Chiefs Reaction: Kansas City Embarrasses Raiders

The Kansas City Chiefs completed the sweep of the Las Vegas Raiders during 2021 on Sunday, defeating the team in silver and black 48-9. It was the largest margin of victory for Kansas City in their storied rivalry against the Raiders. Meanwhile, it was a complete team effort that led to the domination for the Chiefs.

Defensively, not many more defenses are making impact stops or plays. The opportunistic style reached a new level against Las Vegas, as the Raiders turned it over five times. On the other hand, the Chiefs offense put together a strong attack. This was the offense’s first full complete game of strong play in a few weeks. Can they carry that over consistently down the stretch?

What are the top five things we learned from the Chiefs in this win? Let’s kick it off.

Passing Attack Can Sustain This Style Of Play Moving Forward

After the first one-sided win over the Raiders in Vegas, many believed that the Chiefs offense we had become accustomed to was back and had returned. That never really translated to more complete games from the passing attack in games that followed. Sure, the play design and eye candy that Andy Reid showed in that first meeting against the Raiders can work here and there. Being able to string together a passing attack to all areas of the field and building off of that comes differently, however.

Patrick Mahomes was able to hit on explosive plays against the Raiders once again. But this time, he was doing what he does best. That includes a quick release, anticipating the breaks that his pass catchers will make, not being afraid to maneuver or step up in the pocket and pushing the ball downfield. He did a lot of this against Vegas in both meetings. Though this time around, Kansas City was able to cap off drives more often and continued to do that all game long.

We also saw all of the pass catchers lock down certain roles. Travis Kelce was primarily used on option routes, rather than using a multitude of route concepts. Tyreek Hill was used more often to attack the defense, compared to being used in the short, quick pass game too often like the previous week. Additionally, Byron Pringle, Josh Gordon and Demarcus Robinson were allowed to run a more varied route tree. This all helped to lead to a surgical passing attack.

Running Back Depth Can Wear Down Any Opponent

Since Clyde Edwards-Helaire returned from a MCL sprain, the rushing attack has enforced their will on opponents. CEH has begun to gain a better feel for when to wait out traffic or when to hit the hole hard. When you add in his ability to make defenders miss in space, his ability to extend drives has grown.

Darrel Williams fared well when Edwards-Helaire was injured. He is tough to bring down and is seemingly always moving forward. This can lead to him gaining more yards than expected on many of his rushing attempts. We saw Williams do that in the previous game against Denver and it showed again against the Raiders. His feel for attacking opponents with leverage is also sneaky good as a pass catcher.

And that is not all. Derrick Gore has been featured scarcely since the middle of the season. He had one strong drive against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. Yet, this was a performance where Gore certainly earned more snaps moving forward. Like CEH, he is patient. Once he allows the blocks to get set, Gore arguably has the greatest threat of this trio to outrace defenders with pure speed. Coach Reid should not hesitate to install more of Gore into the offensive looks. As a result, it would give the opposing defense one extra threat to worry about, as well as a different style of runner that the opponent would have to stop.

When Right, No One Can Handle Chiefs Pass Rush

From start to finish, the Chiefs manhandled the Raiders offensive line. Derek Carr was feeling the effects early and often. In fact, Kansas City pressured Carr on 45 percent of his dropbacks on Sunday, according to Pro Football Focus. Chris Jones (10 pressures) and Frank Clark (eight pressures) amazingly combined for 18 pressures. To boot, Jones’ 39 pressures since Week Eight are the most in the NFL.

When right has been a big if for the Chiefs pass rush from time to time. Though currently, the duo of Jones and Clark may be playing their best football as members of this team. That is saying something, given Clark’s late season push during the Super Bowl winning season of 2019 and Jones’ consistent production over previous years. We mentioned last week how the power and explosiveness of Melvin Ingram has added a new layer to the pass rush’s options.

On top of that, depth guys are getting home as consistently as they have all season. With limited opportunities, the chance to make an impact is often minimal for depth pieces. Nevertheless, guys like Alex Okafor, Mike Danna, Tershawn Wharton, Jarran Reed and even Derrick Nnadi are beginning to put it all together as a group. Carr certainly felt that on Sunday.

Back To Even

As mentioned by Craig Stout of KC Sports Network on Twitter, the Chiefs now have an even turnover differential on the season. That is true for the first time since Kansas City was in the second quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week Three. Early in the season, it felt like the turnover luck and fundamentals were never going to flip. Tipped interceptions and horrid ball security offensively placed the Chiefs defense in precarious situations. That defensive group was also failing to muster many takeaways themselves.

Since this winning streak started against the Giants, Kansas City has made an emphasis to come away from each game with a plus turnover differential. They have delivered, and some. After Sunday’s win over the Raiders, the Chiefs have generated 16 takeaways to six offensive turnovers during the six game winning streak. You can see a greater focus on finding the football by defenders in coverage, a greater focus on reading the quarterback’s eyes and a greater focus on attacking the ball when making tackles.

The Raiders provided a never ending opportunity for the Chiefs to cash in on more takeaways. Once the turnovers got in their head, Vegas clearly became unraveled. The turntables have truly begun to flip, as that is where the Chiefs were at early in the season. Kansas City’s defense is hardly allowing opponents to put points on the scoreboard right now. If the turnover parade continues in the Chiefs favor, not many teams are better than them.

Playing For Sneed

There was plenty of emotion involved in the Chiefs home win over the Raiders. Kansas City wanted revenge after Vegas beat them in their own building for the first time since 2012 last year. Meanwhile, Raider Week is treated differently inside the Chiefs building than almost any other week. There were heavy hearts for players wearing the red and gold, however.

Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed did not play in Week Fourteen. His oldest brother, T’Qarontarion “TQ” Harrison, was killed in a stabbing incident over the weekend. Sneed went back home to Minden, Louisiana in order to be surrounded by family following the tragedy.

After the win over the Raiders, many Chiefs players explained how they were “playing for Sneed.” Mahomes mentioned how supportive the team wanted to be and how “guys played hard for him today.”

Cornerback Mike Hughes, who played in Sneed’s place and made a major difference, talked about how Sneed “was on everyone’s mind. Before the game, we said that we were going to play for him.”

Defensive leader Tyrann Mathieu stated how he talked with Sneed since the incident. As someone who always brings a load of energy, Mathieu wanted to feel a different kind of energy from his Chiefs teammates against the Raiders. “He’s on our mind a lot,” Mathieu said. “I just wanted to play for him today, his family. I feel like we did that. I feel like we started the game with some ‘L’Jarius energy’ and so we kind of kept it going throughout the game.” After the victory, Mathieu took to Twitter to say “Sneed that was for you and the family!!!”

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.