Chiefs Raid Oakland, 16-10

Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles breaks through the Oakland Raider defense on his way to the end zone.

By James Sullivan

Chiefs Coalition Columnist

     The Kansas City Chiefs waited for the Oakland Raiders to gift wrap the game for them and their patience was rewarded with a, 16-10, victory. 

     It was a tumultuous week for the Chiefs.  They officially released running back Larry Johnson after his two week and one game suspension ended on the Monday after the Jacksonville game.

     By showing Johnson the door, the Chiefs terminated the seemingly never-ending saga that was the Larry Johnson era in Kansas City.  It was a relationship doomed from the start and this team will only benefit with Johnson gone for good.

     Without Johnson, second year player Jamaal Charles has started the last two games at running back for the Chiefs.  On Sunday against the Raiders, Charles scampered around the left end and down the field for a 44-yard touchdown run.  

     On the play, Charles flashed his amazing speed and cut back ability that made him a third round choice for the Chiefs in the 2008 NFL Draft.  He finished the day with 18 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown.

     "He fought through some things yesterday and made some really good runs for us that helped us win the game," said Chiefs head coach Todd Haley.

      Haley must be feeling some relief after the win, his second as the Chiefs head coach.  Haley of course made the infamous boast that he could win two games with 22 guys off the street this past off-season, referring to the Chiefs utterly dismal, 2-14, record last season.

      Optimism should of course be tempered after this victory by the Chiefs.  Sure it's always nice to beat the Raiders, in fact it was the Chiefs seventh straight win at Oakland.  The last Chiefs loss at Oakland was a rain-soaked affair in which the Chiefs were shutout by the Raiders, 24-0, in 2002.

      The two teams combined to convert 3 of 31 third downs in the game.  Watching that kind of a game makes it nearly impossible to say that the Chiefs are improving with this win.  They turned the ball over three times to the Raiders two.

       It was the final turnover in the game that ultimately sealed the Raiders fate and the Chiefs victory.  With backup quarterback and former Toledo Rocket, Bruce Gradkowski in the game replacing an ineffective JaMarcus Russell the Raiders were marching towards the end zone for the winning touchdown. 

       Gradkowski threw the ball to Raiders rookie and first round draft pick Darius Heyward-Bey who bobbled the pass which allowed Chiefs safety Mike Brown to come up with the victory sealing interception.

        Brown was the goat in last week's Jacksonville game getting beat badly on two Jacksonville touchdowns in a, 24-21, loss.  It shows how qucikly tides can turn in the NFL.

yahoosports.com, kcchiefs.com and Getty Images contributed to this story