Silver Minings: AFC West Week 4 roundup

While the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers patiently awaited their Monday Night Football matchup, the rest of the AFC West was in action on Sunday. It’s expected to be a tight division wire to wire, especially with how everything unfolded yesterday. Then again, the Raiders also have a chance to pull ahead early on with a victory tonight ...

Kansas City Chiefs 42 Philadelphia Eagles 30

Key Stats:

Patrick Mahomes, QB: 24/30, 278 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT

Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB: 16 total touches, 114 total yards, 1 receiving TD

Tyreek Hill, WR: 11 catches, 182 yards, 3 TDs

Travis Kelce, TE: 4 catches, 23 yards

Daniel Sorenson, S: 9 total tackles

Tyran Mathieu, DB: 5 total tackles, 1 TFL, 1 pass defended

The Chiefs’ offense was electric once again. Mahomes was throwing touchdown passes overhand, underhand and basically any other arm slot you can think of. Besides the kneel down at the end of the game, his lone interception was the only drive Kansas City didn’t score a touchdown on as they racked up 471 yards and 7.5 yards per play.

However, it was a completely different story for the Chiefs’ defense. Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts set a career-high in passing yards with 387, and the Birds had 461 yards - 6.6 per play - as a team. Rookie wide receiver DeVonta Smith also had the best day of his young career, hauling in 7 catches for 122 yards and a long of 37.

Kansas City has now allowed 125 points this season, which is the second-most in the league, and they’ll play host to Buffalo next week on Sunday Night Football, so things won’t get any easier for them moving forward.

Denver Broncos 7 Baltimore Ravens 23

Key Stats:

Teddy Bridgewater, QB: 7/16, 65 yards, 1 TD

Drew Lock, QB: 12/21, 113 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT

Melvin Gordon, RB: 11 total touches, 67 total yards

Courtland Sutton, WR: 3 catches, 47 yards

Noah Fant, TE: 6 catches, 46 yards, 1 TD

Justin Simmons, S: 8 total tackles, 2 passes defended

Von Miller, EDGE: 5 total tackles, 0.5 sack, 1 TFL

Our eyes did not deceive us. For the first team this season, Denver faced an opponent that had a win heading into the game, and for the first time in the season, Denver lost.

The Broncos’ offense struggled to get much going through the air against the Ravens. They netted 148 yards when dropping back to pass, surrendering five sacks and losing starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to a concussion in the process.

Denver did have some success on the ground, though, rushing for 106 yards and 6.2 yards per carry as a team. Granted, that’s kind of a mute point considering they only scored seven points and played from behind for the majority of the contest, so Baltimore was surely more than happy to give up a few rushes and shorten the game.

However, the Broncos’ defense did look sharp considering they weren’t getting much help from the other side of the ball. They sacked Lamar Jackson three times and limited the Ravens’ rushing attack to just 3.4 yards per rush, 2.3 fewer yards than Baltimore’s team average for the season.

Denver heads to Pittsburgh next week to take on the now 1-3 Steelers.

In other Raiders’ links:

• Chargers down starting LB: second-year player Kenneth Murray was a late add to the injury report this week after rolling his ankle during Saturday’s practice. He’s been ruled out for tonight’s game.
• Denzel Perryman gives scouting report on former team: “I consider Keenan to be a quick twitchy guy, playmaker. Obviously, Mike is a playmaker too, but Mike’s more of a jump ball, deep ball kind of guy, and Keenan’s all over the place. It’s going to be a challenge. As far as a defense, we need to do our job and play as one,” the linebacker said about the Chargers.
• Josh Jacobs questionable: Running back is going to be a “game-time decision,” per Jon Gruden.
• Historical anniversary: Yesterday was the 32nd anniversary of Art Shell’s debut as the Raiders’ head coach and the first African American head coach in the modern era. Check out his video of Al Davis talking about hiring Shell regardless of his race.