Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders: 3 things to watch

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 09: Josh Mauro #97 and Marquel Lee #52 of the Oakland Raiders celebrate after a play against the Denver Broncos during their NFL game at RingCentral Coliseum on September 09, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Robert Reiners/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 09: Josh Mauro #97 and Marquel Lee #52 of the Oakland Raiders celebrate after a play against the Denver Broncos during their NFL game at RingCentral Coliseum on September 09, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Robert Reiners/Getty Images)
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OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 09: Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders passes the ball in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at RingCentral Coliseum on September 09, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 09: Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders passes the ball in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at RingCentral Coliseum on September 09, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

Can Derek Carr stack another solid performance?

Last week Derek Carr played tremendous, completing 84.6% of his passes, going 22/26 with 259-yards and one touchdown. Now facing the Chiefs in week 2, where they averaged 425.6-yards per game last season, Carr will need another solid performance to go head-to-head with Patrick Mahomes.

In week 1 the Raiders offensive line didn’t allow a defender to even touch Carr in the pocket, allowing him to sit back there and complete throws at a highly accurate rate. This week they’ll have the large task of blocking Frank Clark and Chris Jones. If the offensive line executes in the same fashion as they did last week, Carr will have the opportunity to attack the Chiefs secondary which is significantly less talented than what Denver possessed last week.

Carr’s pocket awareness and procession passing was exactly what Gruden expects from his pro-bowl quarterback. If that continues, there’s a great opportunity this week’s matchup will be tight-nitched one.

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