KC Chiefs: Four things to watch vs Oakland Raiders in week 13

The KC Chiefs host the Oakland Raiders this Sunday in a game that could determine who the AFC West winner will be. What should Chiefs Kingdom be watching for in this divisional showdown?

This game would have had a lot more riding on it, but the Oakland Raiders were blown out by the New York Jets this week, which took a significant amount of pressure off of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Let’s touch more on that in our first “What to watch for” entry.

DIVISION ON THE LINE

As noted above, this game could have determined who sat atop the AFC West after week 13. After the Raiders’ loss, however, the Chiefs sit at 7-4 and the Raiders are 6-5. If the Raiders somehow pull off a victory, the two teams would have the same record, which would obviously make things interesting.

The easiest way to put the division out of reach for Oakland is to win on Sunday. The Raiders were clearly looking ahead to this game and that showed in their loss to the Jets, so the Chiefs are definitely in their heads. Let’s shut their division title hopes down.

CARR’S STRUGGLES AT ARROWHEAD

Since Derek Carr took over as the starting quarterback for the Oakland Raiders during his rookie year in 2014, he is just 2-9 against the Chiefs. The two wins both came in the Black Hole and also took place on a Thursday night game. On all Sunday games, Carr is winless against the Chiefs.

Even more embarrassing for Carr is that he’s yet to win a game at Arrowhead Stadium, sitting at 0-5 in the league’s loudest and rowdiest stadium. Not only is Carr winless in KC, but he struggles BADLY at Arrowhead.

Hopefully the struggles continue in week 13.

WEATHER COULD BE GROSS

Those of us who live in Kansas City expect the weather to change on a daily basis. The Raiders, however, live in sunny California where it’s always 70 degrees and sunny.

That’ll be a far cry for them when they come to Arrowhead on Sunday and play in close to freezing temperatures and heavy gusts. Weather.com currently has Sunday’s temperature sitting at 37 degrees with heavy winds, which could make throwing the football problematic for Carr and the Raiders.

CAN KC STOP THE RUN?

If the Raiders are smart, they won’t put the game in Carr’s hands. They have a sensational rookie running back by the name of Josh Jacobs, who very well could win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Oakland should be handing the ball off 40+ times and over half of those carries should go to Jacobs.

This would be a good strategy by the Raiders because KC has not been good against the run in 2019. They sit third to last in the league when it comes to stopping the run and allowed 99 yards on the ground to Jacobs in their week two match-up against Oakland.

While Oakland SHOULD run the ball, that doesn’t mean that they will. Jacobs is fun to watch, but hopefully he doesn’t have a big game on Sunday.