ALAMEDA — There’s a symmetry to how Charles Woodson will finish his career Sunday.

The Raiders’ safety plays his final game, the 254th of his career, against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. On Sept. 6, 1998, Woodson played the first regular-season game of his career at Arrowhead.

There have been 252 games in the interim that will some day land Woodson in the Hall of Fame, but he’s never forgotten how it started in a 28-8 loss.

“I remember that one, probably more than any other game, being it was the first game, and it wasn’t a good game,” Woodson said. “I remember going to that stadium and how live it was. It was a good introduction to the NFL.”

Woodson came in as the No. 4 overall draft pick and Heisman Trophy winner from Michigan, fresh off a national championship. The Raiders’ new head coach was Jon Gruden.

Here’s how Woodson’s first two drives went as an NFL cornerback:

— Second play: Andre Rison beats Woodson for a 14-yard gain on a pass by Elvis Grbac.

— Fourth play: Rison beats Woodson for 9 yards from Grbac.

— Seventh play: Woodson called for pass interference on Kevin Lockett for a first-down on the 5-yard line.

The Chiefs went in to score on a 1-yard run by Donnell Bennett. Desmond Howard then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, with the Chiefs recovering on the 30-yard line.

On the first play, Rison beat Woodson on a skinny post for a 30-yard touchdown and the Chiefs led 14-0.

“It was funny because I was a young player coming in, a lot of confidence, and I was like, ‘Yeah, they’re not going to test me,’ ” Woodson said. “Then it was like, bam, bam, bam. Then touchdown. I was like, ‘OK, this is what it’s going to be like.’ I had to settle down fairly quickly and understand this is the NFL, you’ve got to be ready. I was humbled very early on.”

For the rest of the game, Rison didn’t beat Woodson again, and the rookie forced a fumble, broke up a pass and made seven tackles.

During an appearance on Sirus XM NFL radio this week, former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon, who was Grbac’s backup in 1998, remembered the words of Chiefs quarterbacks coach Mike McCarthy in the lead up to that game.

“We were going over personnel and he said, ‘You’d better take your shots at No. 24 while you have ’em, because he’s a rookie and once he figures it out, we won’t be working in his direction ever again,’ ” Gannon said.

McCarthy ended up being Woodson’s head coach with the Green Bay Packers from 2006 through 2012.

Rison eventually joined the Raiders in 2001, where he and Woodson would talk about the game.

Other than the rough start, Woodson’s indelible memory is of Chiefs outside linebacker Derrick Thomas taking over the game and making it his own.

The Raiders were unable to get Thomas blocked, with left tackle Pat Harlow overmatched by Thomas’ speed as well as the Arrowhead noise. Thomas finished with six sacks.

“He was unstoppable,” Woodson said. “We couldn’t do anything with him. Whether it was a three-step drop or a five-step drop, he was in the backfield. He had six or seven sacks, something crazy like that. I remember how excited how I was to be in the NFL, but other than that it was about the night Derrick Thomas had.”