Chiefs vs. Raiders 2013, Week 15: Jamaal Charles, KC go off in Oakland

Charles, who came into the game with 13 total touchdowns, scored five times and set a new single-game record for receiving yards for a running back with 195 on eight receptions. Charles had four touchdowns before halftime, and his 18 scores on the season lead the NFL for non-quarterbacks.

As Joel Thorman of Arrowhead Pride points out, there is no player more valuable to their team:

Head coach Dennis Allen confirmed as much in the postgame press conference, despite the undrafted rookie free agent out of Penn State having the worst day of his young career.

The former Nittany Lion has started the previous five games and completed 55.7 percent of his passes for 1,341 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Charles continued to give the Raiders fits. In the first half alone, he had four touchdowns. Three came on screen passes, as Charles caught five passes for 111 yards. He added a score on the ground, where he had six carries for 16 yards in the first half. Kansas City’s halftime lead was 35-17.

The Raiders didn’t go down quietly. Rashad Jennings scored a pair of touchdowns early, and Oakland was able to score points for most of the afternoon. But four Matt McGloin interceptions proved too much to overcome. In fact, Chiefs safety Eric Berry intercepted two passes for 98 return yards and a touchdown. No Oakland receiver had that many yards in the game.

The Lambeau Leap has become the Every Stadium in The NFL Leap. However, when selecting an area to leap after scoring a touchdown, it’s wise to quiickly scan the area for fans of your sports team as opposed to fans of the other sports team. Mychal Rivera found out why:

Rivera’s TD was quickly answered by a Jamaal Charles TD, because everything in this game has been quickly answered by a Jamaal Charles TD. Naturally, Raiders fans don’t think too highly of the Chiefs running back:

The Chiefs are leading the Raiders, 35-17, at halftime, and Charles wasted no time making his mark on this game. On Kansas City’s first play from scrimmage, Charles took a screen pass 49 yards for a touchdown. He continued to shred the Raiders defense from there, scoring touchdowns on three of the next four drives, totaling four trips to the end zone in the first half. Charles become the fourth player in the history of the NFL to have four touchdowns in the first half, joining Randy Moss, Priest Holmes, and Shaun Alexander, according to FOX Sports.

The statistics look more like those of a receiver than a running back. He caught six passes for 116 yards and three touchdowns while he only had six carries for 16 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Given the current state of each team, Kansas City could be gearing up for a similar run against Oakland.

The Chiefs are currently still vying for the AFC West division while the Raiders are likely looking towards the draft again. Though Oakland’s playoff hopes aren’t quite dead because the second AFC wild-card spot isn’t very strong this season, it’ll be doing more player evaluation this week than Kansas City will.

Game Date/Time and Location: Sunday, Dec. 15, 4:05 p.m. ET at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.

TV schedule and distribution map: CBS; The506.com

MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a serious bacterial infection that is resistant to most medicinal treatments and is notably very difficult to treat and is becoming more prevalent outside of the hospital environment.

“I know the big question is, ‘Does he have MRSA?’ but we don’t know that because we don’t have all the cultures back,” said Chiefs head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder.

“I don’t look at my ups and downs as a failure,” Pryor said this week, per Scott Bair of CSN Bay Area:

The third-year quarterback, drafted in the third round of the 2011 supplemental draft, began the season by breaking team records and winning three of the first six games of the season. It was regarded as a big step forward for both the Raiders, especially with Pryor emerging as a legitimate dual-threat quarterback.

The game’s over/under is 41 points. The Chiefs are 7-6 against the spread this season, while the Raiders are 8-5. The Chiefs are scoring 26.38 points per game, while allowing 17.23 points on defense. The Raiders are scoring 20.31 points per game, while letting opposing offenses put up 25.92 points.

The Chiefs are 5-8 with the over/under this season, while the Raiders are 6-6-1. However, Oakland is just 1-4-1 at home when it comes to the total point count.

While there very well may be people out there picking Oakland -- they are likely people known as “Raiders fans” -- the experts here at SB Nation are all picking the Chiefs. So are the experts at ESPN and CBS Sports, so while there is no such thing as a sure bet in the NFL, this might be about as close as you can get.

• Expert picks for Week 15 | NFL Power Rankings: Broncos back on top