The Oakland Raiders secured their first win of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11. The following Sunday, the Raiders lost 52-0 in St. Louis. The Raiders got their second win of the season against the San Francisco 49ers a week later, only to follow it up with another blowout loss, losing 31-13 in Kansas City.
The Raiders simply looked overmatched at every level against the Rams. They clearly did not come prepared to play and it showed from the beginning. The game was reminiscent of the Raiders’ blowout losses in London and Houston.
Yesterday the Raiders came out looking like they were ready for a game. The offense struggled, but the Raiders only trailed by a touchdown at halftime and the only time the Chiefs found the end zone in the first half came on a punt return. But the Raiders continued to throw the ball without success in the second half and the score ballooned from 10-3 to 31-6 in the third quarter.
Part of the reason for the blowout was the inexplicable decision to not run the ball against one of the worst run defenses in the league (the Chiefs are 29th in total yards and tied for last in yards per carry and 28th in yards per game). But odd coaching decisions were not the only reason for the blowout. Much like in the Rams game, the Raiders showed that they are routinely outclassed from a speed perspective. The Raiders’ defense is incredibly slow and playing against speedy wide receivers and running backs has been a consistent problem this season. On Sunday, it was the Raider secondary that was torched, giving up plays of 37 yards, 48 yards and 70 yards as the Chiefs were able to do what they struggled with all year, going deep often against the Raiders.
And then … the special teams. I already noted the punt return for a touchdown, but that wasn’t all. Kansas City averaged 33 yards on their kick returns and 19.5 yards on punt returns, giving them strong field position throughout while the Raiders struggled with consistently bad field position.
The second blowout in three weeks shows that this Raiders team is one that simply cannot compete in the NFL unless every part of the team is playing their best — and the game takes place at the Coliseum. On that note, maybe the Raiders will follow up this blowout loss with a win in Oakland against the Bills!
