Yardbarker
x

The 2-4 Las Vegas Raiders will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7 in a game that both teams need for different reasons. Week 7 gives the Raiders a chance to keep pace with the rest of the AFC West, as well as a chance to enter their bye week on a two-game winning streak.

Not only would they enter their week off on a winning streak, they can pick up vital momentum in the Carroll era.

Carroll's Approach

Carroll has been a part of several maquee rivalries in college football and the National Football League. He has ample experience coaching in rivalry games of all kinds. However, his approach to those rivalry games have been simple:

Shortly before practice leading up to their Week 7 matchup against the Chiefs, Carroll explained his approach to rivalry games.

"Yeah, thanks for the question. Yeah, we approach every week like it's a championship game, like it's the only game you got. And we don't rate them, we don't gauge them on who, where, or whether you're playing on Monday night or Thursday night or Sunday afternoon," Carroll said.

“We don't gauge those things, and the reason is because we want to win every game we play. We want to play the best we can possibly play, no matter who we're playing, because we're practicing to do that, and that's why we'll give it everything we got in preparation, and then the walk throughs and the work on the field and all of that, the planning, the game planning, everything, we're giving everything we got to every game."

Carroll noted how long he has taken that approach to rivalry games. He appears to only be focused on the on-field aspect of things heading into Week 7. Rivalry or not, the Raiders need a win.

“So, we can't do any better than that, so it doesn't matter who we play or where we're playing. And that's been an ongoing approach for a lot of years, and I've liked it. I think it balances out these kinds of situations and questions that you might ask, and these guys should think of it -- this is the biggest game in the world. It's the only one we got. We may never get another one, you don't know. So, that's how we have approached it," Carroll said.


This article first appeared on Las Vegas Raiders on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads:

Customize Your Newsletter

Yardbarker +

Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!