Oakland Raiders: 3 Bold predictions vs. Chiefs, Week 2

The Oakland Raiders opened the 2019 NFL season with at 24-16 win against the Broncos. In Week 2, they play the AFC West’s best, the Kansas City Chiefs.

If anyone expected the whole Antonio Brown fiasco to provide a hangover entering Week 1, you ended up with egg on your face. The whole event looks to have galvanized the Oakland Raiders, and in doing so, they beat their division rival Denver Broncos, 24-16.

Week 2 has the Raiders at home for the second straight week this time facing the 1-0 Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs dropped the hammer on the road, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 40-26. First reactions from both teams are that Patrick Mahomes looks every bit as good as he did last season, and the Raiders offense is fine even without AB.

The conventional wisdom is that Kansas City is an easy favorite and an even easier winner. Not so fast. Whatever daylight existed between these two teams in 2018 has closed significantly. The Raiders offensive line is better, their running game is better, Derek Carr looks better and the shedding of some bad attitude has made the collective team better.

So how does it pan out in Week 2? Close. Whatever the home-field advantage offers will be important for the Raiders. More importantly, is that Oakland has the firepower to hang in with the Chiefs. The challenge for Jon Gruden and the Raiders is whether they can hang in for all four quarters.

With that, let’s get into three bold predictions for the Raiders’ Week 2 matchup in Oakland against the Chiefs.