Raiders: What You Need to Know Heading into Week 14

Dennis Allen insists he isn’t worried about keeping the Oakland Raiders motivated, even though their hopes of ending a decade-long playoff drought are dimming with each passing game. At 4-8, the best they can do is finish .500, and even then it might not be enough.

The schedule isn’t much in Oakland’s favor. After flying to New York this week to play the Jets, the Raiders close out the regular season with a string of games against AFC West opponents: Kansas City, San Diego and Denver.

Here’s a look at some of what you need to know heading into the Raiders’ Week 14 game against the Jets.



For the second time in three weeks the Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs, giving coach John Fox’s team a one-game lead heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

More importantly, the Broncos now own the tiebreaker should the Chiefs catch them. That seems unlikely considering Kansas City has lost its past three games after opening the season with nine straight wins. Jamaal Charles is an elite back and the K.C. offense has been more explosive of late, but unless their defense can recapture its early-season dominating form, the Chiefs—even should they make the postseason as expected—will struggle to do any damage in the playoffs.

San Diego continues to fade following a 17-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. The only thing keeping the Chargers out of the division basement is the Raiders.



There is a little bit of concern in the locker room over the status of running back Rashad Jennings. Jennings suffered a concussion during the game with Dallas and has not yet passed all of the NFL protocol required for him to be cleared to return to practice. He was in the team’s locker room on Monday and appeared fine, but as is the norm for players with concussions, he was kept off limits from the media.

Right guard Mike...