On Sunday morning, the Las Vegas Raiders will continue their brutal October schedule by taking on the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. There are important matchups to consider when trying to determine a winner, but Defensive Coordinator Paul Guenther will likely hold the keys to victory. The coach, who has drawn the ire of the fanbase as of late, must call a good game if the Raiders hope to have any chance at victory.
Paul Guenther Critical to Victory for the Las Vegas Raiders
Defensive Play Will Be Key
For some odd reason, defensive players keep signing with the Las Vegas Raiders and playing much worse than they did with their previous teams. Cory Littleton, Maliek Collins, and Carl Nassib are all players that signed with the Raiders in the off-season and have embarrassingly underperformed in their first four games. The common denominator for this trend is none other than Paul Guenther.
The Kansas City Chiefs are a team that will hang 28 plus points on you even if you do everything right, so Guenther will need to call the best game of his life this Sunday. With calls for his termination growing louder after each game, and a bye week slowly approaching, Guenther may be coaching for his job this Sunday. And given how good the Chiefs are at scoring, this won’t be an easy matchup for him.
The Other Key Matchup: Derek Carr vs. Arrowhead Stadium
Something has to give at some point. Derek Carr has yet to win a single game at Arrowhead Stadium in his career. There is just something about this place that brings out the worst in Carr. While that stadium typically is one of the more difficult places to play in the league, it is still early enough in the year for the elements not to have any negative impact on the game.
There are no excuses this time. The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off a short week after having their previous game rescheduled to last Monday night. With Henry Ruggs likely to be available for this game, there is no reason for Carr to put up anything less than a four-touchdown performance. And if the defense doesn’t do enough, such a performance will be all the more needed.
Final Thoughts
Coming off two straight losses, things are already looking gloom early in the season. With each embarrassing loss to a playoff-caliber team, the winnable games at the end of the schedule look less and less so. Even if the Las Vegas Raiders lose this weekend, they need to find a way to string together a few respectable defensive stops. This team cannot continue to struggle sacking the quarterback and creating turnovers if they hope to have any shot at making the playoffs. With the extended format going into effect this year, anything less than a playoff birth would be a major disappointment. If the Raiders do not make the playoffs this season, then Jon Gruden will officially be on the hot seat.
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