The time is ripe for Raiders' 1st win
Updated 10:20 pm, Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Kansas City head coach Andy Reid was asked about letdowns - often the topic when the winless Raiders are on deck - Tuesday, and he mentioned a couple of things that have nothing to with letdowns.
'When you go to the Black Hole, you better be ready,' Reid said in a conference call. 'We know that. That's a given, and this is a great rivalry that's far exceeded my time as a head football coach in this league, so we understand that these are two competitive football teams when they play each other.
'The records, you just throw the record out.'
Kansas City (7-3) has won five games in a row. Oakland (0-10) has lost 16 straight dating to last season.
But Reid is right, you can throw out the records, because the Raiders will get their first win Thursday night. Let's make ourselves a sandwich and go over why:
*The sandwich: The Chiefs are coming off an emotional, dramatic home win over the Super Bowl champion Seahawks. Next week, they host Denver, with whom Kansas City is tied for first in the AFC West and to whom it has lost five straight.
That's two big pieces of artisan-baked bread, and the hard-trying Raiders are just a little slice of bologna in the middle. There is no way the Chiefs are excited about, or savoring, the bologna, no offense to the Raiders or bologna intended.
*The crowd: The Raiders' fans still gather, still apply the face paint and still cheer. They have pocket schedules and can see they are running out of chances for a win. They will be loud Thursday night, and the national TV cameras deserve some credit, as they try to help push their team to a happy evening in a dreadful season.
*The rivalry: Reid is right about one thing - the Raiders-Chiefs rivalry has gone back a long way and was pretty cool. But the players on both teams could give a hoot. Players change teams so fast these days and they don't get a laminated list of which teams to play harder against because some guy hated them 20 years ago.
Forget about past rivalry games. Even last year's. The Raiders have only six starters who were in similar roles last season - 11 of their current starters weren't even on the team last year and have no idea Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles ran wild here last season.
*The preparation: Oakland started game-planning for this 12 days ago because of its hectic schedule. And the older players - who have continued to play hard rather than look to next season - realize this is a good shot at getting their first win. They wouldn't say that, but they're embarrassed at their record and will summon their best shot.
*Latavius Murray: Not so much the running back himself, but the idea of the running back, who had two back-to-back carries Sunday for 37 yards. It was an explosion for what's been a library-exciting running game. The worst in the league by a lot.
Murray will get more carries Thursday night, but don't think he totally will replace Darren McFadden or Maurice Jones-Drew. Murray might even have lit a fire under the two, who surely realize their clock is ticking louder - both from lacking production and Murray's two runs (yes, that's all it took.)
The Chiefs are only 25th in the league against the run, and it's a good time for McFadden and Jones-Drew to stake a claim to their roles, or for Murray to do so.
Sparano is not giving up on the older running backs, or any of the team's players, as he said after Monday's evening practice.
'I know the natural thing is that when you get down, people start to think about, 'Hey, can we see this younger player? Do you see that younger player?' ' Sparano said. 'To their credit, the veteran players on this football team have been really competitive.
'You're not going to walk up and tell Donald Penn, 'Hey, you know ...' He's just not going to have that. The guy just goes out there and plays and plays hard and does his job every single week. I have a bunch of those players on the team.'
Sparano said he has no interest in turning to younger players yet. His players are in the moment, and the moment is Thursday night.
Vic Tafur is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vtafur@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VicTafur
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