Las Vegas Raiders vs Kansas City Chiefs: 3 things we learned in Week 10
Raiders defense reverts back to 2020 form
All season, the Raiders defense, outside of the run defense, has been the most improved part of this team. Maxx Crosby, Yannick Ngakoue, and the rest of the defensive line have been living in the opponents’ backfield all season without having to blitz, which has provided an opportunity for an improved secondary to limit big plays all season.
However, none of that happened against the Kansas City Chiefs.
In this game, Maxx Crosby and the rest of the defensive line failed to take advantage of a Chiefs offensive line which hasn’t been good so far, especially with Crosby going against a third-string right tackle in Andrew Wiley, who is a former college teammate of Crosby’s. In fairness, Crosby was held on nearly every play, but if the refs are not going to call it, there is nothing the Raiders can do.
The secondary was bad all night, but Brandon Facyson and Johnathan Abram had the worst games of the night. Facyson was getting burned by Tyreek Hill time and time again, and even let up a fake punt catch by punter Tommy Townsend and Marcus Kemp. Johnathan Abram had been much improved this season as an in-the-box safety, but in this game, he made mistake after mistake.
That included the worst of the bunch, allowing Kansas City Chiefs running back Darrel Williams to catch a touchdown pass over the top of him. This was the worst game played by the defense by a long shot so far this season, so let’s hope they can find a way to improve going against two straight dangerous offenses in Cincinnati and Dallas.