Looking back: Oakland Raiders had chances against Kansas City

I went back and watched the Kansas City game on NFL Game Pass, in which the Oakland Raiders got demolished in the second quarter and subsequently, wouldn’t score again.

Overall, the Kansas City Chiefs played a great game in Week 2 and gave the Oakland Raiders headache after headache. Patrick Mahomes threw the ball with efficiency and accuracy. The Raiders defensive line was consistently not getting and pressure on the star quarterback which allowed for long plays to develop and the ability to scan the field.

However, the Raiders front seven did well against the run and reacting quickly to running plays. Vontaze Burfict and Tahir Whitehead seemed to know exactly where the run was going every time and wasn’t fooled by misdirection or counter plays.

On the opposite side, the Raiders offense lacked direction and offensive push. The offensive line in the first half got push and seemed to take care of the front seven the Kansas City Chiefs have.

However, a few things stood out to me:

Gabe Jackson is crucial to this team

The injured right guard is much missed on this team. Denzelle Good missed multiple blocks key to the success of the running game. Specifically on a 3rd-and-4 in the 3rd quarter at the 42-yard line, which would have maybe led to a field goal, whiffed a block and the team lost five yards on the play putting them out of field goal range.

In the post-game press conference, Jon Gruden eluded to Jackson being on the mend by hinting his injury seems to be week to week now.

Kolton Miller is still developing

Kolton Miller was much improved in Week 1, holding Bradley Chubb to zero sacks and zero quarterback hits. The story was much different this week. The second-year left tackle allowed three quarterback pressures and two quarterback hits which all caused incomplete passes.

Two of those pressures came on third down causing Carr to have to step up leading to fourth downs both times. Analyzing his play more, he’s not using his strength to the max. He’s not getting his hands down underneath the defender for leverage and doesn’t expect the rush to change.

When a bull-rush came, he expected a speed-rush and visa-versa. He couldn’t get into a rhythm like last week where he and Trent Brown were arguable the game MVPs.

The Chiefs historic second quarter

I also went back and looked at the touchdown plays the Chiefs had in the second quarter and many suggested it was because of blown coverage, but actually, two were excellent play design, one was blown coverage, and the other was just a great play.

Touchdown #1

This just shows the elite play design that Andy Reid has and the weapons he has to work with. Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, and Demarcus Robinson all ran steak routes. Watkins was on the outside, Kelce in the tight-end position and Robinson in the slot.

Tahir Whitehead ran with Kelce thinking he was the hot route, but Mahomes, being a smart quarterback, he threw it to the open guy who the safety wasn’t following. Basically, two guys had to cover three, and Mahomes picked the open man.

Touchdown #2

Plain and simple, the secondary got beat, bad. Mahomes had zero pressure on him, another story of the game, and could’ve been in the pocket for a few hours. Mecole Hardman ran past the corner and the safety didn’t’ speed up fast enough and got beat deep due to his speed. This was a whiff by the Raiders Defense.

Touchdown #3

This was another great play design by Andy Reid. Watkins ran a 15-yard button hook in the slot holding Lamarcus Joyner 20 yards deep while Kelce beat the corner in 1-on-1 coverage with a 5’11” corner and a 6’3″ tight end.

Touchdown #4

This was plain and simple a great catch. Nothing the defender could have done.

Overall, the game was close if you take out the second quarter, as the Raiders outscored the Chiefs 10-0 through the other three frames. The defense got torched and that ended up being the deciding factor in the game, something that will have to be avoided in Week 3 against Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings.

The Raiders had their chances against one of the better teams in football, so do not start counting out this 1-1 team just yet.