Raiders face Chiefs riding six game win streak in Kansas City

For the Raiders over the past six seasons, Arrowhead stadium in Kansas City has been the cure for what ails them. No matter what the records of each team, the Raiders have played better against the Chiefs in supposed hostile territory than they have in Oakland.

The streak started in 2007. The Raiders came into Kansas City in week 12 with just two wins on the season to face the 4-6 Chiefs. They left with a 20-17 victory. The starting quarterback for the Raiders was Dante Culpepper who had two long passes to Zach Miller (28) and Jerry Porter (35) to put the Raiders in scoring position and  Justin Fargas capped off his 135-yard rushing day with a 14-yard touchdown run right up the middle. Those were the only three plays on that game-winning drive.

The following season the Raiders came into Kansas City one game into Lane Kiffin's four-game farewell tour as Raiders head coach. It was Darren McFadden's second game in the NFL and to this day, one of his biggest game with 164 yards on the ground and a touchdown. The Raiders would blow out the Chiefs 23-8 to help kick off the Chiefs 2-14 season. The bad news is one of those two wins came in Oakland. The Raiders wouldn't do much better that season, finishing 5-11. McFadden wouldn't surpass even 50 yards the rest of the season and it would be two seasons before he surpassed 100 yards again.

In 2009, the Raiders would be in Kansas City in week two again. This time they would win an ugly, low-scoring affair (13-10) in which JaMarcus Russell threw for just 109 yards, Darren McFadden ran for 35 yards. But this was the game supporters of Russell pointed to because he led a late game touchdown drive to win the game. Yet again, the Chiefs would get their revenge when they headed to Oakland and yet again the Raiders finished 5-11 with the Chiefs finishing 4-12 on the season.

Come 2010, the Raiders were having their best season since their 2002 Super Bowl run.  They finally beat the Chiefs at home in a 23-20 overtime thriller in which Jacoby Ford went off late in the game and in overtime. Losses to the Jaguars and Colts late in the season all but killed the Raiders' playoff hopes. The playoff-bound Chiefs would face the 7-8 Raiders in the season finale. The Raiders had designs on making life difficult for the 10-5 Chiefs who had won 5 of their last six games coming into. They routed the Chiefs 31-10 behind Michael Bush's 137 yards rushing and Stanford Routt's fourth quarter interception return for a touchdown. The loss put the Chiefs in the wildcard game where they lost to the Ravens.

Hue Jackson took over as head coach in 2011 and the Raiders offense came to life. But the Raiders began to stumble late in the season and came into Kansas City having lost three straight. The game went to overtime tied at 13-13. Darrius Heyward-Bey took a Carson Palmer pass for 53 yards on the first play of overtime to set up the game winning field goal.

Last season was a forgettable one for both the Raiders and the Chiefs. But even with just four wins on the season, two of those wins came against the Chiefs who would finish the season 2-14. This time the Raiders went into Kansas City and blanked the Chiefs 15-0 for their only win over the final nine games of the season.

This season, the Raiders look improved but the Chiefs look like an entirely different team. After a big home win over the Chargers last week, they face the undefeated Chiefs (5-0) in Kansas City this week. The Raiders have a resurgent defense while the Chiefs defense looks like one of the best in the NFL. The Raiders offense has shown some spark under Terrelle Pryor while the Chiefs offense has been efficient under the steady hand of Alex Smith and the coaching of Any Reid.

This will be the largest difference in talent and record between these two teams over the past seven meetings which will make keeping this streak alive extremely difficult. The Chiefs are unbeaten thus far but they aren't unbeatable. They have faced two winless teams, the Titans after they lost starting quarterback, Jake Locker, and could only put up 17 points on a Cowboys defense which has given up over 30 points three times this season and gave up over 51 points to the Broncos.

They would be foolish to take the Raiders lightly. Throw the records out the window, boys, this is Raiders vs Chiefs at Arrowhead.

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