The Chiefs felt right at home during their visit to Las Vegas in February for the Super Bowl.
They practiced at the Raiders’ facility and used their locker room at Allegiant Stadium. After Kansas City won its second straight championship and third in five years, Marquez Valdes-Scantling planted a Chiefs flag on the field.
This was a tough moment for Raiders fans, but even harder for them is how comfortable the Chiefs have been when playing in Las Vegas. Kansas City (6-0) wants to improve on its 4-0 record against the Raiders (2-5) at Allegiant when the teams meet on Sunday.
Sports betting experts don’t think that will be a problem. BetMGM Sportsbook has the Chiefs as 9 1/2-point favorites, even though the Raiders were the last team to beat Kansas City, winning 20-14 last Christmas Day.
“They came in and got after us,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid. “That’s their personality, and we didn’t handle that the right way, but I thought we learned from it and got better for it, which was the important thing after something like that.”
After that loss, the Chiefs began a 12-game winning streak that included their Super Bowl victory in Las Vegas, and it’s still going.
There was some playful teasing at Raiders training camp in August when a fan threw a Kermit the Frog doll wearing a Patrick Mahomes jersey onto the field. Rookie safety Trey Taylor was seen in a video playing with the doll and laughing.
“It’ll get handled when it gets handled,” Mahomes said at the time.
However, he didn’t focus on it much this week. “I think just knowing that the competitive spirit that they have on that side is going to match the competitive spirit that we have,” Mahomes said.
The Raiders come into this game on a three-game losing streak, and that’s what they are focusing on more than anything from last season or training camp.
“We’ve got to turn that around,” said Raiders cornerback Jakorian Bennett. “That’s our motivation.”
The last time the Chiefs played at Allegiant Stadium, they celebrated with confetti falling around them, and Valdes-Scantling (who now plays for New Orleans) firmly planted the flag into the NFL logo.
That moment has been part of the conversation leading up to this game. Las Vegas star pass rusher Maxx Crosby was even asked about it in April. “Nobody’s planting a flag on our Raiders logo,” Crosby said at the time.
