Raiders vs Chiefs 2023 Week 12: Studs and Duds
After riding high for the first two weeks of the Antonio Pierce era, the Raiders have now crashed back to Earth with back-to-back defeats against two of the best teams in the NFL. Even the most optimistic Raiders fan would not have picked them to win either of these two games but going into the matchup against Kansas City there was some room for optimism at the very least.
The primary reason for the optimism was the Chiefs lack of weapons as they were without Kadarius Toney and Mecole Hardman and would be heavily reliant on Travis Kelce and Isaiah Pacheco. As we found out on Sunday however as long as the Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes then they are an incredibly dangerous team on offense.
Things got off to a great start with the Raiders jumping out to a 14-0 lead but that was quickly erased by an efficient Chiefs offense and things were all square at halftime. After the halftime break, the Raiders were outscored 17-3 and the rout was on. Raider Nation can take heart in the fact that they were competitive for much of the game but just like the matchup against Miami, moral victories can only take you so far.
As of now, the Raiders head into the bye week on the outside looking in of the playoff picture and we may be better Suited firing up the mock draft machine instead of looking at playoff position. In fact, we may just start those mock drafts after the bye week. Before we do that however let's look at the studs and studs from a bitter defeat to a hated rival in the Kansas City Chiefs in week 12.