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ALAMEDA, Calif. -- To paraphrase Richard Nixon, Alex Smith won’t have the Oakland Raiders to kick around, anymore. Or some such. At least, not with Smith leaving the AFC West for the NFC East in a trade from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Washington Redskins that will not become official until the league year begins on March 14.  And that should be just fine with the Raiders.
Consider: In 12 career games against Oakland, Smith is 10-2. His 22 touchdown passes versus the Raiders are the most he has thrown against any opponent, and, with five interceptions, his 104.7 passer rating against them is his best against any team he has faced more than four times in his career. Smith was asked in October, before facing the Raiders in Oakland, how he could explain his career-long success against them. “Yeah, I mean, to be honest, it’s probably just coincidence,” Smith said at the time. “They’re all different. They’re all unique. Obviously, a lot of these last ones have been really, really close, down to the wire. To be honest with you, I haven’t really thought about it or known about it until you just said it right now. But yeah, probably more coincidence than anything.” Smith, the No. 1 pick of the 2005 draft by the San Francisco 49ers, faced the Raiders twice with the Niners, in 2006 and 2010, and won both games. After being traded to the Chiefs in 2013, Smith became a perennial thorn in Oakland’s side. The two times the Raiders beat Smith? In 2014, Derek Carr’s first career victory, when Khalil Mack and Sio Moore celebrated a sack of Smith in the rain so far behind the line of scrimmage they nearly cost the Raiders a penalty and the game. And this past season, when Carr hit Michael Crabtree just beyond the left pylon on an untimed play. Smith has passed for 2,723 yards against the Raiders, completing 63.4 percent of his throws. His 8.18 yards per attempt average against the Raiders is his second-best such mark against any opponent he has faced more than six times. Project Smith’s stats against the Raiders over a full 16-game season and he puts up league MVP-type numbers: 3,631 passing yards, 29 TDs, 7 INTs and a 13-3 record. Then there’s this: Smith also married a Raiderette. “You just try to go out there,” Smith said of facing the Raiders. “These are big games in the division. You know they’re going to be four quarters. You know they’re going to come down to the end. You just try to go out there every single play and execute. They’re all hard fought and have been close.” And no, Washington is not on the Raiders’ schedule next season -- unless they meet in the Super Bowl.
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