Raiders Let The Chiefs Win

Oakland, Ca – The tight battle of AFC West foes for second place behind Denver now has the Kansas City with a two game lead. The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders 34-20 in Oakland. The Raiders defense kept them in game even with the fans disapproval in offensive play calling.

It was anybody’s game until midway through the fourth quarter when Chiefs Alex Smith found Jeremy Maclin on receiver screen for a touchdown. Maclin had just scored on this identical play four minutes before untouched both times. Head Coach Andy Reid and play caller saw a gap in Raiders scheme and exploited it at the right time. These were quarterback Alex Smith only throwing touchdowns of the game for 162 yards. Smith did find a whole and walked in for a rushing touchdown when Raiders were in man coverage with no spy .

The Raiders on paper looked like they should have one this game by racking up more yards but even with the yards to much inconsistent offense. The Raiders never attacked down the field, their longest reception of the game was a Michael Crabtree 25 yard catch. The most costly plays of the game were by Oakland Derek Carr’s three interceptions that lead to 14 points. You can only put one on Carr which came when Crabtree slipped out his break and feel down while the pass came through with no look pass that was intercepted rookie Marcus Peters.

Neither team seemed to want to seize the game by having special teams woes. Oakland kicker Sebastian Janikowski had a field goal and an extra point hit upright and failed right along with the momentum. It must have been something in the air due to heavy air that gave some rain during the game, Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos even missed one at 26-20 with 7:57 left fourth quarter.

We all know defense wins championships but  even a great defense can’t continue to shine and hold a team back when they have to get on field deep in their own territory like it was in today contest for the Raiders. Today’s win allows Kansas City to keep close in the race for a wild card spot for the playoffs and the road to Super Bowl 50. The Raiders now are almost mathematical out the running but they have four games left in the regular season.