The Kansas City Chiefs were forced to climb uphill a bit in their preparation for the Oakland Raiders, who currently sit at 4-2 in the standings, a half-game behind the San Diego Chargers. The Chiefs buried themselves early in the division standings with an 0-3 start and have climbed their way back to 2-3 and hope to even up things against the Raiders this weekend coming off of the bye. With a little injury help, that task has become a bit simpler.
Kyle Boller is expected to be the starter for the Oakland Raiders and while the Raiders aren’t specifically a passing team, it’s clear that Campbell is the best QB on the roster by a wide margin. The loss of Campbell to a collarbone injury lessens the impact of the passing game, and gives Romeo Crennel some new things to consider when planning his defensive tactics for a quarterback who’s thrown four passes in the last two seasons.
In his career, Boller has never been an accurate passer, throwing for a 56.7 completion rate. He’s also prone to turning the ball over, and if head coach Hue Jackson insists on Boller trying to stretch the field and utilize the speed of receivers like Darrius Heyward-Bey, then the Chiefs secondary is likely to take advantage at least once.
For that reason, expect the Raiders to play things close to the vest and run Darren McFadden over and over. It still won’t be an easy game by any stretch — the Raiders are 4-2 for a reason — but certainly this changes the level of difficulty facing Todd Haley and the Chiefs.