Week 7: Kansas City at Oakland

The Chiefs, who are somehow tied for first place in the AFC West, made some running back news this week. They shipped Michael Bennett to Tampa Bay for an undisclosed draft choice. They also made it sound like Priest Holmes, who hasn’t played since 2005, is closer to returning to the fold. Holmes, 34, is supposedly not in great shape though, and is no sure thing to play at any point this year. So the man in Kansas City is still Larry Johnson, whose attitude is sometimes called into question but whose running ability looked good last week in a 119-yard rushing day in a 27-20 win over Cincinnati. LJ generally tears Oakland up, having averaged 105 rushing yards per game in his six meetings with the Raiders.

QB Damon Huard is playing a little better, and TE Tony Gonzalez now has the all-time lead in TD receptions by a tight end after two last week. The Chiefs still look like a team that San Diego should glance at in its rear-view mirror now that the Chargers are rolling again, but for now both teams are 3-3.

As for Oakland, the Raiders briefly led this division before getting drilled by San Diego, 28-14. LJ will try to go where LT did last week – LaDainian Tomlinson scored all four of the Chargers’ touchdowns and ran for 198 yards.

The Raiders are ranked No. 3 in the NFL in rushing with the 1-2 combination of Lamont Jordan and Justin Fargas, although those two were held to a total of 52 rushing yards last week. QB Daunte Culpepper has been up and down this season, and Raiders coach Lane Kiffin ripped his team last week for playing “like a bad team.” Kiffin didn’t go all Bill Callahan on his squad – remember when the former Raiders coach said his team had to be the “dumbest in America” once? – but the rookie coach is obviously not happy.

The Raiders have lost 16 straight games against AFC West foes, which is a testament to just how bad the team has been since making the Super Bowl in the early part of the decade. But this game doesn’t look like a mismatch. It looks like the time for the Raiders to finally break that embarrassing streak.

Oakland by 1