A real home field advantage?
By Cody Thorn St. Joseph News-Press
KANSAS CITY — The Kansas City Chiefs enter Sunday game with the AFC West Championship and a playoff berth locked up, so the matchup against long-time rival Oakland is merely for pride.
It also could be for a bit of revenge after the Raiders rallied for a 23-20 overtime win Nov. 7 in Oakland. The Chiefs blew a 10-point lead in the divisional loss.
Since then, the Chiefs have steamed ahead and are the favorites to win the rematch at Arrowhead. A victory would give the Chiefs a perfect 8-0 record at home, the first time since 2003 that has happened and only the fifth in the Chiefs’ history.
“We definitely remembered what happened; it won’t get out of our heads,” Kansas City cornerback Brandon Flowers said. “We can’t get out of our character. We need to have a great week of practice. We will be ready to play. The crowd will be into it, and we will be into it.”
Flowers expanded on the crowd’s part in the team’s 34-14 victory over Tennessee last week.
“The crowd that is out there gave us a lot of energy,” he said. “The war chants … they were loud. It was like it was a sold-out stadium. It was great.”
However, despite the renewed success of the Chiefs, the sellout crowds have rarely been there.
Last week’s game, the day after a holiday, drew 65,606 fans, the lowest crowd of the season. Aside from the sellout on the opening game against San Diego — 71,297 came to see the first game in the renovated stadium — the average crowd for home games have been 67,762, 16th best in the National Football League.
That total is an improvement over the 2009 season, when the Chiefs went 1-7 at home.
“I think everybody can see the progress from last year,” Chiefs defensive lineman Glenn Dorsey said. “The fans are unreal. They see the effort and time we put in. It feels good that what we are doing is paying off on Sundays.”
During the Tennessee game, there were a large number of empty seats in the stadium that holds 79,101 fans. The end zone seats in the upper deck had multiple rows empty and then a few with just one or two fans in them. The club level (the middle part of the stadium) also had many empty, but fans have the opportunity to watch from inside the suites and avoid the elements.
When the Raiders come to town Sunday, the temperature is suppose to be 39 degrees and sunny. The lingering question is will fans show up to this game, knowing there will be a home playoff game either Jan. 8 or 9.
A check of Ticket Exchange on NFL.com shows 640 tickets for sale for the Raiders game. There are a lot more tickets available for the playoff game — 3,309 — against either the New York Jets or Baltimore Ravens.
The fact the Chiefs are playing one of their primary rivals in the Raiders and the Chiefs’ Hall of Fame induction of Marty Schottenheimer could be a boon for ticket sales.
Regardless of how many fans will or won’t be there, the Chiefs have their attention focused on the Raiders.
“We still got the Oakland Raiders coming in, and once we take care of business, we can breath a sigh of relief,” defensive lineman Wallace Gilberry said. “Right now, our heads our down, and we want to get it done. Ten (wins) is good. Eleven would be great.”
Cody Thorn can be reached at cody.thorn@newspressnow.com
