Tag: Kansas City Chiefs

NFL Wild Card Weekend Preview: Road teams get it done

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

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If you’re like me, you have to love the single-elimination that is the NFL playoffs. One game to decide who moves on and who is packing up for a long offseason after a grueling 17 weeks (16-game) NFL season.

No disrespect to the NBA, MLB, and NHL for their playoff series’s where if you lose a game, its not the end of the world, but when you talk about the playoffs in any sport, in all honesty, the NFL playoffs is where its at.

The march to Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara starts Saturday with Wild Card Weekend and with some intriguing match ups, I hope you’re like me (a football die-hard), ready for the games to begin.

Since the NFL instituted the Wild Card round in 1978, only 10 teams have made it to the Super Bowl.

Out of those 10 teams, six have gone on to win the Lombardi Trophy (the 1980 Oakland Raiders, the 1997 Denver Broncos, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, the 2007 New York Giants, and 2010 Green Bay Packers.)

With all that said, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the road teams get it done this weekend.

Kansas City Chiefs (11-5); 5th seed at Houston Texans (9-7); 4th seed –  Saturday 4:35 p.m. ET/1:35 p.m. PT – ESPN

Sure its been 22 years since Kansas City has won a playoff game (currently tied with the Detroit Lions for the most consecutive playoff losses with eight), but the Chiefs are arguably the hottest team in the NFL closing out the season with 10 straight wins.

Remember, people counted out the Chiefs when they were 1-5 and lost star running back Jamaal Charles for the season with a torn ACL.

Quarterback Alex Smith has played some of his best football for a Chiefs team that defeated the Texans 27-20 in Week 1 down in Houston. Smith threw for 243 yards and three touchdowns, two to tight end Travis Kelce in that game.

Kansas City’s seventh-ranked defense harassed Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer, sacking him four times and intercepting the signal caller once.

Houston does have a dynamic player on offense in wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who caught nine passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns against Kansas City in Week 1.

Hopkins had a career year with 111 catches for 1,521 yards and 11 touchdowns (all Texans records), while becoming the only wide receiver in NFL history to have 100-yard receiving games with four different quarterbacks this season (Hoyer, Ryan Mallet, T.J. Yates, and Brandon Weeden.)

No wonder why Hopkins, along with teammate defensive end J.J. Watt (NFL-best 17.5 sacks), were selected as All-Pros at their respective positions.

This could be a close game, but the Chiefs look prime to snap its playoff drought.

Chiefs 24 – Texans 19

Pittsburgh (10-6); 6th seed at Cincinnati Bengals (12-4); 3rd seed –  Saturday 8:15 p.m. ET/5:15 p.m. PT – CBS

These two AFC North rivals are meeting up for the third time this season after splitting two games during the regular season, each winning on the others’ home field.

Cincinnati won the AFC North, but are heading into the game with backup quarterback A.J. McCarron under center. McCarron will make his fourth start for the Bengals after coming in for starter Andy Dalton, who broke his thumb in Cincinnati’s 33-20 home loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 13.

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis (0-6) is still seeking his first career postseason victory. If Cincinnati doesn’t win Saturday, will Lewis be patrolling the sidelines for the Bengals in 2016?

Just like Chiefs, the Bengals are on a seven-game losing streak in the playoffs (25 years to be exact.) In fact, Cincinnati is the only team in NFL history to have lost four consecutive opening-round games.

Sure with Dalton being out, Lewis does have a built in excuse, but the way coaches are being fired left and right in the NFL, Lewis’ chair is no longer hot, its got to be near nuclear.

Pittsburgh is led by two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who may have to win the game with his arm since the Steelers’ ground game has been decimated by injuries.

Starting running back Le’Veon Bell was loss for the season with a knee injury in Week 8, while backup DeAngelo will not suit up Saturday night after suffering an ankle injury in Pittsburgh’s 28-12 victory in Cleveland. Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman will share carries in the backfield.

It was Pittsburgh’s fourth win in five games to close out the regular season.

Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown is a match up nightmare for any team. Brown finished tied with Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones with 136 catches, and second behind Jones with 1,834 yards, and 10 touchdowns.

Pittsburgh’s defense, which hasn’t been as dominate this year as its been in years past, are an opportunistic bunch. The Steelers’ 48 sacks trailed only Denver and New England and their 17 interceptions were tied for sixth in the season.

In their last 16 trips to Paul Brown Stadium, Pittsburgh is 13-3.

As much as I want to pick Cincinnati, there is something that is telling me that Pittsburgh will continue its dominance in the Queen City.

Steelers 27 – Bengals 23

Seattle Seahawks (10-6); 6th seed at Minnesota  Vikings (11-5); 3rd seed –  Sunday 1:05 p.m. ET/10:05 a.m. PT – NBC

If there is one team that is the most dangerous in the playoffs, its got to be the sixth-seeded Seattle Seahawks.

We’ve become accustomed of seeing the two-time NFC champion hammer teams behind the deafening sound of the 12th Man at the CLink during their last two Super Bowl runs, but if there is a team that isn’t afraid of going anywhere and playing anybody with the stakes are at their highest, its Seattle.

Whenever you have a quarterback like Russell Wilson, who became the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for over 4,000 yards, 30 touchdowns, and rush for over 500 yards, and a take no prisoners defense headlined by cornerback Richard Sherman and free safety Earl Thomas, you definitely have a chance to win.

Running back Marshawn Lynch was ruled out for Sunday’s game after being listed as questionable throughout the week. Lynch missed Seattle’s final seven games of the season with a sports hernia.

“Beast Mode” is a big-time playoff performer, rushing for over 100 yards in six of his 10 career playoff games.

Seattle steamrolled Minnesota 38-7 on Dec. 6 thanks in large part to the NFL’s second-ranked defense limiting Vikings running back Adrian Peterson to a season-low 18 yards rushing on eight carries.

If Minnesota has any chance to win on Sunday, they will need more from the NFL rushing champion. With the temperature expected to be below zero at kickoff, Peterson is expected to get a lot of carries.

I’m not sold on Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

Bridgewater tends to lock on his receivers and rarely takes chances down field and in the playoffs, you need a quarterback who isn’t afraid of throwing the ball and  Bridgewater looks like a deer in headlights.

Yes, Minnesota does have a good defense, but Seattle and Wilson with their championship pedigree will find a way to make a few more plays than the Vikings, who are hosting their first playoff game in six years Sunday.

Seahawks 27 – Vikings 9

Green Bay Packers (10-6); 5th seed at Washington Redskins (9-7); 4th seed –  Sunday 4:40 p.m. ET/1:40 p.m. PT – FOX

Wild Card Weekend concludes with what has to be the trickiest game to decipher when the Packers travel to Landover, MD to face the Redskins.

Which Packers team will show up on Sunday? The one that looked virtually unbeatable with a 6-0 start, or the team that went 4-6 down the stretch that saw Green Bay lose the NFC North crown to Minnesota at Lambeau Field in Week 17?

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers finished the season with his lowest completion percentage (60.7) since 2006, and his lowest passer rating (92.7).

Since Rodgers led the Packers to a Super Bowl victory in 2010, Green Bay has lost thee of its last four playoff games. During that march to the Super Bowl, the Packers became just the fourth team to win back-to-back-to-back road playoff games.

Washington is playing with some serious house money with starting quarterback Kirk Cousins having his best season of his career.

Since Week 7, the fourth-year pro leads the league in completion percentage (72.4) and passer rating (119.1) to go along with 23 touchdown passes and only three interceptions. Cousins is one of four quarterbacks to throw at least one touchdown in all 16 games this season, helping Washington win the NFC East.

I like the weapons that Cousins has at his disposal, in particular smooth tight end in Jordan Reed emerging as Cousins’ top target. In his last four games, Reed has been on a tare hauling 29 catches for 378 yards and five touchdowns.

This game could be a shootout as both teams’ defenses are nothing special to write home about. Green Bay is ranked 15th in the league in total defense, while Washington is ranked 28th.

Green Bay has to do a better job of protecting its franchise quarterback, who has been sacked 13 times over the past two games.

In the team’s most recent victory over the Redskins, a 38-20 victory at Lambeau Field for Green Bay, Rodgers shredded Washington throwing a career-high 480 yards and four touchdowns.

Green Bay has won five of their last six meetings against Washington.

Green Bay 30 – Washington 24

Stats provided by Elias Sports Bureau, NFL.com,  and STATS LLC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raiders head to Kansas City for season finale

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Quarterback Derek Carr and the Raiders look to spoil Kansas City’s chances at the AFC West crown when the Silver and Black travel to the Show Me State Sunday to take on the Chiefs in the season finale for both teams.

Oakland (7-8) can finish with a .500 record for the first time since 2011 with a win in Kansas City, where they have lost their last two trips to Arrowhead.

A .500 record would be great for Oakland, who have won a combined 11 games over the past three seasons.

Oakland is coming off a 23-20 overtime victory over the visiting San Diego Chargers in Week 16 behind Carr’s 204 yards, one touchdown and one interception performance.

It was Oakland’s last home game for the season, and potentially the last Raiders’ game in Oakland as the team is rumored to be heading to Los Angeles for the 2016 season.

The win for Oakland was great in what was safety Charles Woodson’s final home game. The 18-year veteran announced his retirement last week.

”Charles is one of the greatest players to ever put on a uniform,” coach Jack Del Rio said. ”He’s a great Raider. To be able to send him out the right way, to be able to cap off a special evening like this, our last home game of the year … I’m just really proud of the effort.”

Running back Latavius Murray carried the ball 19 times for 79 yards and a touchdown. The third-year running back from Central Florida leads the AFC in rushing with 1,035 yards and has become the bellcow for the Raiders.

Oakland’s defense had trouble generating a solid pass rush on Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers for nearly three quarters, registering just one sack.

After starting the season 1-5, Kansas City (10-5) have been red hot winning their last nine in a row.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only the 1970 Cincinnati Bengals have ever qualified for the playoffs after starting 1-5, until Kansas City clinched a playoff spot with a 17-13 home win against the Cleveland Browns in Week 16.

The Chiefs are seeking a franchise-record 10th straight victory, but want more.

With a win over their hated rivals from Oakland, coupled with a Chargers’ victory over the Broncos in Denver, Kansas City could win the AFC West title for the first time since 2010.

Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin has been what head coach Andy Reid and Kansas City have hoped and then some in his first season with the team.

Maclin, who was voted to his first Pro Bowl this season, is having a monster season with 84 catches (one shy of his career-high set last season in Philadelphia), 1,034 yards, and seven touchdowns.

Kansas City didn’t have a wide receiver catch a touchdown all of last season. Maclin has caught a touchdown in four of the last five games for the Chiefs, including a pair of touchdowns against Oakland in Kansas City’s 34-20 Week 13 victory at O.co Coliseum.

With Pro Bowl linebackers Justin Houston (hyperextended knee) and Tamba Hali (broken finger) sitting out last week, Kansas City failed to record a sack for the first time since Week 4.

Houston and Hali have combined for 14 of Kansas City’s 41 sacks this season, which are tied for fourth-most in the league this season.

Both players are day-to-day, but could suit up Sunday.

Kansas City have won four of the last five meetings, and forced the Raiders second-year signal caller into throwing three interceptions, returning one for a touchdown.

 

 

0-10 Raiders host Chiefs Thursday in primetime

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — With Derek Carr limited in practice with a quad injury, along with several players dealing with injuries, the Raiders will have to get healthy in a hurry with the Kansas City Chiefs coming to town for Thursday Night Football to kickoff Week 12. This will be the first time that the two AFC West rivals have seen each other this season when the ball kicks off at 5:25 p.m. PDT at O.co Coliseum.

The Raiders are coming off a tough 13-6 loss to another AFC West rival, the San Diego Chargers in Week 11 where the defense harassed Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers all day, even injuring the Chargers signal caller at one point.

Rookie linebacker Khalil Mack recorded his first career sack, one of two on the day (the other by defensive tackle Antonio Smith, his first as a member of the Silver & Black).

Safety Charles Woodson led the team in tackles with 11 (three assisted), and Oakland’s 32nd ranked defense kept the Chargers’ 17th ranked offense at bay yielding only 300 yards of total offense, and one touchdown (a Rivers 22-yard toss to wide receiver Malcolm Floyd on the Chargers third play from scrimmage following a Carr fumble).

But, the offense couldn’t muster any type of chemistry.

Carr played a mediocre game, completing just 16-of-34 passes for 172 yards and couldn’t get the Raiders into the end zone. Oakland managed just three first downs and had four 3-and-outs in the first half. Matter of fact, Oakland didn’t get into the red zone until 5:05 left in the fourth quarter, but came up empty what essentially would be the final drive of the game.

The running game? Well, the running game was still a no show with the exception of running back Latavius Murray.

Murray showed flashes of what he could do when given an opportunity, racking up 43 yards on four carries, one for a 23-yard gain. All career highs.

The tandem of Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden managed just 27 yards on 12 carries combine. According to Raiders interim head coach Tony Sparano, Murray will get more time running the ball.

“He played a little bit more yesterday and he’s going to continue to do that,” Sparano said. “I like what I’ve seen out of him so far. So in a roundabout way, I’m saying yeah, you’re going to see more of him.”

But running the ball could be tough for Oakland, especially against a Kansas City team who hasn’t given up a rushing touchdown all season, and that can be credited to their intimidating nose tackle, Dontari Poe all 6’3″, 346 pounds of him.

“He’s a real handful,” Sparano said. “He really is.”

The Chiefs are coming off a 24-20, come-from-behind victory against the reigning Super Bowl Champions Seattle Seahawks Sunday at Arrowhead.

Quarterback Alex Smith was his usual efficient self, completing 11-of-16 passes for just 108 yards through the air but it was the play off their Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles on offense that set the tone for Kansas City.

Charles ran through the vaunted Seahawks defense, rushing for 159 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. The seventh-year running back out of Texas appeared to find running lanes against a Seahawks team that was missing it’s star defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, gone for the season with a hamstring injury.

At 7-3, Kansas City is tied with the Denver Broncos for first place (with Denver currently holding the tiebreaker over the Chiefs following a 24-17 home victory in Week 2) in the AFC West and with a Week 13 home date against the Broncos, Kansas City better not overlook the Raiders.

Oakland would like nothing more than to spoil Kansas City’s chances at taking sole possession of first place in the AFC West, even if it means helping out the Broncos in the process.

Face it. Oakland is just thirsting to end its 16-game losing streak dating back to last season. It will take more from Carr and the offense to support a defense that has played pretty well in recent weeks.

You can’t win football games in the National Football League by just kicking field goals.

Players To Watch

Oakland, RB, Latavius Murray: It’s no secret that the Raiders running game has been, pedestrian, to say the least this season. Ranking dead last with just 630 yards on the ground as a team, Oakland needs the fresh legs of Murray to provide a jolt, something that Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden can’t do.

Kansas City, TE, Travis Kelce: Even though wide receiver Dwayne Bowe leads the Chiefs with 41 catches for 508 yards, it’s the second-year tight end out of Cincinnati that seems to be the guy that quarterback Alex Smith trusts the most. Kelce is second on the team with 37 catches for 475 yards receiving, but leads the team with four touchdown grabs. Bowe has yet to find the end zone. Heck, none of Kansas City’s wide receivers have yet to find the end zone this season.

 

 

 

Pryor, not McGloin to start home finale against Broncos

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photos via San Jose Mercury

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Terrelle Pryor will start over Matt McGloin in the Raiders’ final home game of the season against the Denver Broncos Sunday, head coach Dennis Allen announced Monday during his weekly press conference per CSNBayArea.com’s Raiders Insider, Scott Bair.

Both Pryor and McGloin were notified of Allen’s decision earlier Monday morning.

“We got a chance to see Matt McGloin for six games,” Allen said. “I liked a lot of things that I saw in Matt. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten an opportunity to see Terrelle in a game and I want to get him in the game and get another opportunity to evaluate him.”

McGloin’s three-touchdown performance in a 28-23 victory over the Houston Texans in Week 11 gave Oakland a glimpse of a possible answer at the quarterback position, but McGloin played up-and-down to a 1-5 record while Oakland (4-11) lost five straight games including a 56-31 home drubbing to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15 in which he threw four interceptions.

McGloin finished 20-for-36 for 206 yards and an interception in Oakland’s 26-13 loss in San Diego Sunday and it was clear that Oakland had seen enough.

Pryor goes back under center and should get a long look against the Broncos. Pryor played well against Denver back in Week 3, completing 19-for-28 passes for 281 yards, a touchdown with a career-high, 112.4 passer rating.

Denver (12-3) is coming into Oakland looking to wrap up the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the AFC Playoffs. Denver wrapped up the AFC West with their 37-13 victory in Houston, coupled with Kansas City’s 23-7 loss to Indianapolis at Arrowhead.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning threw for 400 yards and four touchdowns, while breaking Tom Brady’s NFL-record 50 touchdown passes set in 2007, sending the down-trodden Texans to their 13th straight loss in the process. Manning threw the record-breaking touchdown to tight end Julius Thomas on a 25-yard pass in the fourth quarter, his third touchdown pass of the quarter.

In a season where he most likely collect his fifth league MVP award, Manning has a chance to set another record Sunday.

With a league-leading 5,211 yards passing this year, Manning needs 265 yards to surpass New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ NFL-record 5,476 set in 2011.

Manning loves to spread the ball around and with four targets with at least 10 touchdowns  like wide receivers Demaryius Thomas (86 catches, 1,377 yards, 12 TDs), Eric Decker (83 catches, 1,261 yards, 10 TDs), Wes Welker (73 catches, 778 yards, 10 TDs), and the previously mentioned tight end Thomas (60 catches, 752 yards, 12 TDs), its almost a safe bet that Manning breaks the record against the Raiders.

Raider report: Lack of inexperience reason for Raiders big loss in KC

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Oakland Raiders who suffered a pretty humilating defeat at the hands of their division rivals the Kansas City Chiefs this last weekend. They lost big 56-31 that is the most points the Raiders have ever given up in a football game. It was done in dramatic fashion the Chiefs jumped out to a big lead they were up 21-0 just in the first quarter.

The big story in the game it was not only the 56 points but who scored them, five of those touchdowns were scored by the Chiefs Jamal Charles the tiny running back for the Chiefs and four of them on receptions. He became the first running back in NFL history to catch four touchdown passes in a game.

Scoring five touchdowns puts him in pretty rare company as well, five touchdowns is a huge accomplishment no matter what and at the NFL level it’s very, very rare and only three people have scored six touchdowns n a game and Charles might have had a shot at that becuase he had five touchdowns with 12 minutes left in the game he had a shot at it but he mostly sat on the bench from that point on.

Charles sat because the Chiefs were up by so much looking at it from the Raiders side this was a rough, rough loss, they were out of this one from the very beginning they really had no chance and what we’ve seen in the last few weeks is that the Raiders are falling apart on the defensive side of the football.

The Raiders have had a real tough time of it not only did they lose this game to the Chiefs last week they got hammered by a very bad New York Jets team they gave up 37 points to a Jets team that have had one of the worse offenses in the league. They lost to Dallas, Tennessee, you have to go all the way back to week 11 when they beat Houston and as we all know now is probably the team that’s going to get the number one pick in the draft that’s how bad they are.

The Raiders have had a really rough run it’s kind of disappointing their defense played really well in the first half of the season it was surprising and one of the reasons why everybody had low expectations for the Raiders was their defense. They’ve had a lot of new guys on the team and not necessarily all new but they had a lot of inexperienced guys some of them were rookies.

These were guys on the Raiders that have really never been starters at this top level and the Raiders had so little room under the cap they had to get what they could and for the most part that meant bargain basement shopping and early in the season they did a good job of motivating these guys in keeping offenses on their toes, the defense was surprising.

The Raiders face the San Diego Chargers on Sunday the 29th for their next game with a 1:25 PM kickoff at Qualcomm.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio

Raiders return home for Week 15 tilt with Chiefs

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By. Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Home is where the heart is and the Oakland Raiders are in dire need of some good fortune.

After a two game road trip, Oakland return to the familiar surroundings of O.co Coliseum when they’ll host their bitter rival the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15 Sunday. Kansas City nipped Oakland, 24-7 at Arrowhead in Week 6 behind a ferocious defense that forced three second-half interceptions and sacked then starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor 10 times.

Oakland (4-9) was dropped by the New York Jets, 37-27, in New York last week.

With running backs Rashad Jennings (concussion) and Darren McFadden (ankle),  fullback Marcel Reece supplied the ground game for Oakland rushing for a career-high 123 yards on 19 carries, including a career-long 63-yard touchdown run on the second play of the third quarter.

Quarterback Matt McGloin finished the game 18 of 31 for 245 yards passing, two touchdowns and an interception, while wide receiver Rod Streater had a career-high 130 yards receiving and a touchdown.

Kansas City (10-3) throttled hapless Washington, 45-10, last week in the Nation’s Capital.

The Chiefs jumped on Washington from the start, building a 31-0 lead in the second quarter behind two special teams touchdowns and their running game. Running back Jamaal Charles racked up 151 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

Charles leads the AFC in rushing with 1,161 yards and 10 touchdowns, and is third overall in the NFL in rushing yards behind Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson (1,221), and Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy (1,3o5).

Just as predicted Puig solves Dodgers ills

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That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

LOS ANGELES–Yasiel Puig the Dodgers young slugger and outfielder saved the Dodgers season he’s the Cuban kid 22 years old and that energy is contagious to everybody on the Dodgers that it even rubbed off on Hanley Ramirez who wasn’t having fun in Miami with the Marlins and here he is.
Ramirez was a miserable human being, he didn’t want to talk to anybody, he never gave his teammates even a smile, never gave an interview with the press, Ramirez went to the Dodgers and when the Dodgers brought up Puig and now Ramirez is the happiest man in the world he’s producing and said after game three that he would do anything for the organization.
That’s what’s happens in baseball, baseball is not as physical as football, basketball or hockey, it’s a mental game and the Dodgers are a happy bunch and their producing. Magic Johnson is part owner of the team, the Dodgers are getting all the money in the world. Of all the parks in the world the largest attendance, the largest capacity is Dodgers stadium.
There are over 53,000 people that fit into the park at Chavez Ravine and their coming back and I wouldn’t be surprised after losing the first two games in St.Louis they won Monday night and they came back and they have done it three times in 1955 they were done the Yankees had a big lead and they came back and they were the Brooklyn Dodgers at that time.
In 1965 they lost the first two games of the World Series to the Minnesota Twins turned it around and won four in a row and won the World Championship. In 1981 they were down to the Yankees and they came back to win. This is not new territory for the Dodgers they’ve been down in the series before and their going to win the National League the Dodgers are the most likely to go all the way and win the World Series.
Raiders can’t get it together: Nobody expected the Raiders to do too much this year. I haven’t heard anybody saying that the Raiders are going to win five or six games. Most predictions were three wins or four wins at most. Then last Sunday they faced the Kansas Chiefs who are perfect at 6-0 and facing former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith where people around the Bay Area are saying “oh the 49ers should have kept him he should be their starting quarterback now.”
Smith has had a terrific start and he’s throwing games that’s almost like “in your face 49ers here I’m” with one of the best starts in Kansas City Chiefs history at 6-0. Everything is clicking for Smith over in KC. Smith was a good quarterback he got in the mud with all the quarterback controversies with the franchise of the 49ers.
This is good to see and I’m glad for Smith and the Chiefs and I can not say the same for the Raiders, their very inconsistent with their quarterback in Terrelle Pryor and they have a lot of problems on that team and since the first day of the year Pryor should have run a little bit more and Pryor was throwing the ball and had problems and Pryor and that offense needs a lot of adjustments.
Edward Lake II second 49ers construction worker to be killed at new stadium: Edward Lake II a delivery truck driver was killed on Monday as he was crushed to death by a steel rebar at the 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara. Lake was 60 and became the second casualty in four months at the Niners new digs which is set to open August 2014.
The job site was shut down all day on Monday due to state investigations but reopened on Tuesday, it’s sad, it’s a tragedy, it happens. I have seen the production of the construction crew and the results of the new Niners stadium and I’ve seen it when you fly over the stadium out of San Jose Airport  and the cost of the stadium is over one billion dollars.  
With all the safety, and all the helmets they wear and this happens it’s not a bad rap for the 49ers or anybody but construction is a tough job and when your building a new stadium with so much going on on the property there’s something that could happen and I’m very sad by this death at the 49ers new stadium and I hope it doesn’t dampen the move for the 49ers in 2014.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Museum and does News and Commentary for Sportstalk Radio

Raiders head to Arrowhead looking for 7th Straight win in Kansas City

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By. Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — After dispatching fellow AFC West foe the San Diego Chargers 27-17 last week at home, the Oakland Raiders (2-3) hit the road to take on another AFC West foe, the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) Sunday at Arrowhead. Oakland is seeking their seventh straight win in Kansas City, dating back to 2007.

With former incumbent quarterback Matt Flynn being released on Monday, the Raiders have officially become Terrelle Pryor’s team. On the Flynn experiment, head coach Dennis Allen mentioned “it just didn’t work” during the team’s press conference Monday.

Pryor looked good in the pocket while playing the best football of his career last Sunday night against San Diego, completing 18-of-23 passes for 221 yards and two first quarter touchdowns.

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Pryor currently ranks fourth in the NFL in completion percentage, completing 72.7 percent of his passes from the pocket, which is higher than more accomplish quarterbacks such as Drew Brees (69.7), Matt Ryan (69.3), and Aaron Rodgers (66.4).

The one player that will give Oakland its best chance at collecting their seventh straight win at Arrowhead is wide receiver Denarius Moore.

In Oakland’s 26-16 victory last season at Arrowhead, Moore played a vital role in the win, hauling in 96 yards on five catches including a nine-yard touchdown grab. Over the past three games, Moore has 20 catches for 274 receiving yards (18 yards per catch) and two touchdowns. Moore is Pryor’s first option when he drops back to pass.

First-year Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has pumped new blood into Kansas City after their dismal 2-14 season a year ago.

Kansas City took down the Tennessee Titans, 26-17 in Nashville last week, and is playing great football which will be a huge challenge for the Silver and Black.

After playing musical chairs at quarterback, Kansas City traded a conditional second round pick in next year’s draft for former San Francisco 49ers’ No. 1 overall pick, quarterback Alex Smith. Smith isn’t your typical strong-armed quarterback (18th-best quarterback according to nfl.com), but has been very accurate for Kansas City. Smith has thrown seven touchdowns and only three interceptions, but the offense isn’t what makes this team click.

Its the seventh ranked defense (first in points scored against per game at 11.6) in the NFL that has Kansas City running on all cylinders.

Linebacker Justin Houston is the straw that stirs the drink for Kansas City’s defense. Houston is second in the NFL with 8.5 sacks and will no doubt be keeping his eyes on Pryor’s every move. Fellow linebacker Derrick Johnson leads Kansas City with 35 tackles (31 solo).

Kansas City’s has a very formidable defensive line led by defensive end Tamba Hali and rookie defensive tackle, Dontari Poe. Facing the Chiefs defense won’t be a day at the park for Oakland.

Oakland has got to play near flawless football if they expect to leave Arrowhead with a 3-3 record heading into their bye week next week.

Player to Watch for Oakland:

No. 24) Charles Woodson (FS) — The reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week is still playing at a high level at this stage of his career. Against San Diego, Woodson tied the NFL’s all-time record for defensive touchdowns when he recovered a third-quarter fumble, giving him 13 for his career. Woodson’s fourth-quarter interception sealed the win for Oakland.

Player to Watch for Kansas City:

No. 24) Brandon Flowers (CB) — Flowers is one of the better cornerbacks in the league that no one really talks about since he plays in a small market like Kansas City. Flowers has the ability to take the opposing team’s best wide receiver and shut him down for the game. Expect Flowers to shadow Denarius Moore for much of the game.

 

 

Preseason preview week 2, 49ers at Chiefs

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By Gabe Schapiro

This Friday, August 16 at 5pm, the San Francisco 49ers (0-1) face off against the rebuilding Kansas City Chiefs (0-1) at Arrowhead Stadium. Despite just being the preseason, this matchup comes with some intrigue. After a dismal 2-14 season last year, the Chiefs underwent a major overhaul. They brought in a new general manager, John Dorsey, and head coach, Andy Reid, who had previously spent over a decade with the Philadelphia Eagles. In addition, the Chiefs got themselves a new starting quarterback. In June these two opponents completed a trade that sent Alex Smith, who was somewhat controversially replaced last season by Colin Kaepernick, to the Chiefs for a couple of draft picks. This will be the first time Smith will be taking on his former team of seven years.

Last week in the preseason opener the 49ers lost to the Denver Broncos 10-6. As is to be expected the assumed starters saw little action, mostly just playing in one series. The first-team offense looked solid, going on a 13-play drive for a field goal in their opening possession. The second and third units have some work to do after combining for four turnovers, but that is what this time of year is all about. As will continue to be the emphasis in the coming three weeks, the preseason is all about staying healthy, settling position battles, and gearing up for the real deal on September 8.

With week 1 in the books, the competition at wide receiver seems to be more up in the air than ever. Anquan Boldin already seems to have an established chemistry with Kaepernick, which is great news moving forward, but after Boldin the depth chart looks unclear. Kyle Williams didn’t play last week as he continues to nurse a hamstring injury. Marlon Moore, Chad Hall, Kassim Osgood, and Austin Collie had solid games. AJ Jenkins, however, struggled. He saw his fair share of snaps, but was targeted just three times, and only had one reception. To make matters worse, on his one reception he promptly fumbled, accounting for one of the teams’ four turnovers. By all accounts Jenkins has the talent, but as of yet just hasn’t been able to put everything together. Keep a close eye on the receiving corp, Jenkins in particular, heading into week 2 against a lesser defense.

The competitions at free safety and cornerback continue as well, although both positions look far less muddled. At safety Craig Dahl started the game last week, but presumed starter Eric Reid had a strong debut, getting a lot of playing time and finishing with six tackles. Looking to step up for the injured cornerback Chris Culliver, the trio of Parrish Cox, Tramaine Brock, and Nnamdi Asomugha did well. The group will look to show what they’ve got against former teammate Alex Smith.

As a whole, expect to see slightly more playing time for all of the starters as everyone gets game ready for the regular season opener.