After a whirlwind opening to free agency, it appears the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs will slug it out for AFC West dominance.
In sports, there are many great and storied rivalries. And while much ado is made about the Yankee-Red Sox, Cowboys-Redskins, and Patriots-Jets meetings, nothing, nothing, compares to the Raiders-Chiefs. This isn’t just about football, it’s personal. This is “The Blood Feud” and it’s on Raider Nation!
Since the official opening of the 2016 season, the Raiders roster has lept forward in terms of talent and The Nation’s expectation are plastered all over social media — Division Title and more.
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The Super Bowl winning division rivals Denver Broncos are in a free fall. Players have fled like the Lombardi Trophy has cooties or something.
Legendary QB Peyton Manning retires, and heir apparent Brock Osweiler takes a fast train to Houston.
Salary cap casualties Guard Louis Vasquez and TE Owen Daniels are visiting other teams, DE Malik Jackson scored a near-$90 million contract with Jacksonville, Danny Trevathan signed with Chicago, TE Vernon Davis and RB Ronnie Hillman were both unsigned and stumping their talents for other teams at the time of this article and RB C.J. Anderson had an offer on the table from Miami but the Broncos matched.
Journeyman QB Mark Sanchez has been brought in the play the part of Leonardo Dicaprio in Titanic. The ship is going down people. Man the lifeboats!
The San Diego Chargers appear to be mired in irrelevance after finishing last in the division and making only modest free agent acquisitions as of late.
New Balance of Power
But the Raiders, with regal Reggie McKenzie rebuilding the rosters, snatched arguably the top offensive lineman available — Kelechi Osemele — turned red into silver and black with CB Sean Smith, and put opposing QBs in peril by pairing LB/DE Bruce Irvin with star LB/DE Khalil Mack.
The Chiefs, who swept the Raiders in fierce battles last season, lost S Tyvon Branch to Arizona, CB Sean Smith (Oakland) and G Jeff Allen to the Texans.
The Chiefs have taken a small step or two backwards.
But both teams retained their core personnel.
The Chiefs plan to field playmakers such as WR Jeremy Maclin, TE Travis Kelce, LB Justin Houston, S Eric Berry, and CB Marcus Peters this season.
Likewise, the Raiders have superstar Mack, WR Amari Cooper, WR Michael Crabtree, 1,000-yard rusher Latavius Murray, and franchise QB Derek Carr. The recent re-signing of LT Donald Penn gives Oakland a complete and powerhouse O-Line.
Raider Nation may be pulling a Babe Ruth and calling the shot. But, these teams now appear evenly matched.
When these bitter rivals clash in 2016, they will bring serious firepower and they’ll both, legitimately, be eyeing the division crown.
Oh yeah, 2016 may be for all the marbles children.
Storied History
For me, the epitome of these ugly, nasty slug-fests was the Nov 1, 1970, meeting when Ben Davidson speared Chiefs QB Len Dawson.
In the game, Dawson had converted a third and about 3 on a sweep with under 2 minutes, seemingly icing the victory for K.C.
However, Dawson goes down of his own power, untouched, and Big Ben Davidson comes full steam and plants his helmet in his lower back. A brawl ensues and the refs call off-setting personal foul penalties, repeat third down. Oakland stops them cold. The Chiefs are forced to punt and George Blanda ultimately kicks a long field goal. The game ends in a 17-17 tie. The Raiders would later beat Kansas City in week 13 and go on to claim the AFC West title with a record of 8-4-2. The Chiefs finished 2nd at 7-5-2.
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We may not see the fisticuffs of old, but the Blood Feud is back and 2016 could present games for the ages.
Just Feud Baby!