Laddie Morse
The Kansas City Chiefs visited the Las Vegas Raiders and started out slowly, but eventually reached their peak and ended up whipping the Raiders, 31-to-17. The Chiefs first two possessions were miserable and there were calls for them to call it a day, if not a year. Since K.C. won the toss and deferred to the second half, the first possession was the Raiders which ended up in a TD. The Chiefs followed that up with a 3-and-out and Vegas then drove for 14 plays which made Chiefs Kingdom believe they were going to score again, but alas, the Raiders blew a 30-yard field goal try, and the Kingdom woke up to the possibility that the Chiefs could, maybe, might, perchance… win this game. Instead, K.C. laid an egg by going 4-and-out (which wasted an 11 yards run by Isiah Pacheco for a first down).
Two plays later and a 63-yard run by Josh Jacobs, and LV went up 14-to-zip.
The Chiefs finally got on the scoreboard with a 1-yard run up the middle by RB Isiah Pacheco, with lots of pushing and shoving going on. Raiders 14, Chiefs 7 (0:16).
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By running the ball in for a score, the Chiefs discovered the formula for beating the Raiders and continued to rush the ball (0:35).
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Five (5) plays later for the Raiders offense and they Punted for the first time and the Chiefs Defense began to come up big. Eight (8) plays later and K.C. sewed up another TD, this oen to Justin Watson on a 3-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes (0:10):
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Two plays later for the Raiders and it was Half Time: Chiefs 14, Raiders 14.
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To begin the second half, the Chiefs drove for 75 yards on ten plays and scored anothe rTD on a 1-yard run up the middle by RB Isiah Pacheco. Chiefs 21, Raiders 14.
Both the Raiders and the Chiefs offenses followed that up with a 3-and-out.
The Raiders then drove for 8 plays before their Kicker Daniel Carlson kicked a 34-yard Field Goal making the score: Chiefs 21, Raiders 17.
K.C. followed that up with a 6-play drive that culminated in a 39 yard TD pass from Patrick Mahomes to WR Rashee Rice who made a great run breaking tackles for the score. Chiefs 28, Raiders 17.
The Raiders then drove 8 plays but Punted, and K.C. did the same after 4 plays. The Raiders rookie QB, Kevin O’Connell, then led them on 4-play drive that failed and was turned over on downs with RB Josh Jacobs ultimately gained negative yards beinf tackled by Drue Tranquill and Chris Jones. That left the ball on the Raiders 17 yard line.
6 PLays later and the Chiefs kicker supreme, Harrison Butker, nailed a 32-yard field goal.
Chiefs 31, Raiders 17.
The Raiders turned the ball over on Downs after 5 plays and 3 plays later K.C. walked off with an 8-and-3 record and owners of the top seed in the AFC Conference.
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Play of the Game
The Play of the Game was likely a Defensive play. The Defense kept K.C. in the game long enough for them to get their act together and turn things around. While the Wide Receivers for the Chiefs caught 27 of 32 passes, it was a vast improvement over previous weeks. 27 of 32 works out to an 84.3% while the Chiefs have averaged this season just 70.01% of thier catches. Here’s the 39-yard TD catch and run by Rashee Rice with 13:48 to go in the 4th quarter (0:51):
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Player of the Game
Patrick Mahoems must claim this prize once again. He was 27-of-34 for 298 yards passing with two TD passes and zero INTs. He was sacked once and ended up with a 122.8 Rating. TE Travis Kelce had 6 catches for 91 yards receiving so this award could have gone to him. Here’s Mahomes hitting Kelce for a 27-yard gain (0:18).
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This award could have just as easily have gone to Rashee Rice who caught 8 passes for 107 yards and a long of 39 (see above).
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Tweet of the Game
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Quote of the Game
“Andy Reid has become a “pound the rock with
my hammer of a running back on short yardage”
guy apparently and I’m very much here for it.”
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While I don’t think this game answers any of their WR question marks, it’s a helpful place to start the conversation. Rashee Rice — and his first 100+ yard receiving game — looks like the real deal and I would hope that OC Matt Nagy, HC Andy Reid, and GM Brett Veach, do all they can to get the bal into his hands more often.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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