I'd heard on one of the sports talk shows that one of those dj's spoke with TRich right after the Jets game and he said he would be playing against the Raiders. And the same guy was told by Sampson that he would be playing, and practicing this week.

I also heard this morning on 810 from Mike White that they intend to keep running the sweeps to wear down Sapp's and the rest of the Raiders D-line pass rush.

Vermeil on his show last night said he expected Surtain to play against the Raiders. Has anyone heard any news on Simms MRI? Vermeil didn't have anything last night.

I'm very concerned about the Raiders 'passing game. We'll need more of pass rush this week to help out the CB's, whoever plays. I watched New England only rush 3 and drop 8, but I don't see that working this week in Oakland.

Here's how I look at it, in order of importance:

1) Ryan Sims - it's quite simple. We didn't keep enough DT's and without him we've not only lost the only guy that was getting any push, but we've also got lesser players playing far too long, making them even less effective. The key to getting past Oakland is pressuring their QB. Period.

2) Roaf - this means more to Priest than it does to LJ. We can survive without Roaf for one game, especially considering the Raiders' struggles with the pass rush. The BIG key here is getting Sampson back -- Jordan Black can play, but having to use Chris Bober to sub for Black is the problem.

3) Patrick Surtain - I honestly don't think anybody can cover Randy Moss, not even Surtain. Like I said before, pressure, pressure, pressure. Having Surtain back would be a big help, but it's not the key.

4) Richardson - he's simply the most expendable of the bunch. We've run the ball without him before, and actually we've done quite well with 1-back sets.

But with Surtain there you at least make the QB pause before just tossing it up to Moss, with McCleon or any of our other nickelbacks out there you don't give the Raiders a reason to not just toss it up and let him go after it. No amount of pressure is going to help if all the QB has to do is take three steps and toss the ball up in the air, at least with Surtain you have to attempt to make a good pass.

Yes, I also think losing Roaf hurts, becuase since he went out, the Chiefs ouside running game, such as sweeps and counters on the outside of the tackle position, went straight to the crapper. So I agree with the majority of you folks on the see more of LJ running up in the middle, but, keep in mind, that the Chiefs can use Priest for a few runs up in the middle and some quick hitting draws as a change of pace.

There's also a possibility that we could see some 2 TE sets, along with 2 WR's and a TE (Gonzo) and Kris Wilson starting at the FB spot, but going into motion to the oppisite TE area (Away from Gonzo). In other words, 1 back, 2 TE's and 2 WR's could be deployed more often from the Chiefs.

I disagree.

The Raiders whole gameplan the other night was to toss it up and see what happened.

They're going to do it regardless of who we have back there. And at that point, Sammy Knight and Greg Wesley are the keys anyway, not a CB.

Don't get me wrong, Surtain being back would be BIG...it's just not KEY.

Absolutely right. And it wouldn't surprise me to see Randy catch a couple of bombs for TDs. But that's still just 14 points. The rest of their O looked like crap. If we can do to Jordan what we did to Martin, and don't let Porter or Curry or Gabriel go nuts (which may be a tall order), just let Randy be Randy, I think we outscore them and win the game.

Do you remember last season at all? Seriously? My game plan with Surtain out is keep Moss to the outside where the safeties can't get over in time, add in a little play action to slow them down half a step and just toss it up. The play was gold against our D last year, and on many of those plays we even got some pressure with the blitz. In this case I'm not talking bombs either, just down the line hit the guy running 10-15 yards down the field and watch him fly.

yeah, I agree with order...Surtain is crucial given Warfield's abscence and Moss' presence...Sims is not more important than Roaf, but we have more depth on the OL than the DL, so Sims abscence is more impactful to an already thin defense....Roaf is key, of course, to our long term success but we can survive until the bye without him -imho- if it means getting him close to 100% healthy...I'm convinced we'll be 2-2 then, at the worst, even with the injuries...T-Rich, same as Roaf...I'm confident AS can scheme around their abscences, less so about Gun and Surtain/Sims...

Yes, I remember last season.

This isn't last season, and Sammy Knight isn't Jerome Woods.

Sims Vs Roaf...
 

I pretty much agree with all that, except for Surtain. I think people are overestimating how successful we (or anyone) will be in shutting down Moss. He's gonna score, you can't stop it. The key is to disrupt the rest of their offense, IMO. But that's JMO.

What you said about Sims and Roaf is exactly why I listed Sims where I did. No way am I saying anything about the player, to me it's more the circumstances. Jordan Black is a good fill-in player, Junior Siavii is not.

Well, at least we still stopped the run without Sims. That is encouraging.

Thank god for that........... It's really really crucial to stop the run with our front 7 this week so our safeties can give deep help. It's going to be extremely important.

Yes, but Knight isn't going to get from the middle of the field to Moss on the sideline before that toss gets there. Plus who knows if Moss is even going to be lined up on the same side as Knight very often. Plus none of the CB's we have healthy are really going to get much of a meaningful bump on Moss to slow him down, which is what we really need to be able to do.

Luckily Surtain is probably going to play, making the point pretty much moo.

We kept hearing this after the first couple games of the 2003 season. Sure turned out to be nothing then, didn't it?

The troubling thing about it is, it's probably a sign of things to come. We caught all the breaks on Sunday, and that's not going to continue for the entire season.