OAKLAND, Calif. -- When Derek Carr arrived at Oakland training camp, he quickly tried to dampen the high expectations around the team by pointing out that the Raiders shouldn't be considered the AFC West favorites. They hadn't even beaten Kansas City the past two years.
Heading into the first meeting of the year with the Chiefs (5-1) at home tonight, Carr and the Raiders (2-4) are searching for a victory of any kind after losing four consecutive games for the first time in three years.
"You want to go out there and beat one of the best teams in football," Carr said. "We have them coming to our place on a short week. So all the challenges are there. Everything is pushing our back against the wall, but one thing I know we're going to do is we're going to come out on Thursday night and fight."
Little has gone right the past month for the Raiders, who have failed to score more than 17 points or gain more than 300 yards in any game during their skid. That has turned a team expected to be a Super Bowl contender into a last-place squad.
No one played better than the Chiefs the first five games as quarterback Alex Smith led a dynamic offense that got a big boost from game-breaking rookie running back Kareem Hunt.
That ended last week when Kansas City was held to 6 yards on 16 plays in the first half and lost to Pittsburgh 19-13 . But with a short week and a long trip , the Chiefs had little time to dwell on that loss.
"You don't even have time to let it marinate or sink in, to be honest," Smith said. "You just have to let it go. It's such a short week when you throw in travel. I mean you don't even have time to really even get into [Sunday's] game. You just have to go. The next one is more important."
For most of his career, Smith has been dogged by criticisms that he is nothing more than a game manager who never throws the ball deep. That hasn't been the case this season as he ranks second in the NFL with 11 completions on passes more than 20 yards downfield -- three off his career high. Instead, it's Carr who has been checking the ball down too much as the Raiders rank last in the NFL with two deep completions all year, including only one by Carr.
"You can't force it. You just have to work hard and let it happen," Carr said.
The Raiders made a key addition at linebacker this week when they signed four-time All-Pro NaVorro Bowman after he was released by San Francisco. Bowman may have lost a step at age 29 after a series of injuries, but he still is an upgrade at inside linebacker, where the Raiders have been playing the unproven Marquel Lee and Corey James. Bowman tried to get up to speed all week and hopes to be ready to make his debut against the Chiefs and prove he can still contribute at a high level.
"I'm only 29 years old and I still have a lot of juice left in me," he said.
No team has protected the ball as well as the Chiefs, who haven't turned it over since Hunt lost a fumble on their first play of the season. Kansas City has run 363 plays since without losing the ball. The Raiders have struggled to take it away, becoming just the third team in NFL history with no interceptions in the first six games. Oakland has five takeaways all together, with two coming on special teams.
Sports on 10/19/2017