Chiefs Over Raiders: Lessons Learned

Chiefs Over Raiders: Lessons Learned – the Kansas City Chiefs went into the Oakland Coliseum for the last time on Sunday… unless for some Dr. Strange reason, the Raiders win the division and the Chiefs have to play there in the playoffs… and manhandled the Oakland Raiders, one more time. While the stats were all over the map, the Chiefs came away with another division win and maintained their perfect record at 2-and-0 by winning 28-to-10.

Lessons Learned

Chiefs fans may need to take a lesson or two from this game. In 64 regular season quarters in 2018 (16 games, times 4 quarters), the Chiefs didn’t score any points only 5 of those quarters (a 92% success rate). So, if the Chiefs failed to score against the Raiders, in three of the quarters, that’s bad, right? Not necessarily.

The Lesson: with this quick strike offense, these Chiefs can put up a lot of points in a hurry, and they did exactly that.

In week one vs the Jags, the Chiefs new defense only gave up 81 yards rushing, and that was a positive sign because in 2018 they gave up 132.1 yards per game. So, if the D gave up 129 yards rushing to the Raiders, that a bad sign, right? Well, maybe not. 

The Lesson: as long as the defense is getting stops and turnovers, the yardage they give up on the ground won’t matter that much.

TE Travis Kelce looked a little tired, or unenthusiastic in Oakland. Should we be worried about him? Nope. He had another very good day and you can’t expect him to be that effervescent inspirational sunbeam every second of every day.

The Lesson: any time Travis Kelce has 7 catches for 107 yards receiving and a TD, thank your lucky stars he’s on the Chiefs, because he’s the best TE in the biz.

The Raiders seemingly controlled the game by eating up 129 yards on the ground, right? Nope.

The Lesson: as long as the Chiefs are winning the time of possession, which they did yesterday: 32:35 to 27:25, then fans can expect the Chiefs to control the game, and the final score.

This K.C. team may have a hard time playing catch up ball if they get down by a couple of scores? Not in the least. After going down 10-to-0 in the first quarter the defense held the Raiders to series of stops including: Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, End of Half, INT, INT, Punt, Punt, Game Over.

The Lesson: no matter what this defense has given up… they can turn it around, turn it on, and get STOPS. Lots of them.

No matter how many penalties the Chief have called on them, they’ll win anyway, right? Yike… but maybe. The Chiefs led the league in penalties in 2018 with 159 and their ten penalties vs the Raiders hit that average on the nail, and that’s not a nail you want to be hitting. In week one they only had 5 but this week Special Teams weren’t special by any stretch of the imagination and I believe all but one of the Special Teams (punting) outings was penalized.

The Lesson: here’s hoping the team can learn a mid-season lesson because, if they don’t turn that around immediately, their first game at Arrowhead next Sunday against the Ravens won’t be pretty.

The Chiefs have an offensive formula that can’t be cracked, correct? Not exactly. Jon Gruden looked like he had Andy Reid’s number early in the game and then Reid proceeded to run the ball on first down such a high percentage of time it became as predictable as Martyball. The result? The Chiefs gained 31 yards on 22 carries and Damien WIlliams had 9 carries for 8 yards total, less than a yard per carry. You could call that, “Uglyball.”

The Lesson: the Chiefs need to mix up the play calling when the Ravens come to town or it may be over quickly, because they’ve scored 82 points in their first two games and are not going to let off the gas pedal, of that I am sure.

Patrick Mahomes needs to have a “go-to” guy doesn’t he? No. Not at all. Last week Sammy Watkins caught 9 passes for 198 yards and  3 TDs, and this week it was Demarcus Robinson who was his leading WR and he caught 6 passes for 172 yards and 2 TDs.

The Lesson: the WRs are just doing their jobs, not worrying about individual stats and by the time Tyreek Hill returns to the team, the Chiefs could have four or five different leading WRs, including a RB.

So, does this WR group really need a #1 like Tyreek Hill? Yes, and no. No, in the sense that every wideout is playing a role and none of them are going to be targeted more than any other. Yes, in that Tyreek Hill is a special talent and the WR corp is one of he best in the league with him healthy.

The Lesson: in his post game remarks, Andy Reid hailed WR coach Greg Lewis for his ability to make sure the WRs were ready to go, even without Hill… so, there is a definite all-for-one and one-for-all mentality in the WR room.

The Chiefs still need to trade for a CB don’t they? Maybe. Remember, Frank Clark, Charvarius Ward nad Bashaud Breeland all have more INTs this season… than Jalen Ramsey.

[Ramsey is quite a “team mate” on the sidelines too. He wears #20… the one arguing with his head coach Doug Marrone]

The Lesson: the CBs played a good game in Oakland and perhaps represent the best unit on the field on Sunday (besides the WRs).

The Chiefs defense still remains a concern, right? Sure, but they played a whole lot better in this game. In his post game remarks, Derek Carr said of the Chiefs Defense, “That’s a good defense…. They’re playing different coverages [than last week], they’re bringing a lot of exotic pressures. It’s tough, it’s hit or miss sometimes to honest with you…. On offense they were able to get going and jump up to a big lead and, it gets annoying after that, then the game changes.” Last year’s D had best performances of: 3, 10 and 14 in three different contests, so the fact that the Chiefs gave up only 10 on the road to the Raiders is a positive. However, it’s nothing to draw any conclusion from.

The Lesson: this defense looks much improved on the back end, a very positive sign, but let’s wait and see if they can string some good games together.

If the CBs played better… then we should be worried about the Defensive Front, right? The front is a strength of this defense and is a big reason the CBs had a good game.

The Lesson: when Chris Jones sacks the QB (like he did Derek Carr on Sunday), the defense usually has a good day.

We should be concerned about Patrick Mahomes because he had a bad day, didn’t he? No. Even if you want to peg it as “a bad day,” Mahomes came away with 443 passing yards, 4 TDs and zero INTs. In fact, Mahomes now has 7 TDs for the year with no INTs and he’s on pace for 56 TDs, plus 6.568 yards passing (if he were to keep this pace up). 

The Lesson: twice last year Mahomes had a QB Rating lower than 100.0 like he did yesterday (95.6), so rest easy that if you are a Chiefs fan, you have one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game (at least his career has started out that way).

We’re going to miss going out to the old Oakland Coliseum aren’t we? No. Never. Not at all.

The Lesson: now that Patrick Mahomes has played on the same field that his father once pitched on… I’m sure he has it out of his system. I sure do hope so.

While the AFC West looks likes it going to be a cakewalk, winning the AFC outright and hosting the AFC Championship is another matter? Yes.

The Lesson: the Chiefs will need to keep the pressure on and stay focused because a good team is coming to Arrowhead this coming Sunday: the Baltimore Ravens, who are also 2-and-0.

Were there any lessons you feel like we should have learned from this game against the Raiders? If not, then our lessons have concluded for the day. Class dismissed.

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

P.S. With 172 yards so far this season, WR Demarcus Robinson is already 60% of the way towards his season total receiving yards from 2018, of 288.

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