The Chiefs swept the season series with the Raiders and took over first place in the AFC West with their win over the Raiders on Thursday night. But Oakland coach Jack Del Rio doesn’t think the two teams are done meeting.
“I feel pretty confident that both of our teams will end up in the playoffs,” Del Rio said. “There’s still three games to be played. How it ends up, we’ll see. Certainly they’ve got a leg up right now, they did enough to win the two games we’ve had with them this year, and for now that’s all there is to the story. They’ve earned that.”
Del Rio thinks the Raiders and Chiefs will meet a third time in January, and he’s still hoping to win one more game than the Chiefs over the final three weeks of the season, which would ensure a third meeting would take place in Oakland.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see this team again. What we do and what they do the next three weeks will determine whether it’s at their place or ours, because they’re a half game up on us,” Del Rio said.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr echoed those comments.
“There’s obviously a chance to play again which would be awesome, but they’ve beaten us twice. They’ve had us,” Carr said.
Heading into last night’s game, the Raiders owned the inside track for home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Now the Raiders would be a wild card team, playing the playoffs on the road. Having to travel to Kansas City again next month, and beating a team that has already beaten them twice, would be a tall order.