The Oakland Raiders snapped their four-game losing streak with a thrilling one-point win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7. Here are the five takeaways.
The Oakland Raiders did it. They were able to get a huge win in divisional play when the team needed it most. It went down to the wire and to some degree beyond that, but the Silver and Black got that one-point victory it desperately needed over the arch rival Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football, 31-30.
That win has the Raiders improving to 3-4 on the year and still alive in the AFC playoff picture. This win only has Oakland two games back of the Chiefs in the AFC West standings. The Silver and Black might be below .500, but have themselves in the mix for a wild card spot as we enter the back half of October.
You can claim recency bias, but this might have been the best game of the 2017 NFL season up to this point. It had everything from a fantastic finish to a shocking upset in a rivalry series. To be on the winning end of this game is great for the Raiders. They will now have 10 days to get ready for Week 8’s road game versus the tough Buffalo Bills over in Orchard Park.
Now that things have settled down a tad since last night’s amazing victory, let’s take a look back at the five big takeaways from the Raiders’ signature win of the season over the arch rival Chiefs on Thursday Night Football in Week 7.
This secondary isn’t cutting it
While it’s always fantastic to get a win over the Chiefs, let’s not forget how poor the Raiders was in this game. They almost blew it for the Raiders. Though the front-seven played its heart out in front of the Oakland faithful, the secondary essentially the Chiefs’ offense two easy scores.
The 64-yard bomb from Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith to Tyreek Hill is exactly the type of play that Oakland could not afford to surrender in this game. Giving up a big play like that took early momentum away from the Raiders in the ball game. It had the Raiders down 17-14 after Hill found pay dirt. Oakland would trail Kansas City 20-14 at the half.
Now, what on Planet Earth was that debacle that allowed Albert Wilson to score a 63-yard touchdown to go up 30-21 on the Raiders. Smith should have been picked off by Raiders defensive back Keith McGill II. Instead, it was the professional version of The Prayer at Jordan-Hare.
Oakland is still without an interception on the season and we’re seven games into the season. Those two plays had the Chiefs more in the game than they should have been. It’s hard to win games when the secondary is good for a handful of busted coverages a ball game. We can blame it on injuries, but the Raiders are constantly getting beat in the defensive backfield. It’s getting old.