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5 Reasons The Winless Oakland Raiders Will Beat The 1st Place Kansas City Chiefs On Thursday Night

Oakland Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 5:00 p.m., KPIX 5

The winless Oakland Raiders are headed into week 12 of the NFL season and facing their bitterest rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, on short rest for a Thursday night showdown at O.co Coliseum.

The Chiefs are fired up after knocking off the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks at Arrowhead Stadium Sunday, putting them in first place in the AFC Western Division, while the Raiders demonstrated why they are winless with an inept showing on offense in their loss to San Diego Sunday.

So why should the Raider Nation be optimistic about this game? Here's why:

It's a Trap!
Kansas City is tied with the Denver Broncos for first place in the AFC West and the Chiefs play the Broncos next week. It's not uncommon for teams to look ahead to a game against a stronger rival and let down in a game against the opponent they're supposed to beat. Even Admiral Ackbar knows if there ever was a trap opponent, it's the Raiders. You know Kansas City will feel the Raider game is a warmup for Peyton Manning's Broncos.

Parity
There is a reason losing teams usually don't go 0-16 as well as winning teams usually don't go undefeated. The Raiders are bad, but probably not as bad as 0-10, and it could also be the Chiefs are not as good as 7-3. On paper, it's a huge mismatch. But the Raiders have shown flashes, and have been competitive in a few games, at least. If the offense can show a little consistency to help out their defense, they could steal this one. Plus, it's a rivalry game - throw the records out, right?

Upsets Every Week
You can count on at least one or two big upsets per week in the NFL. Who knew the Tampa Bay Bucs or Cleveland Browns would knock off the Pittsburgh Steelers this season … or that the Rams would beat the Broncos? The Raiders coming up big against their arch-rival at home is not out of the realm of possibility. The phrase "any given Sunday" is fairly accurate when talking about the NFL, which always has any number of shocking upsets during a season. As John Madden would say, you still gotta play the game.

Short Week Advantage
The dreaded shortest of the short weeks in the NFL, where teams play just four days after beating themselves up on a Sunday, has to favor the home team. No cross-country travel, no time change, home-cooking and familiar surroundings can help any team, even the Raiders.

Law of Averages
It has been a year since the last time the Raiders won a game. Their last win was November 17, 2013 at Houston. They have to win sometime, right? This week is as good as any to finally put one in the win column.

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