We welcome Silver and Black Pride for answers to five questions about the Raiders before Friday’s Week 12 matchup

On Friday, the Kansas City Chiefs face the Las Vegas Raiders. We welcome Matt Holder of Silver and Black Pride — our sister SBNation site covering the Raiders — for Five Questions with the Enemy.

1) Why are the Raiders rushing Aidan O’Connell back on a short week over going with Desmond Ridder?

Ridder was brought in just to be a backup when O’Connell went down since the only other quarterbacks in the building were Gardner Minshew and undrafted rookie Carter Bradley, who is on the practice squad. There was some speculation that Ridder might get the start after the bye week but that didn’t happen, pretty much confirming his role on the team as the QB2.

Plus, O’Connell only got one game and a quarter as the starter before getting injured, so I think the front office wants to see a bigger sample size to evaluate his potential as a long-term starter. I’m not holding my breath that he’ll win the job, but the rest of the Raiders season is about evaluating who will be part of the long-term plans.

2) Short yardage woes by the Raiders may be the biggest reason Kansas City left Las Vegas with a win. Has that gotten any better in the last month?

Las Vegas’ offensive line has gotten better with rookie Jackson Powers-Johnson moving to center and Jordan Meredith coming off the bench and filling in at left guard. However, the running back situation is still fluid. Zamir White and Alexander Mattison have been sub-par this season and both missed last week’s game while Sincere McCormick looked good with five carries for 33 yards. Granted, that’s a small sample size.

In other words, the Raiders have shown improvement when it comes to running the ball/short-yardage situations, but not enough for me to comfortably say the situation has gotten better to make a big difference on Friday.

3) The Raiders are almost certainly heading for a quarterback change this offseason. Do you see Las Vegas totally cleaning house in the front office and coaching staff to accompany that change?

That’s the big question that I don’t have a great answer to.

I think general manager Tom Telesco will be safe since this was his first year on the job and the Raiders’ draft class has shown promise, headlined by tight end Brock Bowers. As far as Antonio Pierce goes, I hate the idea of starting over with another regime seeing as the franchise has already had three full-time head coaches in the 2020s and four if you count interim Rich Bisaccia in 2021. But, at the same time, it’d be hard to justify keeping Pierce after what will likely be a two- to four-win season.

Ultimately, if I had to guess, I think Telesco will keep his job but Mark Davis cleans house with the coaching staff and leans on Tom Brady to help bring in a new head coach.

4) What has the messaging been like through a difficult season from the veterans like Maxx Crosby? Are you sensing any player frustration in Vegas?

Crosby has been undeniably frustrated with the way this season has gone. After the loss in Miami two games ago, he told reporters: “We’re just playing for pride at this point,” via The Athletic’s Tashan Reed. Last week, he said: “If we’re not playing to win, then what are we doing? I don’t play to get a better pick,” via 8 News Now’s Logan Reever.

It’s hard to blame Crosby as this season has been an utter disaster and it feels like the Raiders are wasting his prime because he still is playing well. So, there’s definitely some frustration in the locker room and it’s not just the players.

Pierce was clearly frustrated with the Raiders’ play calling after last week’s game, telling reporters that he doesn’t “want to see the ball thrown 40 times”. That is kind of hysterical since he hired and then fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy earlier this year, and then named Scott Turner as the interim OC just a few weeks ago. Clearly, it’s a dysfunctional mess in Las Vegas right now and it’s finger-pointing season.

5) How do you predict this one goes? Can the Raiders ruin another holiday weekend in Kansas City?

The Raiders haven’t won a game since September and haven’t even had a one-possession loss since the last time they played the Chiefs in October, which was only close because they scored late with a garbage-time touchdown. So, I don’t see Las Vegas pulling off another holiday miracle, and I would assume Kansas City has learned its lesson from last year’s Christmas Day debacle. I get the feeling this one won’t be close in favor of the Chiefs.