Chiefs Win Ugly in Oakland

Chiefs Win Ugly in Oakland

by Laddie Morse | December 3, 2018

The Kansas City Chiefs appeared to be playing this game wearing lead undies. Still, they were able to pull out a win. Since it was a Raiders game you’d figure there might be fighting, penalties, nasty word exchanges, and lots of contested turnovers. Well, there wasn’t any of that… it was ALL of that!  And More. In the end, the Chiefs win ugly in Oakland, 40-to-33.

A couple of notes should be pegged on this online bulletin board before getting into game specifics: Patrick Mahomes is an awesome beast of a quarterback and… tight end Travis Kelce is blossoming into one of the all time greats at his position. More on them later.

Perhaps a bad omen at the beginning of this game was the Raiders winning the coin toss and deferring. I don’t know if deferring is something Jon Gruden likes to do on a regular basis but we know Andy Reid does… so Gruden deferred knowing that. I’m sure that was part of the gamesmanship going on between old friends: Gruden and Reid. Then, on the Chiefs first play from scrimmage, Travis Kelce fumbled the ball away to the Raiders after a long gain to mid-field. By fumbling away the ball to start the game, any advantage Reid could have used to gain an early lead was gone.

With the ball the Chiefs 49 the Raiders used three plays to gain a first down except… our good ole buddy Center Rodney Hudson was called for a Holding penalty which wiped out a Raiders first down on 4th and 1… and so, they had to punt. Still, it was like a 3-and-out. Essentially, the Raiders gave the ball back to begin the game. Advantage Reid.

With the ball at their own 35 yard line, the Chiefs ran an end around to Tyreek Hill for 33 yards… then came a 26 yard pass interference penalty. A couple plays later and Patrick Mahomes hit Travis Kelce with a perfectly placed pass right at the goal line as Kelce was diving towards the pylon. TD.

Kansas City 7, Oakland 0.

Oakland fumbled on their next possession and K.C drove far enough for Harrison Butker to kick a field goal.

Chiefs 10, Raiders 0.

It was obvious that the Chiefs were missing “something” on this day. Perhaps it was a worthy opponent? Perhaps it was the will to live? Perhaps it was their old running back Kareem Hunt… or it could have been a post-Bye week malaise that too much turkey can have on you. However, it was noticeable. Something was missing in the motivation and focus department. Hmm, maybe the Chiefs have just been “lucky” this whole year and now… their luck has run out? Well, everyone seems to have a theory:

Call it what you will, whatever it was, it was clear to me, the TV announcers, and most everyone I was blogging with here on ArrowheadOne, something was wrong with the Chiefs on Sunday. At one time Patrick Mahomes was 7-for-13.

However, when the 2nd half arrived Mahomes seemed to snap out of it a little bit and completed 8 straight passes at one point.

The Penalties, the Lack of Discipline

I don’t know what is going on with the Chiefs this year but they are penalty-happy like never before. They had 11 (eleven) penalties in this game for a whopping total of 94 yards lost. Sure the Raiders were penalized 8 times for 74 yards but there is no excuse for such lack of focus. At one point, after a moving penalty on Cam Erving, Travis Kelce came over and said something to him and double-patted him with both hands on the outside of his shoulder pads as if to say, “Hey, wake up.” The whole team needed to wake up.

The Performances That Won It

Patrick Mahomes kept up his MVP pace by going 23-of-38 for 295 passing yards with 4 TDs, zero sacks, and zero INTs. He also ran for 52 yards on 9 carries to lead the team in that department. Although it was obvious to so many that Mahomes was having a bit of an off day, he still managed to lead the team to a victory over an ache rival on their home field. Now… saying Mahomes had an “off day” is based upon the kind of stellar games he’s had before. While he didn’t crash and burn like Drew Brees (18-of-28 for 127 yards passing with 1 TD, 1 INT, 2 sacks and a QBR of 16.3) did vs the Cowboys on Thursday evening he did accomplish some other milestones: 3,923 passing yards and 41 TDs in his first 13 games as a starter. Now. Patrick Mahomes only needs to average 168 passing yards per game to break Trent Green record for passing yards in a single season of 4.591. 

Tight End extraordinaire, Travis Kelce, had 12 receptions for 168 yards which now gives him, 1,082 total receiving yards on the season plus 79 receptions total and 9 TDs for the year as well. It’s not only the production that makes Kelce special, but like Patrick Mahomes, it’s the way in which he has accomplished his gymnastic acts: his diving grabs as he’s falling out of bounds, his leopard leaps to go up and snag a pass that looks like it’s sailing out the back of the end zone… these physical feats are part of his game and make watching the Chiefs game a special experience. Now, Kelce is in a league by himself: he is the only TE to have three straight season going over 1,000 yards receiving.

The Performances That Nearly Lost It

Without picking on a particular player (I admit it, I am picking on him, but for good reason), S Eric Murray needs to be cut or placed on the practice squad: preferably some other team’s practice squad. He missed on multiple coverage opportunities and several tackles and a couple of those tackles were in the backfield… and we all know Eric Berry would have made those tackles. However, Eric Murray whiffed.

WR Tyreek Hill did not have a good game. He and Patrick Mahomes were out of sync and Mahomes was either over-throwing him or… under throwing him or… Hill was dropping passes he usually catches. Hill finished with 1-catch for 13 yards.

You may have heard that the Green Bay Packers fired head coach Mike McCarthy following their loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Now, Chiefs fans are clamoring for the head of DC Bob Sutton like never before. The miserable 2-10 Oakland Raiders racked up 442 total yards in this game and plays like the last Raiders TD where Sutton sent gimpy ILB Anthony Hitchens in to line up and cover TE Jared Cook are falling under intense scrutiny.

The defense also made Raiders QB Derek Carr look like a world beater. He was allowed to complete 29-of-38 passes for 285 yards, 3 TDs and zero INTs. However, fumbles were the Raiders bug-a-boo. Ransom Hawthorne implies that the Chiefs could have easily lost this game had it not been for some fumbles lost by the Raiders:

It may sound like I’m complaining that the sun is too bright because the Chiefs have scored 91 points in their last two games. Yes… but the defense has allowed 86 points in those two games as well. It appears the Chiefs have regressed to 2003… AGAIN. That was my concern over the first several games of the season, but then there seemed to be progress coming on the defensive side of the ball, as well as the hope stemming from Eric Berry’s imminent return. Now, (with Kareem Hunt gone) there is a lot less hope that the offense can just outscore anyone that comes along. Well, that’s certainly true if the Chief play the same way, against future opponents, as they did against the disjointed Raiders on Sunday.

It wasn’t all bad on defense. DL Chris Jones and OLB Dee Ford played well again. Justin Houston may still draw a double-team from time to time but that’s probably based on his reputation from years past. Now, he has slowed slow much that he could be looking for another team this coming offseason.

A Game Time Breaking Point

With 6:46 left in the 4th quarter, the Raiders scored to make the score Chiefs 33 and the Raiders 30. The Chiefs could either drive the ball down the field and score or turn it over on downs thereby giving the Raiders a chance to take the lead. It was the first time since the early minutes of the game that the Raiders had been within striking distance of taking the lead in the game and you could see on Jon Gruden’s face that it was crunch time.

Twelve plays, and a couple of penalties on the Raiders, later and Patrick Mahomes hit Chris Conley in the end zone and for all intents and purposes, the game was over.

Some of us were commenting online — at that critical moment — that in years past, the Chiefs could not be trusted to “go-win-it” in the final moments… but now, there is a trust and a confidence that this Patrick Mahomes-led team will get the job done.

As a Chiefs fan… that kind of late game confidence is more than enough to keep me satisfied, for like the next 10 to 15 years (of course a few Super Bowl victories would be nice along the way as well). Let’s hope Patrick Mahomes career lasts that long! Go Chiefs!

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