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The Oakland Raiders rolled into Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday to square off with the Kansas City Chiefs with a chance to dash their playoff hopes and end a long road losing streak at the same time. For the second week in a row, the Raiders were facing a team fighting for their playoff lives.
For as good as they were in dominating the San Francisco 49ers last week, they were every bit as bad against a Chiefs team that entered the game with three straight losses, resulting in a 31-13 thrashing that kept the Chiefs’ dimming playoff hopes alive.
As it has been often the case during this Jekyll and Hyde season for Oakland, it was a tale of two halves for the Raiders. During the first half against, the Raiders’ offense was stagnant and unable to generate any spark whatsoever, despite the defense coming strong out of the gate. If not for Oakland’s special teams giving up an 81-yard punt return for a touchdown to Kansas City’s De’Anthony Thomas, the half likely would have ended in a 3-3 tie, and that could have possibly changed the complexion of the game.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, the games are 60 minutes and they had to play the second half. Whatever adjustments the Raiders made, or tried to make, clearly didn’t work. Kansas City came out of the break running off 21 unanswered points and dominating the Raiders in every facet of the game, turning what had been a tightly contested dogfight into a laugher of a blowout.
Unlike last week against the 49ers when he was sharp and efficient, Derek Carr was sloppy, erratic and looked bewildered all day. An offensive line that had dominated the 49ers up front last week was porous, was blown off the ball all day long, letting the Chiefs harass Carr on seemingly every play and gave up four sacks. Carr finished the game going 25-for-52 for 188 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions, one costly fumble and a paltry 57.2 QB rating.
Oakland’s wideouts dropped a number of very catchable balls, stalling out drives and bogging down the offense. The defense that had played so well in the first half, which was likely gassed thanks to the offense’s ineptitude, was absolutely abused by the Chiefs’ offense in the second.
The Raiders had the chance to end a long road losing streak that’s now at nine games. They had the chance to win back-to-back games for the first time in more than two years, and they also had the chance to play the role of the Grinch and all but end the playoff hopes of their hated division rival.
Unfortunately for fans of the Silver and Black, the Raiders turned in another dismal performance in what has been a dismal season — though not one without some glimmer of hope for the future.
Kevin Saito is a fiction writer, sports junkie, history nerd, and NFL contributor to www.RantSports.com Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, or on Google
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