Game Overview ::
By mike johnson >>
- Kansas City attempts to get back on track on a short week after a tough loss on Monday Night Football against the Eagles.
- The Chiefs have not scored in the second half of three consecutive games and the Raiders failed to score in the second half last week against the Dolphins.
- The Chiefs defense has been elite this season, holding the Dolphins and Eagles to 14 and 21 points in their last two games while allowing over 21 points only once all year.
- Patrick Mahomes needs some wide receivers to step up and give him consistent play for the Chiefs to make another Super Bowl run.
- Josh Jacobs should be very busy against Kansas City’s 27th ranked run defense.
How kansas city Will Try To Win ::
This is the first matchup of the season between these divisional rivals. Kansas City has been struggling mightily on the offensive side of the ball lately, and unlike past seasons when they have had offensive funks that appeared more fluky, this year there appears to be legitimate systemic issues that they are dealing with. The lack of talent and production from their wide receiver room appears to be at the top of the list for things the Chiefs need to fix as another game full of drops and poor separation allowed the Eagles to find a way to a comeback victory on Monday night. This is, by far, the best defense Kansas City has had in the Patrick Mahomes era, but the Chiefs offense has been sputtering lately and has surpassed 21 points only once in the last five games. That is notable considering in 2022 the Chiefs scored 24 or more points in 14 of 17 regular season games. This is simply not the type of team that ignites game environments like the Chiefs we had become accustomed to.
The Chiefs still rank 2nd in the NFL in pass rate over expectation (PROE) this season, but their efficiency has taken a major step backward. This week, the Chiefs will be without Mecole Hardman and Jerick McKinnon, which should leave Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore in the “short area schemed touches” role. Isiah Pacheco is clearly the Chiefs lead running back and they have had a more traditional and productive running game this year. Pacheco will likely see a big workload against a Raiders team that ranks in the bottom-third of the league in most run defense metrics. The Raiders defense has had some rough spots this year and isn’t a world beater by any means if you look at their statistics, but they have been much better than most people probably realize. They have allowed only two of their last seven opponents to score more than 20 points and have held their opponents to under 13 points per game since Antonio Pierce took over as their head coach in Week 9. The first two games of the Pierce-era were against the Giants and Jets, so it would be easy to dismiss those results as stemming from their opponent’s ineptitude. However, after holding the high-flying Dolphins to only 20 points in Week 11 we have to take this Raiders defense seriously. Kansas City is going to continue their pass-heavy but mostly short area game plan this week with Travis Kelce and Pacheco as their primary playmakers and a variety of personnel packages being mixed in as they look to spark something. They are going to move the ball and are unlikely to be held down by the Raiders but are also unlikely to pop off for a vintage Chiefs offensive explosion as they are simply not that team at this point.
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