Regular Season Week 2

Television: CBS; Channel: 5 Channel: 13 Channel: 46

Line: Raiders by 1.5 points

Week 2 of the NFL regular season is upon us and the Oakland Raiders find themselves on the road facing their bitter divisional rival, the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead. Since 1960 with the AFL days, these two rivals have been going at each other with the Chiefs holding a 51-44-2 edge in regular season.  It's Raider week in Kansas City and once again the NFL has scheduled the Raiders to play in KC for the Chiefs home opener.

Raider Nation will be hoping for a repeat of last season's week two match-up between the Raiders and Chiefs, where the Raiders rolled up an incredible 300 yard rushing. the Raiders completely dominated that game coming away with a 23-8 victory.

Both the Raiders and the Chiefs were victims of a little bad luck last week and need to prove they can play a full 4 quarters this weekend. The Raiders fell short against the San Diego thanks to a last minute touchdown drive against the Raiders soft "prevent" defense, while the Chiefs could not keep pace in the final minutes against the Ravens as they lost 38-24. The Charger game was a definite learning experience for the whole team and they seem to have realized that they have play the last 2 minutes the same way they play the first minutes and finish the game. The Raiders are coming off of a short week and will be going into noisy Arrowhead, but since it's the chiefs and a divisional game, expect the Raiders to be fired up and ready.

Raiders on offense:

The Raiders deviated from their game plan last week when they abandoned early success running the ball and started passing more.That mistake won't happen today as the Raiders are going to have to run the ball and if the Raiders can establish the run early and often, then they can control the game. With McFadden starting and Bush there pounding it between the tackles, there is no reason to believe that the Raiders won't have similar results on the ground as last season's game.

If he can create any sort of separation, then the activation of Javon Walker will bring much needed experience to the Raiders receiving corps, which will take some of the burden of the two starting rookies. Look for the Chiefs to key on Louis Murphy who is no longer under the radar and if Darrius Heyward-Bey is over his first game jitters, he will look to get his first catch of the season. Zach Miller will continue to be a top target. Ravens TE Todd Heap absolutely exploited the Chiefs coverage underneath, so you know the Raiders made note of that and Russell's favorite target Zach Miller will be licking his chops at his chances today. When the Raiders are in need of a passing first down, you know and the Chiefs know that it will be Miller time and they won't be able to stop it.

Raiders on defense:

We all witnesses what Richard Seymour's impact was to the Raiders defense. Now with a full week of practice under his belt, expect Seymour and the rest of the Raiders defense to play aggressive and with same intensity as last week. With Tony Gonzales gone, the Raiders can really concentrate on putting the pressure on either Matt Cassell or Brodie Croyle, whichever of them ends up starting. This is the week that John Marshall needs to take the restraints off of Thomas Howard so that he can spend most of his time in the Chiefs backfield.

This may be the game that Nnamdi finally challenged. Chiefs head coach Haley has stated that wide receiver Dwayne Bowe will be used a lot and that he will go right at Nnamdi. This should be a great match-up, but if the Raiders bring the pressure, then this is a battle that Nnamdi will win.

Chiefs on offense:

Still no word on whether Matt Cassell will be making his Chiefs debut. If not, then it will be Brodie Croyle, who last week completed 16 of 24 passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns against the Ravens.The Chiefs promise to use Bowe and go at Nnamdi, but before doing that they will need to get their running game going with Larry Johnson and Jamal Charles. With the Raiders' defensive line now being huge and with their speedy linebackers, the Chiefs may find the running game to be tough going and have to resort to the passing game instead.

Chiefs on defense:

As expected, the Chiefs transition to the 3-4 defense has been slow going as that defense gave up a whopping 501 total yards. They are hoping to have highly-touted corner back Brandon Flowers back to help that defense out and safety Mike Brown is fitting in well, but they will need to have a lot more than that to stop the Raider running game. The noise of Arrowhead will play a factor which could give the Chiefs an extra jump, but the Raiders have been there before and are surely accounting for that in their game plan. The Chiefs will no doubt try to bring the pressure to JaMarcus, but it is unlikely that they will have a solution for Zach Miller.

Key Match-ups: 

• Raiders running game vs the Chiefs defense
  
• Dwayne Bowe vs Nnamdi Asomugha
  
• LT - Branden Albert vs Richard Seymour

Notes: Johnnie Lee Higgins is listed as questionable and if he plays it will only be as a punt returner. If not, then the Raiders have suited up Javon Walker to handle the punt return duties. Head to head match-ups are a great thing, but for the Raiders to leave Arrowhead with a victory, they are going to have to avoid the stupid penalties and turnovers.

Update: According to NFL Network, Chiefs QB Matt Cassell will get the start today.

Enjoy the game Raider Nation. GO R-A-I-D-E-R-S!!!