Oakland, Calif. ? Wedged between a pair of games against last season’s Super Bowl participants, the Kansas City Chiefs appear to get a bit of a breather with a visit to the winless Oakland Raiders.

Just don’t tell that to the Chiefs.

“We don’t even talk like that around here and that’s not even the way we think, not the type of group that we have,” quarterback Alex Smith said.

“We do such a great job I think of kind of living week to week. And this week it’s a short week. Guys immediately right after the game knew what we had in hand. Division game, on the road, there are too many things at stake here for us to even talk like that.”

Kansas City (7-3) moved into a tie for first place in the AFC West by defeating defending Super Bowl champion Seattle at home last week. The task this week is to avoid a letdown against the Raiders (0-10) to assure the Chiefs are still in first when Denver visits Kansas City next week in a game that could determine the division champ.

The fact that the Raiders are a division rival makes the task of focusing on this week’s game a bit easier for the Chiefs.

“When you go to the Black Hole, you better be ready. We know that,” coach Andy Reid said. “That’s a given, and this is a great rivalry that’s far exceeded my time as a head football coach in this league, so we understand that these are two competitive football teams when they play each other. The records, you just throw the record out.”

The Raiders would love to be able to throw their record out. They have lost 16 straight games dating to last season, going more than a year without a win.

Sensational screens: The Raiders had no answer for screen passes to Jamaal Charles when these teams met last December. Charles caught eight passes for 195 yards and four touchdowns. He added 20 yards rushing with a touchdown and joined Shaun Alexander, Jerry Rice and Clinton Portis as the only players since the merger to score five touchdowns and gain at least 200 yards from scrimmage in a single game.

More Murray: Third-stringer Latavius Murray gave Oakland’s running game a bit of a spark with 43 yards on four carries last week, including a 23-yarder that was the longest run by a Raiders back all season. With Oakland on pace for the most anemic rushing attack in 68 years, Murray might get a few more shots tonight ahead of Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew.

“His number was called, he made some plays,” interim coach Tony Sparano said.