game.

The Chargers will come right after the Chiefs run defense with LaDainian Tomlinson.  Tomlinson is fired up that a few of the defenders on the Chiefs called them a “finesse” team after beating them at Arrowhead.  LT will be facing a Chiefs defense that has allowed 137.0 yards rushing per game on the road this season.  After Tomlinson is established, Philip Rivers will go to work.  Rivers will probably throw alot of short stuff to Antonio Gates and LaDainian Tomlinson to put pressure on the safeties and linebackers of the Chiefs.  The Chiefs have allowed 241.2 net yards passing per game so far this season and that’s not too good.  The Chargers will also take some deep shots with their young corps of WRs.

The Chiefs are a horrible road team, as they are 2-4 on the season.  The Chargers are 6-0 at home and have outscored teams by an average of 33.7-17.2.   I look for a score in the neighborhood of 35-17 with San Diego winning the game.

The Chiefs have 4 very decorated defensive backs, but they’re starting to lose their skills.  The Chiefs DB’s appear to be very slow.  Ty Law has had a couple of decent games, but he hasn’t played well at all overall.  Law has 53 tackles, a sack and 3 interceptions so far this season.  He’s slipping fast.  Patrick Surtain was also a good corner not to long ago, but he’s lost his edge.  Surtain has 53 tackles, a fumble recovery and 1 interception.  Strong safety Sammy Knight hasn’t made too many big plays and has 65 tackles and an interception.  Free safety Greg Wesley has had huge problems in giving help the the corners because he doesn’t have good speed anymore.  Wesley has made 52 tackles and intercepted 2 passes.

These guys are getting burnt to a crisp often this season and it has cost the team.

The Chiefs didn’t play well on offense OR defense as the Baltimore Ravens came to Arrowhead and administered a beating!  Trent Green was getting blasted all day long as the line had trouble blocking the aggressive blitzing of the Ravens.  Green completed 15 of 27 passes for 178 yards with 1 TD and 2 INTs.  Larry Johnson had a good game with 23 carries for 120 yards (5.2 ypc).  Samie Parker was the leading receiver with 5 catches for 71 yards.  Dante Hall caught 3 passes for 38 yards and a TD.  Tony Gonzalez was pretty quiet with only 3 catches for 31 yards.

The Chiefs stuffed the Ravens running game, holding them to 93 yards rushing on 34 carries (2.7 ypc).  The Chiefs couldn’t stop the Ravens from throwing the football.  The Ravens completed 21 of 27 passes for 283 net yards passing.

The Chiefs fell to 7-6 with this loss and it hurt the chances of making the playoffs big-time.