Silver Minings: Raiders vs Chiefs Week 17 matchup moved to Saturday

After a 37-34 overtime loss, the Las Vegas Raiders officially won’t be playing in the playoffs this year and they’ll end their season with a Week 18 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, who currently hold the one seed in the AFC. The Raiders will be the first team in the NFL to wrap up their 2023 campaign as the league announced Sunday evening that this AFC West battle will be played at 1:30 PM PST on ABC and ESPN.

Jarrett Stidham will get another chance to prove himself after tossing for 365 yards and three touchdowns against the 49ers, but the game won’t mean much for Las Vegas outside of that. They currently hold the eighth pick of the draft and are tied with the Falcons and Panthers at 6-10, so losing might actually be more beneficial for the Silver and Black.

As for the Chiefs, they’ll have a lot to play for. If Buffalo loses to Cincinnati on Monday Night Football, Kansas City will maintain the AFC’s top playoff spot heading into Week 18 and a win against the Raiders will give the Chiefs a bye. And if the Bills beat the Bengals, the Chiefs have to win in Las Vegas to have a chance at the one seed since the Bills have the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The NFL also announced that the AFC South Championship game between the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars has been flexed to primetime on Saturday. So, the first weekend without college football will still have plenty of drama on Saturday.

In other Raiders’ links:

• Raiders open as 9.5-point underdogs: speaking of next week, the oddsmakers aren’t feeling too confident in Las Vegas, according to our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook.
• What we learned: check out Bill Williamson’s takeaways from the Raiders’ overtime loss.
• Josh Jacobs talks about last week of season: “The only thing on my mind really is spending this last week with these guys...The locker room will look a lot different next year and you don’t know who’s coming back and you know who’s done with football...I’m trying to enjoy this time,” via Cassie Soto of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
• Stidham earns respect: “I think every single person on the team said, ‘Man, get out of here with that. You balled out and you did your thing,’” said Raiders receiver Davante Adams of the quarterback, who was on the receiving end of seven Stidham passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, via ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.