Lowell Cohn: Raiders vs. Chiefs a collision of philosophies

As the Raiders approach the biggest game of their season, a monster game, keep this in mind: The Kansas City Chiefs are the “No” to the Oakland Raiders' “Yes.”

The Chiefs say no to everything the Raiders want to do. They transform a fast game - the ball moving quickly down the field - into a slow, tedious, methodical, frustrating, sometimes boring exercise. The Chiefs take the razzle-dazzle out of Raiders football.

When they play well, the Chiefs take away the Raiders' personality. They unRaider the Raiders. And they usually beat the Raiders. Won three times in a row in the Jack Del Rio Era. Del Rio has not beaten Kansas City in his tenure as Raiders coach.

Which brings us to the latest installment of this great rivalry, this hard-hitting, exciting rivalry with so much at stake. The Raiders really need to win Thursday's game.

Why are the Chiefs so hard to beat for the Raiders? For anyone?

Think of their head coach Andy Reid, the purest disciple of Bill Walsh currently calling offensive plays in the NFL. Reid orchestrates everything. On the sideline he has a play sheet with several hundred plays. The Manhattan phonebook.

He's obsessive. Wants to call the perfect play on every snap. Lots of coaches run a play with so-so success and think, “Well, that stunk. Let's move onto the next one.” Not Reid. He doesn't accept so-so. He wants that play to be perfect and the next and the next.

He is abetted in his obsessive approach by his quarterback, equally obsessive Alex Smith. Him.

Smith is brilliant at the line of scrimmage. Before the play becomes a play. If he doesn't see what he wants from the defense, if he realizes the called play can't beat what the defense is showing, he audibles into another play. A better play. Remember he and Reid want the perfect play. A couple of perfectionists, those two.

The unrelenting perfectionism of Smith and Reid is one reason the Chiefs are 9-3 with a win against the Raiders in Oakland, an easy win for Kansas City.

People ridicule Smith as a game manager - hey, the 49ers should have such a game manager. Smith's game management is appropriate for Reid's conservative, high-percentage offense.

The Chiefs don't try for long passing gains. Their passes often are like long handoffs in the Bill Walsh tradition. Instead of playing a vertical game like the Raiders, the Chiefs play a horizontal game. That's an exaggeration, but you get the idea. And Smith does not load up on throws to his wide receivers like other quarterbacks. His leading receiver is tight end Travis Kelce.

For the Raiders, this short-pass approach would be a waste of time. And a waste of speed. The Raiders, who have taken on the Al Davis long-throw personality, want to extend the field, want to take chances.

The Chiefs don't take chances. They are the cost accountants of offensive football. They must have 100 ways to throw the ball fewer than 6 yards. They have a million screen passes - OK, that's a lie. But they have lots of screen passes. They want - and get - long, time-consuming drives. Keep the game on their agenda.

And this brings us to Del Rio's one faux pas this season. A big one.

After the Chiefs beat the Raiders 26-10 in Oakland on Oct. 16, Del Rio said this in his postgame interview about Smith: “If he's got to rely on throwing the ball, it's really not his strong suit. But if you allow them to run the ball, do some of their gimmicky things, then he comes to life.”

I was in the room when Del Rio uttered those words and I said to myself, “Mistake.”

It made Del Rio seem like a sore loser. Smith is not as good as Derek Carr, but he outplayed Carr in that game. Carr has far more passing yards this season than Smith, but Smith has a higher completion percentage - consistent with Reid's short-pass, safe-pass philosophy. Del Rio needed to be generous. Smith is not a gimmick quarterback. He is a very good quarterback and lots of people around here respect him.

The Raiders have to be patient in the game. Reid's drives take so long. The opposing offense cools its heels on the sideline. Looks at the game clock. Time shrinks. The opposing offense wants the ball back. Wants another chance. Wants another series. Has to wait. And then wait some more. It drives an offense nuts.

When the Raiders get the ball, they cannot squander a possession. It will be a long time until they get the ball back again. Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave must understand he can't get greedy, can't lose patience and try for downfield shots to score fast. That plays into Reid's hands. Musgrave must be a disciplined play-caller. The most disciplined he's ever been.

The Raiders can win if they force the Chiefs into multiple three-and-outs. If they control the KC offense. Hard to control. The Chiefs are specialists at getting 10 yards in small increments and then getting the next 10 yards as they move crablike down the field. If the Raiders can't frustrate the Chiefs, well, it could be a discouraging night for them.

So much depends on this game. The Chiefs win, they are two games ahead of the Raiders in tiebreakers - their two head-to-head victories. Not good heading into the playoffs. But if the Raiders win, the teams are even in tiebreakers.

But the game is way more important than those details.

The game is a collision of philosophies. The Raiders' wide-open offense vs. the Chiefs' buttoned-down offense. Which offense prevails? Which philosophy rules?

And the game is even more important than a collision of philosophies - the death match between Socrates and Plato. For the Raiders, it's about their standing in the league. Nothing less.

The Raiders want to prove they belong in the top echelon along with New England and Seattle. This is the game the Raiders must win to establish their credibility. To prove they're a force to reckon with in the playoffs. This is a defining game.

And the Raiders go into this game on a short week, go to a hostile stadium where it will be cold. They have to measure up if they're a playoff power. No excuses. Statement game. The ultimate statement game.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.