"It takes a village."

That's always an easy way to say that we're all a product of our environment, that who we become is due in large part to where we come from.

For Kansas City Chiefs rookie cornerback Marcus Peters, that village is Oakland, California.

Peters grew up in West Oakland and attended McClymond's High School, where his father still coaches and where his mother still works at the local YMCA.

Oakland is a part of him, always has been and always will be.

It's shaped the man he's become, a man that's helped transform the Chiefs defense into a turnover-causing machine over the past five games, all wins.

On Sunday, Peters and the Chiefs travel to Oakland riding a five-game winning streak to face an improved Raiders team.

"It's going to be special," Peters said of Sunday's game at O.co stadium. "It's going to be real special. I get to go display my talents in front of my community, my hometown.

"From the start, it's been nothing but love and support coming up out of there. All I can do is just go have an excellent game and enjoy it."

Peters grew up in the shadows of the Silver and Black; the Raiders were his team growing up.

But Sunday's game isn't about his childhood memories.

"It's a part of this game," Peters said of now playing for a historic rival. "I play for the Chiefs and they're the Oakland Raiders. As far as me loving the culture of how the Raiders were when I was growing up, it has nothing to do with it now.

"It's business, so I have to go down there and take care of business. We're trying to do something really special here."

Special is an easy way to describe what Peters has brought to the Chiefs this season. He's earned some *very early *praise as a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate.

Literally, from the first play of his NFL career, an interception of Houston Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer, Peters has been making plays.

He ranks fifth in the NFL with 16 passes defensed, and his 4 interceptions tie him for sixth-most in the NFL.

His homecoming on Sunday means plenty of familiar faces in the stands, something he's looking forward to.

"I'm hoping the whole town comes out," he said. "If the town comes out, that'd be so special right there. That would be the one for me."

Peters explained what it means to him to be from Oakland and how special Sunday is going to be for him.

"Growing up and being from there, that's the best thing that could have happened to me," he explained. "I have so much love and support for my mother and my father and just that community in general.

"All the negative stuff that gets put on Oakland, California, for me to be put in the spotlight right now shows nothing but the opportunity to the rest of the community back home, that it's possible to show the good for Oakland. I did that.

"Through the journey, they were right there right beside me. The ups and the downs, they were right there. That's why it's going to be special for me."