Kansas City Chiefs likely to be in a shootout with Raiders

The Kansas City Chiefs are in a must-win game this week against the Oakland Raiders. It’s likely to turn into a high scoring affair as neither defense has shown much life.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the Kansas City Chiefs season hangs in the balance on Sunday. Sure, there might still be a path to the playoffs even if the Chiefs lose, but it would be unlikely. It used to be that Kansas City could rely on its defense in these kinds of match-ups, but this weekend will be all about the offense.

In fact, Sunday’s match-up between the Chiefs and Raiders is set to be an absolute shootout. Kansas City is benching star corner Marcus Peters after his actions last week. Meanwhile, the Raiders will be getting back Michael Crabtree, and possibly Amari Cooper as well. That’s not good news for a KC defense that has been pretty awful this year.

That means that Kansas City is going to be trusting in Alex Smith to lead a resurgent offense this week. Smith has been having a career year, and he needs to keep that going this week. The Raiders don’t have a good offense either, so there is the potential to put up a lot of points this week.

Any Hope For The Chiefs Defense?

It has been tough for Kansas City Chiefs fans to get used to the idea of the defense not being the strength of the team. For years, it has been the defense that got things done in Kansas City. Now they are the weaker side of the team. It has been a tough transition for the Chiefs and their fans.

Benching Marcus Peters this week is only going to make it tougher on the defense to be effective. The Kansas City secondary, apart from Peters, has been especially bad this year. It’s hard to imagine how they can overcome him being on the bench. Perhaps we’ll get a better showing from Darrelle Revis this week, but I wouldn’t hold out hope for that.

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On top of the secondary issues, Kansas City has also placed Dee Ford on Injured Reserve. Tamba Hali has also been unreliable in terms of getting meaningful playing time. That is a major setback for the Chiefs pass rush, which has been the strength of the defense in the past. It’s also the way most teams would cover up a poor secondary.

Can The Offense Get It Done?

Despite some criticism over the past few weeks, the Kansas City Chiefs offense really turned things up against the Jets this past week. It wasn’t enough to get the win, but there is no denying that it was a solid performance. Alex Smith threw for 366 yards and four touchdowns, hardly something to overlook.

Alex Smith will need a similar performance this week, if not more. Some good news there is that the Chiefs have confirmed that Matt Nagy will call plays again this week. Nagy served as play-caller last week, and the results were positive. Hopefully he is the missing ingredient for this KC offense.

Kansas City will need to be able to score early and often on Sunday. That is something this team has shown they can do this year, including the last time they faced the Raiders. With the defense still having the problems they are, the Chiefs need their offense to be almost perfect. That’s a tall task for anyone.

The playoffs aren’t out of reach just yet for the Kansas City Chiefs, but they are running out of chances. This Chiefs team still controls their own destiny, but they have got to find a way to start winning some games. With the defensive problems continuing to pile up, it’s going to fall on the offense to try and find a way this week.