The AFC West Can Still Run Through the Silver and Black

The Las Vegas Raiders have not had much success in the last few decades.

They only reached the playoffs twice since making the Super Bowl in 2002. Both in the 2016 and 2021 seasons, the Raiders were wild card teams, losing in the Wild Card round on both occasions. 2002 was the last time the Raiders even won their division.

The AFC West has been won the last eight seasons by Raiders division rival, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Going into the 2024 season, most think the division will have to go through the Chiefs again. But not the Raiders. The Raiders split the season series last year against the Chiefs, shocking them on Christmas Day at Arrowhead. The win sent a message not only to the rest of the division but to the whole NFL.

"We got one goal, and that is to win the division," said Raiders coach Antonio Pierce when he joined SiriusXM NFL Radio back in February. "We know what it goes through, but it does not have to go through the team in red. We can make it where it goes through Silver and Black."

In the latest episode of the "Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast," our Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. answered a fan's question about the Chiefs running the division for years to come.

"I am not a Raider Fan, but so many of your fan base because of the last 20 years acts like you are a bridesmaid, never a bride," Carpenter said. "You are the freaking Raiders. Teams are supposed to be afraid of you. Not, 'They signed Patrick Mahomes to 10 more years and Andy Reid for six, Hondo.' Win, win, go up to Arrowhead and pop them in the face again. Win. Go out and spend a bag on Christian Wilkins, you develop a team along the trenches where Patrick Mahomes says, 'Oh my god, I got to face these guys for 10 more years.'

"It is remembering you are the Raiders. ... You are the Raiders. You are the Las freaking Vegas Raiders. The mentality of this team, now you have AP, is : other teams do not want to play us. Did you hear Andy Reid talking about the Raiders smacked them around on Christmas Day? They beat them up. The Raiders are in their head."

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