Commentary: Hard Work Rewarded

From the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

As they came running into the locker room after their 20-13 victory over the Raiders on Sunday several of the Chiefs were floating. There were smiles, there were back slaps and hugs and there were shouts of glee.

They were all the sounds of victory.

It had been so long since the last time the Chiefs celebrated that there were some around the Chiefs that weren’t sure what to do. But they quickly remembered and for a brief moment Herm Edwards and his team enjoyed the most celebratory locker room this team has displayed in maybe a decade.

Winning after losing seven in a row will do that to a team. Winning for the second time in the last 21 games will do that to a group.

And we haven’t even gotten to the joyful noise any time you beat your rival and do it in his home.

For the sixth time in a row and the second time in the last 22 games, the Chiefs came and enjoyed the hospitality of Al Davis’ house. They beat the Raiders in Oakland for the sixth consecutive time. Before Sunday, their last road victory was in Oakland. Now, their most recent victory of any kind came in the silver and black backyard.

There was so much that was familiar to what happened against the Raiders on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon on the last day of November. The stadium was declared a sellout several days ago, but it was one of the Chiefs-like sellouts, where they say they are sold out but entire sections appeared empty. But the die-hard were there in the Black Hole and as the team buses pulled into the parking lot before the game, everyone from little kids to grandmothers were throwing them the one-finger sign of contempt and disgust.

The Chiefs had been there before in this crotchety old building that has become so much like the owner of the Raiders: out of date, out of time and within a hair of being out of usefulness. On the field, the Raiders helped out as they always do.

Fresh off their stunning victory last Sunday over Denver, the Raiders reverted to that old Raiders form where they just keep shooting themselves. Plaxico Burress is made for this team. Oakland’s interim head coach Tom Cable apparently decided after beating the Broncos that he didn’t really want the job as the on-field leader of Davis’ asylum, because he made some of the most bone headed decisions imaginable.

Cable walked away from a sure Sebastian Janikowski field goal by trying a fake. That led to a fumble and a Chiefs touchdown. He had the chance for another Janikowski field goal and he instead decided to go for it on fourth-and-three. The pass of QB JaMarcus Russell was incomplete. At the end of the first half, when he should have been kneeling on the ball and running out the clock because he was deep in his own territory, Cable had his young quarterback throwing and handing off. One of those handoffs went to Justin Fargas who fumbled. Only luck kept the ball in the possession of the Raiders, or the Chiefs would have had another opportunity to score before the end of the half.

That’s what the Raiders did to help the Chiefs. It played a big part in what happened, but it wasn’t the key to victory. What created this outcome was the continued hard work and unwillingness to give up that the Chiefs have displayed week-after-week. Injuries have torn a youthful and inexperience roster asunder. Breaks have not gone the Chiefs way.

But still, somehow Herm Edwards has gotten this team to continue to play hard, to put itself in position to win. They finally got that victory.

And afterwards, they celebrated. Edwards gave them their first Victory Monday of the season, as they’ll have two days off before they must come in to prepare for a visit to Denver to play a Broncos team that rebounded from losing to Oakland by crushing the New York Jets.

But here’s a bet: most of those players will find their way to the team’s facility on Monday. They will watch some film, get some treatment, talk with their coaches, and maybe get a workout in to combat the stiffness that comes after every game.

They had every reason to enjoy the moment. It was victory and it tasted very sweet.

“That was so good,” Tamba Hali said. “We want more.”