Game Recap, Final Score Oakland 10, Kansas City 28: Promising start quickly sours into Chiefs rout

Here we go, it is time for the classic AFC West rivalry match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Silver and Black. It’s a historic match up and the last time the Chiefs will be in Oakland unless there is a playoff game later this year so it’s one of the biggest games in their long, storied history of facing each other.

The Raiders started out with the ball first and clearly they decided to let things fly early relying heavily on Derek Carr’s arm. They had two huge 3rd down conversions behind that arm of Carr’s to lead their way deep into Chiefs territory on their opening drive. However, they had to settle for a 28 yard field goal after the Chiefs came up with a big stop on 3rd and one. Daniel Carlson’s kick was good to make it 3-0 Oakland.

Oakland’s defense gave up just one first down to the Chiefs on their first possession before forcing a punt from the infield dirt. The Raiders quickly made them pay too with a quick first down to Hunter Renfrow, followed up by a pass interference penalty on a deep ball to Ryan Grant that put them in 1st and goal from the 8. They finished it off this time with a perfect pass to a wide open Tyrell Williams in the back of the end zone to make the score 10-0 Raiders.

Again, the swarming Raiders defense kept the Chiefs from getting more than just one first down and even the one they got was a great throw and catch. Kansas City has gotten just 26 yards of offense from their first two possessions, something you very much do not expect from the highly touted Patrick Mahomes led offense. Unfortunately the Raiders offense couldn’t take advantage of their good field position and had to punt it back after a quick 3 and out.

This time the Chiefs wouldn’t be stopped, they took hardly any time at all before hitting Demarcus Robinson deep for a 44 yard touchdown reception. Robinson got behind the Raiders defense and was wide open and Mahomes threw the ball perfectly to take advantage of the defensive miscue. The KC touchdown made the score 10-7 Oakland.

Oakland had to punt the ball back quickly despite an incredible effort from Derek Carr who tried jumping over players to get to the first down marker on a 3rd down scramble but the refs marked him just short of the line to gain. Of course Kansas City made the Raiders pay for not getting that first down, they put together a 14 play, 95 yard drive and scored on another deep ball. This one came on 3rd and 20 at that and went 42 yards to rookie Mecole Hardman to make the score 14-10 Chiefs.

Oakland absolutely needed a big response to the ridiculous Chiefs drive that just happened and unfortunately that didn’t happen. They got to midfield thanks to a couple of nice catch and runs from TE Darren Waller but a 3rd down false start penalty doomed the drive and led to another Raiders punt.

After that the Chiefs got deep into Raiders territory with two big plays (32 yard pass, followed by a 43 yard pass) despite starting at their own 6 after the punt. Sure enough, a couple plays later they scored on another long pass for a score. This time the touchdown went to TE Travis Kelce and made the score 21-10 Raiders with 1:41 left in the half.

Oakland went 3 and out so quickly that they actually punted the ball back to KC with 59 seconds still on the clock, and it was a bad punt with a decent return so the Chiefs started their final drive of the half at the Raiders 39 yard line. It took one play. One damn play. It was another huge touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson to make the score 28-10, which is what the score ended as for the first half.

Kansas City got the ball to start the 2nd half and immediately got right back to business with another long completion of 28 yards to Demarcus Robinson. It marked the 6th straight 25+ yard completion for Mahomes and the Chiefs, but at least his next throw finally went incomplete. The Raiders defense actually stopped them altogether a few plays later with a Benson Mayowa 3rd down sack which forced a Chiefs punt.

Oakland started their first possession of the 2nd half with a 51 yard run from rookie RB Josh Jacobs to get the Raiders into Chief’s territory. They followed that up with a first down catch and run from Darren Waller who hurdled two defenders to get to the first down and get the Raiders into the red zone. However, Derek Carr threw an absolutely horrible fade to Tyrell Williams from the 5 yard line straight into the hands of Chiefs corner Bashaud Breeland to end the Oakland threat.

Kansas City didn’t do anything on their next drive (except for a 74 yard touchdown pass that was called back because of holding) so they punted the ball back to Oakland. Unfortunately Derek Carr threw another interception, his 2nd in his last 4 throws. The Chiefs took over at the Oakland 45 after the turnover but the Raiders defense caused a turnover of their own when Benson Mayowa stripped the ball from Mahomes which was recovered by Daryl Worley.

The next two drives were both 3 and outs, and then the Raiders had another drive get into Chiefs territory only to have two sacks in a row knock them backwards and end their drive. Down 18 and just over 6 minutes left in the game they would have been in 4 down territory but they didn’t even bother going for it on 4th and 21 after the two sacks.

With the big lead all that was left for the Chiefs to do was run out the remaining 6 minutes of clock, which is exactly what they did. If it wasn’t for a ridiculous 2nd quarter this could have been a good game, but unfortunately that 2nd quarter did actually happen.

Raiders lose 28-10.