Marcus Peters adds fire to the Raiders/Chiefs rivalry…
Kansas City Chiefs’ star cornerback Marcus Peters shook up the stagnant part of the NFL’s mid-summer by taking a big shot at Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch. Just like Lynch, Peters is a popular Oakland area native and when he went to Alameda to participate in Lynch’s “Fam 1st Foundation Football Camp,” he didn’t hold back from taking an AFC West rivalry jab with the Bay Area News Group:
“It’s going to be a good feeling, It’s going to be a good feeling for Oakland. But when we come here, we’re going to beat the dog (expletive) out of him,”
– Kansas City Chief cornerback Marcus Peters
Quite early for Peters to post bulletin board material as the teams won’t meet until October 19th for a Week 7 “Thursday Night Football” showdown under the lights of primetime television. The long-time rivals have found a newly competitive distaste for one another as both teams haven’t been as talented or league-wide successful in quite some time.
A Year Ago …
The 2016 season matchups proved to be some of the Raiders worst performance, dropping the series 0-2 and accounting for a large part of the Raiders losing home-field advantage in the playoffs. The Chief’s defensive physicality and talent came to the forefront in Week 6 as the Raiders produced their third worst rushing performance of the season with only 64 yards.
In their second matchup in Week 14, it was Derek Carr’s turn to struggle as he posted his worst outing of the season after he finished 17 of 41 for 117 yards and no touchdowns. In fairness, he was fighting an extensive media covered speculative pinky injury suffered the week prior against the Carolina Panthers. Nevertheless, he was adamant about being the starter and ready to go even though he wasn’t.
The blistering cold in Kansas City that Thursday night stuck with the Raiders on their way to finishing 2-3 in their last five contests (including the playoffs); losing Carr to a season-ending injury didn’t help matters either. The teams will have to wait to see who will notch playoff success first as the Chiefs continued their winless playoff drought in the 2016 playoffs, stretching it past two decades and counting.
The “BEASTMODE” Effect
Outside of strangely boisterous punter Marquette King, the Raiders are a soft-spoken group with great leadership and work ethic. After the Chief’s Tyreek Hill took back a touchdown on one of King’s punts last season, tight end Travis Kelce mocked King in their second meeting last season. Nobody’s going to compare Lynch to King, but the Raiders’ best players, Derek Carr, Kelechi Osemele, Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper, are grinders who perform on the field and don’t partake in press jarring.
Marshawn Lynch aka “BEASTMODE” brings a whole different dimension to The Raiders locker room and also attention from opposing teams. Lynch is unapologetically himself, to the media and he’ll be happy to tell you himself about his mission on the field  “over and over and over and over ….”  The star pedigree and demeanor of Lynch will continue to draw eyes around the league and opposing defensive players will continually chime in.
The ferocity of Lynch’s running style, coupled with elite talent on the Raiders offensive line projects to be one of the league’s best rushing attacks. Moreover, there’s a comeback driven Derek Carr that will throw passes to one of the league’s best pass-catching duos in Amari Cooper & Michael Crabtree and will also welcome new tight end threat Jared Cook.
Playing for “The Town”
Lynch un-retired to play at home in Oakland for his community, foundations and “Raider Nation.” There is no way, Lynch will savor the limited home crowd opportunities and allow the “dog (expletive)” to be beaten out of him in front of who he’s passionately playing for.  Peters is triggering “BEATSMODE” into a very personal motivation that I don’t see this ending well for the visiting Chiefs. Marcus Peters might not have chosen the most calculated choice of words in spite of an off-field relationship with Lynch. We’ll have to wait and let the summer burn away until this October in Oakland with the chill of the “Autumn Wind” igniting a violent rivalry once again with new echoes in time.
