Las Vegas Raiders vs Kansas City Chiefs 2022 Week 5: Studs and Duds

Las Vegas Raiders vs Kansas City Chiefs 2022 Week 5: Studs and Duds

Dud – Red Zone Defense

For all of the good work that the Raiders’ defense did in the first quarter, they began to fall apart in the second and the trend continued for much of the game. The Chiefs are still a juggernaut even without Tyreek Hill as they marched down the field with relative ease once they got rolling.

What was most upsetting about the Raiders’ play on defense was not what they let happen between the 20s but what happened once the Chiefs got in the red zone. The Raiders were already struggling this season in red zone defense and that was on full display as the Chiefs carved them up near the goal line.

The Chiefs scored touchdowns on each of their 3 red zone trips in the second half and all 4 of their red zone trips ended with touchdowns to Travis Kelce. Andy Reid is excellent at scheming his best players open with borderline illegal pick plays and gadget plays but at least two of the touchdowns to Kelce were because of poor execution by the Raiders.

This unit has shown flashes of promise here and there but as things stand they are 28th in points allowed and 31st in turnovers with just 3 on the season. We thought things might be different with Patrick Graham running the show and after the acquisition of Chandler Jones and Rock Ya-Sin but it appears to be more of the same struggles on defense we have seen the last 20 years.