The Las Vegas Raiders hosting the Kansas City Chiefs tonight is one of the record five games this week that involves a pair of teams with a winning percentage of sixty-seven percent or better meeting after the tenth week of the season.
The Chiefs are 8-1 and the Raiders 6-3. The four other matchups this weekend involving teams with winning percentages two-thirds or better, are first the game played on Thursday between the Seattle Seahawks and Arizolna Cardinals. Tomorrow night, the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the final game of the week involving two teams with winning percentages of 67% or better.
The four teams squaring off against each other earlier today were the Green Bay Packers at Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans at Baltimore Ravens.
The defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs have lost once this season, six weeks ago at Arrowhead Stadium against the very same Raiders they meet tonight in Vegas. On either side of that loss in mid October, the Chiefs have won four games and bring that 8-1 record into action tonight.
Do you think the better team might just have revenge on their side?
I do.
But, before leaping up to go plunk hard earned dollars on the fate of a football game, I’d want to know the other side of the equation too. Do the Raiders have an edge? Is their reason that Jon Gruden’s team could actually beat the Super Bowl LIV Champions twice the following season?
Yes.
What forever could that be?
The Raiders come into this game at home against a division opponent, getting points against a rival that they trail by two games in the standings and are in second place.
When this set of circumstances fell into place for us years ago, we would declare a “Qoxhi” and watched at the first 14 times a Qoxhi was identified, it won.
I have developed a lot more criteria that hones the field down further than when I would blindly take a second place team that was outmatched simply because they were behind in the standings and getting points at home.
But the fundamentals are clearly in place.
Now the interpretation of those factors, and the consideration that what the Raiders are up against tonight is a better team that remembers what happened in October, are reasons for pause.
When talent, situation and motivation all line up, we like to cash the opportunity.
Tonight, we have talent and then all sorts of mixed messages on whether the Chiefs revenge will rule the night or the Chiefs talent will prevail, while the smaller target seems to be what holds the most empirical evidence to support.
Both have great attributes to support their side, but neither has a decided edge enough to truly sway the advantage from the Chiefs or Raiders.
Looking forward to the contest, but only with a spectators vested interest.