‘MNF’ result vs. Chiefs could set tone for rest of Raiders’ season

The Raiders are typical in that they employ a 24-hour rule to either celebrate a victory or lament a loss.

That will apply to the “Monday Night Football” game against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, even though the Raiders will have 13 days to think about the result because of a Week 6 bye.

That break will feel like an eternity should the Raiders lose and fall to 1-4 in a season that began with lofty expectations.

Wide receiver Davante Adams said the ability to compartmentalize the outcome of a game and move on is a learning experience. That was particularly difficult for the negative results.

“I hate losing more than I like winning,” he said. “So, at the end of the day, if I win a game, I’m going to be like, ‘Great, that’s how it was supposed to be.’ I’m not going to be jumping around and all crazy. Obviously, we’ll be excited about it, but there comes a time where by Wednesday at the latest you’ve got to start thinking about the next week.”

Even if the Raiders say they won’t dwell on either a win or a loss during their bye week, the break will give them a chance to take stock of the season.

The result will go a long way in determining that assessment.

A loss would mean the Raiders are 1-2 against AFC West opponents. They have a road loss to the Chargers and a home win over the Broncos, so Monday’s game will complete a five-week stretch in which they have played each division rival once.

Even though the heavily hyped division has fallen short of preseason expectations, a loss would leave the Raiders buried in the standings as they spend almost two weeks waiting to play again.

A win over the 3-1 Chiefs, however, would allow the Raiders time to heal and tune up some of the finer details buoyed by the confidence of a two-game winning streak.

Either way, the Raiders will return to action Oct. 23 to begin perhaps the most favorable part of their difficult schedule.

Three of their first four games after the bye are against AFC South opponents, beginning with a home date with the Houston Texans. With a win over the Chiefs, that stretch of games could provide an opportunity to get back in the divisional and wild-card races.

A loss to Kansas City means those games would carry added pressure, as any kind of slip-up could spell doom for the Raiders’ postseason hopes.

Of course, coach Josh McDaniels isn’t factoring any of that into preparations for Monday’s game. He just wants to find a way to beat the six-time defending AFC West champions.

“Everybody knows our bye is next week, but the focus is entirely on just preparing for the game,” he said. “You don’t really worry about next week until the game is over and then we’ll worry about the things we have an opportunity to do and try to help ourselves improve during the bye week.”

McDaniels did acknowledge one benefit of having a bye week on the horizon.

Running back Josh Jacobs is coming off by far his most significant workload of the season when he had 28 carries and caught five passes against the Broncos.

Jacobs had 42 carries in the first three games, so there isn’t much wear and tear on his body. An ideal game plan Monday would involve feeding him early and often to shorten the game and keep the vaunted Chiefs’ offense off the field.

McDaniels said the bye week eases his mind about possibly giving Jacobs as many carries as he can handle.

“I think we’ll be smart,” McDaniels said. “Again, the limited number of carries we ended up with in the first few weeks will probably help us here as we get going.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.