10 Observations from Chiefs' Throttling of Raiders on Sunday
The league's hottest defense continued their dominance with another standout performance - forcing five turnovers and holding the Raiders to just nine points
The Chiefs won their sixth-straight game on Sunday - throttling the Raiders by a score of 48-9 at a juiced-up Arrowhead Stadium.
When combined with their 41-14 victory over these same Raiders just a few weeks ago, the 89 total points scored by the Chiefs in their two games this year are the most ever in this rivalry going back more than six decades.
It was a beatdown of epic proportions.
Here’s what else stood out:
Raiders Meet on Logo
Las Vegas’ pregame routine ended with a meeting on the Chiefs’ middle field logo — a clear attempt at disrespect. What the Chiefs would do to them for the next sixty minutes was significantly more disrespectful.
Fumble TD Starts it Off
Things started poorly immediately for the Raiders. Cornerback Mike Hughes recovered a Josh Jacobs fumble on the first play of the game to kick off the onslaught. It all went downhill from there.
Offense Gets Hot
After an opening three-and-out, the Chiefs scored on every possession for the remainder of the game. One series of early struggles to open the game were followed by four straight touchdown drives to end the first half.
Raiders Struggle to Cross Logo
The Chiefense prevented the Raiders from crossing the 50 yard line until less than a minute left in the first half. They dominated from beginning to end but weren’t letting the Raiders do anything for the first 29-plus minutes of the game.
Running Backs Thrive
Every running back that suited up for the Chiefs scored against the Raiders — including Derrick Gore on a 51 yard scamper in the second half. The backs were involved heavily in the passing game, catching eight of Mahomes’ 20 completions on the day.
Defensive Line Dominance
The entire defensive line rotation for the Chiefs was having success affecting Derek Carr. It started from the beginning of the game with Chris Jones, Melvin Ingram and Frank Clark setting the tone, but rotational players like Tershawn Wharton and Alex Okafor were able to register sacks on the quarterback as well. An outstanding day up front — Carr was uncomfortable all day.
Josh Gordon Finds the End Zone
It’s been a slow buildup to getting Josh Gordon involved after he was added midseason but he scored his first touchdown as a Chiefs in the first half. They dialed up a screen concept at the one yard line to get him into the end zone.
Chiefense Forces Five Turnovers
Everything was working defensively for the Chiefs today — including turning the ball over. The Chiefs forced and recovered four fumbles on the day — two forced by Hughes (and the opening play recovered). Tyrann Mathieu came down with the lone interception of Derek Carr.
Starters Get Rest Before Big Match Up
The blowout allowed the Chiefs to rest some of their starters for most of the fourth quarter with the game severely out of hand. The team should be better rested heading into a crucial matchup on Thursday Night Football against the Los Angeles Chargers — a game that could all but decide the AFC West.
Elite Troll Job by the Chiefs
As the Raiders left the field on Sunday, the PA system played “The Wheels on the Bus” — a call back to the victory laps the team took on their team buses after defeating the Chiefs in Arrowhead last year.
It went a lot different today.
9/25/16 - The last time KC had a +5 Turnover Differential
The Chiefs have not taken care of the ball well this season, so the turnaround by the defense — forcing 15 turnovers in their last five games — hasn’t always resulted in an overwhelming turnover differential. However, on a day where the offense didn’t cough up the ball and the defense knocked it loose at will, the Chiefs finally stacked the differential in their favor and got themselves back to an even turnover differential on the season. The result was the first time in 90 regular season games that the Chiefs had a +5 turnover differential in a game.
That 2016 performance was against the Jets — and featured a whopping six interceptions by Ryan Fitzpatrick — to one Chiefs turnover. To find a Chiefs differential this high without a Kansas City turnover, that pushes back to 2015’s beatdown of Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos in Week 10. Stacking up takeaways like this while protecting the ball is difficult — especially for this year’s Chiefs offense — and the performance should not be overlooked because of a poor Raiders outing.
5.10 - Yards per dropback allowed since Week 9
This Chiefs passing defense has been outstanding, and this week against the Raiders — in honor of their fellow teammate L’Jarius Sneed — was no exception. The Chiefs held Carr to just 4.6 yards per play when he dropped back to pass, including scrambles and sacks. That has been consistent throughout the last five weeks, as the Chiefs are holding the opposition to a staggeringly low 5.1 yards per dropback.
To put that number in perspective, the lowest yards per attempt in the league belongs to Jacoby Brissett at 5.7. To put it further in perspective, the Chiefs were allowing 7.61 yards per dropback before Week 9. That’s a full 2.5 yards per dropback that the Chiefs defense has dropped in the span of five weeks. That number has much to do with improved play in the secondary, but the Chiefs dominance on the defensive line has repeatedly forced quarterbacks out of their comfort zone over the past 5 weeks.
3 - Chiefs running backs to record a touchdown on Sunday
A week after the Chiefs running back room led the team in passing yards — and four weeks removed from a dominant Darrell Williams performance against the Raiders — this group once again paved the way in a big offensive performance. Clyde Edwards-Helaire punched in two rushing touchdowns, Williams caught one, and Derrick Gore finished the game with a “ball don’t lie” long touchdown run off of a Chiefs scoop-and-score that was blown dead.
Fullback Michael Burton was the only active Chiefs running back not to find his way to paydirt on the day. As a whole, the group racked up 173 scrimmage yards and 4 touchdowns on 30 touches. That accounted for 45% of the Chiefs yardage on the day. With the offense actively searching for a third contributor next to Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill, solid performances out of its running back group might just be what’s needed to close out the year.
28 - Points off of turnovers against the Raiders
The Chiefs have not been particularly good at maximizing scores off of turnovers. Too often this offense struggles to move the ball after a big defensive play gives them the ball back. On Sunday, that definitely was not the case. The Chiefs defense scored one of their own — on the first snap of the game — then got help from the offense with three more touchdown drives off of turnovers throughout the evening.
The Chiefs had only registered 36 points off of turnovers on the season prior to Sunday’s game against the Raiders, and they nearly doubled their season total. This is the ruthless offense that we’ve come to expect from the Chiefs in recent history, punishing the opposition for their mistakes. While the team shouldn’t expect things to be skewed quite this strong from week to week, a complimentary performance like Sunday’s is something for the Chiefs to hang their hats on.
I see two tiers in each conference as to who can get to Super Bowl. NFL has GB and TB in the top with AZ and LA second with the QB caveat.
The AFC has KC and NE on top and every other team that can make the playoffs basically equal. Bill has a rookie QB but he won 3 'chips with solid not great game management QB play from Brady.