The Kansas City Chiefs effectively and decisively took control of the AFC West with their victory over the Oakland Raiders this past Sunday. The Chiefs have an impressive 25-3 record against AFC West teams since 2012. The Chiefs came to play and offered an impressive no-penalty game, which is only the third time in team history this has happened. This game also marks two consecutive games lost by 30 points or more in a row since 1961.
Kansas City
The defense showed up again. Were they perfect? No, but they were able to get the job done and stymied the Raiders’ offense to hold them to nine points. They did allow the Raiders to gain yards against them, but they were able to lock it down and keep them from scoring. The defense was able able to sack Derek Carr twice and also logged two interceptions, which resulted in points on the board for the Chiefs. Juan Thornhill corraled one of those interceptions and returned it for the touchdown, the first of his career.
With the oft-maligned Chiefs defense slowly showing it can come up big in games, it gives fans optimism that it will continue to gel. With Frank Clark getting injured again, the defense will need to show no setbacks if his shoulder injury keeps him out of the next few games or the rest of the season.
The Chiefs’ offense was good. Not great, but good, which is still above normal for most teams. The weather did play a factor, and there were several questionable play-calling moments. If you look at statistics only, you would wonder what happened to the offense. If you watched the game, you could see that Patrick Mahomes was more like himself during the execution of plays. The wind wasn’t a great friend to him, but he was still able to have no interceptions, throwing for 175 yards with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown.
The Chiefs’ offense still can be inconsistent but showed they could make up for the issues the defense had with stopping the run.
Oakland
It looked like the Raiders didn’t come ready to play. What we saw on the field was inconsistent with the importance the team and fans placed on winning the game. With a potential postseason bid and AFC West title up for grabs, they did not impress. While the run offense seemed to be making headway against the Chiefs, they couldn’t seal the deal and get points.
Some might point to the self-inflicted wounds as part of the problem. Three turnovers, two interceptions, and 12 penalties for 99 yards seemed to offer the answer as to why the Raiders lost. The defense had three third-down stops be for naught, due to penalties, and could only watch as the Chiefs went on to later score touchdowns. However, they did have more total yards than the Chiefs and had a slightly higher time of possession, none of which seemed to make a difference.
The offense was just as bad. Derek Carr had another bad game and has yet to win a game at Arrowhead Stadium since becoming the starting quarterback. His passer rating for the game was 71.8, although it is hard to be able to have a good rating if receivers are having an issue getting open. Despite the good running game they had against the Chiefs’ defense, they didn’t balance it with the passing game, which they needed to keep up with the Chiefs.
Six Takeaways
- Patrick Mahomes is back
- The Chiefs’ defense still needs to make more improvements if they want to not only succeed in the postseason but make or win a Super Bowl
- The Chiefs all but locked up the AFC West division title
- Josh Jacobs is the only bright spot on a lackluster Raiders offense
- Penalties will get you every time
- Did I mention Mahomes is back?
