Oakland vs Kansas City recap, Final Score 40-33: Raiders play tough but can’t shock red hot Chiefs

It’s the first of two match-ups against the Kansas City Chiefs, this one in Oakland with KC getting the ball first. It was a roller coaster of a first play from them with star QB Patrick Mahomes hitting TE Travis Kelce for a 24 yard gain, but then Kelce fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Raiders S Reggie Nelson.

The Raiders offense couldn’t capitalize on the early turnover though, they went 3 and out. Rookie P Johnny Townsend proceeded to finish off throwing away the turnover by punting the ball just 22 yards. After that KC quickly drove down to take the lead with a 3 yard TD pass to Travis Kelce. The drive had 2 Raiders penalties that totaled 31 yards, a 33 yard Tyreek Hill run and the TD pass that made it 7-0 Chiefs.

Oakland’s next drive also only lasted 3 plays but this time because of a Doug Martin fumble that the Chiefs recovered at the Oakland 49. Kansas City drove into field goal range essentially from 2 big runs; one on a 13 yard scramble from Mahomes, and the other a 17 yard run from now starter Spencer Ware. They settled for a 29 yard field goal that made the score 10-0 KC halfway through the 1st quarter.

The two teams traded punts after that before the Raiders put together what was looking like a nice drive. They got down to the Chiefs 28 on an 8 play 34 yard drive, that’s as far as they got though thanks to another fumble by a Raiders RB. This one was by Deandre Washington but both fumbles were from poor ball safety from the backs and both ended promising starts to drives. KC took advantage of the turnover by eventually kicking a 50 yard field goal to extend their lead to 13-0.

Still, only being down 13 with everything that’s gone wrong so far is a win for the Raiders. Especially so after their next drive went 11 plays, 75 yards and ended with a Doug Martin 1 yard TD run. The biggest play was a beautiful catch from Jared Cook for 29 yards and there also was a great 3rd down conversion from Seth Roberts who got 16 yards on a 3rd and 13 play. The Doug Martin TD made the score 13-7 KC with just 1:04 left in the 1st half.

The Chiefs super powered offense isn’t the type to run out the clock to end the half though. They proceeded to get a couple of receptions from Travis Kelce, followed by a 38 yard reception to D Robinson down to the Oakland 6. The next play Mahomes went back to Kelce for a 6 yard touchdown. The Raiders blocked the extra point so the score was 19-7 at the half.

Oakland got the ball first in the second half and thanks to a 30 yard run by Jalen Richard they were able to cut into the Chiefs lead. They very nearly got an incredible deep touchdown catch from UDFA rookie Marcell Ateman but he couldn’t quit stay in bounds and he ended up not being able to hold on to it anyway. It was a hell of an effort but at least the Raiders were able to line up for a 50 yard Daniel Carlson field goal afterwards to cut the lead to 19-10 KC.

Kansas City’s offense again was just too much for Oakland, especially when they just barely miss on 3 different turnover opportunities. One was a deflected pass that should have been intercepted, one a fumble that bounced right back to the running back, and lastly a fumble out the end zone that the Chiefs player luckily had stepped out of bounds just before fumbling it. Making it even worse the Chiefs got their touchdown on a 4th and goal run that the Oakland defense was incredibly close to stopping. Unfortunately Spencer Ware just got the ball over the goal line before Frostee Rucker’s clean up hit could stop him. That 1 yard TD run made the score 26-10 Chiefs.

Oakland offense went right down the field themselves though. Once again they utilized Jalen Richard (23 yard run) and Jared Cook (20 yard reception) for a couple of big plays to get into Chiefs territory. They then went deep down the middle of the field for a 24 yard touchdown catch from, guess who, Jared Cook. The Raiders went for two but Jalen Richard couldn’t punch it in so the score was 26-16 after Cook’s leaping TD grab.

The Raiders defense forced their first 3 and out of the day from the Chiefs offense, though they got lucky not to get called for a late hit and body landing on QB penalty on Frostee Rucker on the 1st down play. Too bad they got the ball right back after the first play of the Oakland drive when they stripped Jalen Richard at the end of an 18 yard run.

Kansas City then got a big deep ball to Travis Kelce who made a leaping catch for a 28 yard gain down to the Oakland 13 yard line. It was originally ruled a TD but Reggie Nelson just barely touched Kelce down before Kelce could jump up and run to the end zone. It didn’t matter because Mahomes fires a bullet pass through 2 defenders for the touchdown on the next play to their other TE Demetrius Harris. That made the score 33-16 Chiefs.

Oakland’s offense refused to quit though, they scored on a 10 play, 75 yard drive that took 4:23 off the clock. They got their touchdown from a wide open Lee Smith on a 1 yard touchdown reception that Lee juggled but held onto anyway. They had a couple of big runs on the drive and a couple of key receptions from Jordy Nelson on the drive that cut the Chiefs lead down to 10 points again at 33-23 with just under 11 minutes in regulation left.

Then after that the Raiders defense kept the Chiefs from getting a first down for just the 2nd time of the game and got great field position starting at their own 46. They then got a 17 yard pass interference penalty, followed by a 20 yard reception from Jordy Nelson. Then a couple of plays later Derek Carr hit rookie Marcell Ateman on a perfectly thrown back shoulder pass (with a bit of a push off from Ateman that luckily wasn’t called) for the touchdown to make the score 33-30 with 6:46 left in regulation.

Kansas City’s offense was just to tough for the Raiders defense though. They proceeded to take up much of the remaining clock on their way to scoring. The key play of the drive was a devastating 3rd and 5 when Mahomes managed to just escape the collapsing pocket and hit Travis Kelce for the 1st down with a 25 yard catch down to the Raiders 4. They then scored on 3rd and goal from the 2 on a pass to Chris Conley to make the score 40-30 Kansas City.

Oakland needed to make up a 10 point difference in 1:54 left in the game. They were able to drive down into field goal range and kicked the field goal on 1st down with 30 seconds left in the 4th. That kick made the score 40-33. Unfortunately they couldn’t get the onside kick so that’s the final score. Raiders lose 40-33.