Raiders Find Poise And Grab Victory Over Chiefs
From Arrowhead Stadium
In the 50-season history of games between the franchises, there have been many memorable moments.
This sunny, muggy September Sunday afternoon will not be one of them.
Oh the Raiders will celebrate their 13-10 victory on the plane ride home and in the East Bay once they land. But when they go in Monday morning to look at the tape, they will find a coaching staff ready to dissect an afternoon of bad football.
As for the Chiefs, this was just another ugly moment in what has become an ugly habit for this football team. While the Raiders found a way out of their misfortune to win the game at the end, the Chiefs could not get it done again.
“Same old story as last year,” said CB Brandon Flowers. “We have a chance to win the game at the end and we don’t get it done.”
In this game, the Chiefs turned into the Raiders, as they did something the silver and black have always done against Kansas City. Todd Haley’s team shot themselves in the foot so many times with mistakes, mental errors, penalties and the like. Only because it was Oakland, were they even in the game because of those blunders.
“When you have nine penalties, two turnovers, really three with at the end of the half, a couple of other little lapses, you’re not going to win most of the time,” said Haley. “We’re going to have a smart team here. Nine penalties and a couple of those things don’t reflect a smart team, so we’re going to get back to work.”
The Chiefs have already worked very hard but it hasn’t turned them into a smart team or a team that can win a game. While there were many positive signs in this game for the Chiefs, there were just so many plays where they did not get the job done either mentally, physically, or both.
“We had things that happened throughout the day that we hurt ourselves with,” said QB Matt Cassel, who started his first game with the Chiefs and threw a pair of interceptions to Raiders FS Michael Huff. “The Raiders did a good job and made the play when it counted.”
It was a victory for the Chiefs on the stat sheet, if not the scoreboard. They outgained the Raiders 409-166. They out ran the Raiders, 173-67 yards. They outgained Oakland 236 to 99 yards in the passing game. They dominated the time of possession, keeping the ball for 38 minutes, 39 seconds. They held the Raiders to only three conversions on 13 third down plays. They allowed only a single touchdown. They made Oakland QB JaMarcus Russell look awful.
Yet they lost their second game of the season, 16th game in the last 18 and 28th of the last 34 games over the past three seasons.
And the Raiders found a way to win.
“At the end of the game, we were behind and we haven’t been able to do that for a few years,” said head coach Tom Cable. “That is something to build on.”
The first half of this game was a defensive struggle as neither offense got much going and the Raiders were especially ineffective against the Chiefs defense. Oakland had four of their five possessions in the half that went three plays and out. Russell was awful throwing the ball, completing just three of 12 passes and he missed numerous open receivers in the half.
The Chiefs got on the scoreboard first with a long drive to a 24-yard FG by K Ryan Succop. It was a 17-play, 74-yard march that used 9 minutes, 25 seconds of the first quarter clock. They converted one third down and then a fourth down play, while picking up good yardage on first downs. The biggest play in the drive was a 16-yard pass from Cassel to WR Bobby Wade.
Oakland came back in the second quarter and tied the game on a 48-yard FG by Sebastian Janikowski that capped a 12-play, 58-yard drive. It was the Raiders longest drive of the game. The key plays were a pair of Russell completions – his first of the game – of 18 yards to WR Darrius Heyward-Bey and 17 yards to RB Michael Bush.
That 3-3 score held up through intermission, but only because of a series of blunders by the Chiefs did not allow t hem to get another field goal before half-time. They blew a pair of timeouts in the first quarter, and that left them with just one timeout as they moved the ball from their 29-yard line, down to the Raiders 19, with 19 seconds to play. That’s when Haley called his final timeout.
“It’s an out of bounds or incomplete situation,” Haley said. “If the ball is completed it must be out of bounds or if not, the ball has to be incomplete whether it’s intentionally dropped or not thrown.”
Cassel threw the pass in the left flat to RB Dantrell Savage and while the second-year running back tried to get out of bounds, he didn’t make it. The remaining seconds of the half ticked off as the Chiefs tried to get lined up for a play.
Another timeout at that point would have allowed a FG attempt.
The Raiders grabbed the lead midway through the third quarter when nickel safety Michael Huff of the Raiders picked off a Cassel pass that was intended for TE Sean Ryan. Oakland moved 13 yards in seven plays before Janikowski drilled a 54-yard FG to give the Raiders the lead.
The Chiefs offense got nothing going through the second half until midway into the fourth quarter. That’s when Cassel led the team on a nine-play, 72-yard drive that finished up with a 29-yard TD pass to WR Dwayne Bowe. An 11-yard pass to Wade and a 12-yard pass on third down to WR Bobby Engram were the key plays in the drive. With Succop’s PAT kick, the Chiefs led 10-6.
After slumbering all game, suddenly the Raiders offense woke up. Defensively, the Chiefs decided to rush four and did not send any extra rushers, something that bothered Russell earlier in the game. Taking over on the Oakland 31-yard line, the Raiders were able to overcome three false start penalties. Russell found WR Louis Murphy for 19 yards, RB Darren McFadden for 11 yards and nine yards and WR Todd Watkins for 28 yards.
It was McFadden who scored on a five-yard run where his speed beat SS Mike Brown to the end zone.
That ended up deciding one of the stranger games you’ll see this year in the NFL.
“It is probably one of the strangest, but a win is a win and we will take it,” McFadden said. “We proved that we can overcome adversity. We were on the struggle bus the whole game, but we came through when we needed to, to get the win.”
The Raiders found a way to win … anything is possible.
And the Chiefs found a way to lose … nothing new about that.
“Same old story as last year” said CB Brandon Flowers. “We have a chance to win the game at the end and we don’t get it done.”
- alright Flowers – that’ll cost you $10,000 and 10,000 laps!”
Translation: The difference tween Herm & ‘check’? ‘Not’ priceless as Brandon willst learn for his affirmation…
heh heh heh
Jamarcus Russell was worth about 44 points today – the 13 he put up for the Raiders and the 31 other he left out there for naught which the Chiefs done p****d away.
Any QB not named Russell who would have been at QB today for the Raiders & the final score would have been 44-10 Oakland; that’s how bad KC is…
“The Chiefs have already worked very hard but it hasn’t turned them into a smart team or a team that can win a game.”
- stupid, winless and underweight is no weigh- er, way to go through an NFL season… resign – STAT!
daddy-o
I bet Bob ‘Re’Gretz his status as Chiefs bad news deliverer. Tis the season of the 0-16 Chokes.
he he he
8)daddy-0-16
“We had things that happened throughout the day that we hurt ourselves with” said QB Matt Cassel
- yes mutt, those things that happened are called the OAKLAND RAIDERS- they hit hard, never give up and WIN…
“The Raiders found a way to win…anything is possible. And the Chiefs found a way to lose… nothing new about that.”
- “I can take ANY 22 guys from off the street and… go 0-6.” –
Sad…
Well, I see the buzzard is already here to pick at the leavings. Having said that…
This was one of the most gawd awful games I’ve ever had the misfortune of listening to. If you look at the stats, it should have been 33-10 Chiefs, period. I’m disgusted.
There was a quote I read on the Chiefs website, “we were feeling pretty good at the two minute mark.” What???? You still have two minutes to play. Quit feeling good about it and play the last two minutes! Feel good after you get a W, for god’s sake.
The mistakes were mental for the most part. As Flowers said, you’re not going to make all the plays, but the penalties are all mental.
Now, to look at the positives: The D looked good, for a change, except for the last drive obviously. The qualifier is they were playing the Raiders, but coupled with last week, the D is closer than the O is.
Speaking of the O. They can hold the ball, we know that. The only question remains, can they ever find a way into the end zone?
No excuses in this one. The Chiefs outplayed the Raiders in nearly every phase of the game, and still lost. Now we have the NFC East for four straight games… it’s going to be a loooooooooooooooong season….
HEY THERE IS NO POINT IN BEING ANGRY OR DISAPPOINTED ABOUT TODAY OR THE REST OF THE SEASON.THE REALITY IS THE CHIEFS DON’T HAVE THE TALENT IF ANY OF YOU HAVE WATCHED THE KC ROYALS YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT LOSERS FIND NEW WAYS TO LOOSE AND THAT’S WHAT YOU WILL SEE FROM THE CHIEFS THIS YEAR & POSSIBLY NEXT YEAR IF THEY DON’T ADDRESS THEIR LACK OF TALENT O-LINE,WR,TE,D-LINE,LB.THEY ARE WHAT I THOUGHT THEY ARE A 2-14 TEAM.SO LISTEN DON’T TAKE YOUR MIND ON A TRIP IT DOES NOT HAVE TO GO ON !!!!! JUST ENJOY THE LOSSES & HOPE SOME PLAYERS START TO SHOW SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT FOR NEXT YEAR. CHIEFS !!!!!!!!!
Well, how cheery, Mario. No, the Chiefs aren’t a 2-14 team talent wise. 6-10, yes. However, after this awful performance, I’ve got to say I’m more inclined to agree with you.
The question that wasn’t asked post game that I’d like an answer to, is why the hell did they change their pass rush for the last drive? You stop blitzing and only rush 4 on the last drive? Why? Any NFL QB is going to eat you alive if you can’t get to him, and the Chiefs can’t get to the QB with 4 guys. That’s coaching, and playing not to lose, not playing to win.
As I said earlier, I’m disgusted. They outplayed the Raiders, plain and simple. And then hand them the game all gift wrapped and pretty.
Rin is almost ‘positive’ that said when hired before the season began that “we’re going to have a big, smart, physical football team.”
Letter grades – An ‘A’ for being a bunch of big losers as in 0-6… an ‘F’ for being fatuous aka stupid via mental mistakes aplenty starting with the head coach ; another ‘F’ for gimpy QB the $63 mill variety who is as soft as his team that can manage but 299 yards per game but gives up 366 per & the Coup de grâce as in another ‘F’ because as it turns out the former Chief Damion McIntosh was correct- this IS a track team and not a football same: i.e., they run around alot, sweat & lose some weight, but at the end of the day/season are still winless… even worse than 2008.
daddy-o
For all the punter discussion about who’s best Lechler or Colquitt, Lechler showed today why he puts Kaycee’s Colquitt to shame:
LECHELER 56.9 gross – Colquitt 43.6 gross
LECHLER 45.9 net – Colquitt 39.6 net
Kickers? Janikowski too showed a lot more leg on both field goals and on kickoffs…OAK’s special teams embarrassed KC’s.
Kick returns? What kick returns? Might as well have had Morris Stroud standing back there with his hand outstretched 10 yards deep the endzone – Sea Bass is the man!
Punt returns? The new ‘Q’ aka Wade? Gesundheit. Not only questionable hands but he’s S L O W.
How slow can he go? Bobby W makes Bobby Sippio look like ‘Bullet’ Bob Hayes…
This was a disappointing loss because of all the mental mistakes but there’s no reason to be disgusted. The run defense was tremendous. The offense controlled the clock and the run blocking was much improved. If the defense doesn’t choke at the end everyone is talking about how Cassel led the team to the winning score with less than 2:30 left in the game.
There are lots of positives. The D-line looks like it has enough talent to be good. The interior linebackers need to be upgraded but the secondary is fine. Hali is doing well and he’ll get better. Wade is an upgrade though he should have Engram’s job and the #2 still needs to be better. Haley’s head games have clearly made Bowe a more complete player. The O-line is still a train wreck but Battle looks like a player.
There are better days ahead.
I’m with you IndplsChiefsfan this team needs to learn to play for 4 quarters. 60 minutes of football. Too many times when the lead gets close or we have a lead we lighten up either on offense or defense. In order to be a good closer you have to play until the game is actually over. Not feel like you got the win because you have a lead with little time left on the clock. Ask the Bengals about that with that week 1 loss to the Broncos.
IF one thing Haley needs to preach more than not beating yourself is playing hard and smart for 60 minutes. We got Philly w/o McNabb next week should be another close game but we better play smart and hard for 60 minutes if we want to still one on the road.
I’m not sure which is worse, watching the Chiefs lose to the Raiders, or reading the tripe of a supposed Chiefs fan who loves to exaggerate the negative while ignoring anything positive.
This was the new regimes 2nd game, and Cassel’s first. Fixing the disaster left behind by Herm and Carl won’t be easy and it won’t happen over night.
You’re a real s.o.b. Rin but after today’s stinker you have a free-to-gloat card.
Rin was right and all the rest of us were wrong. I bow to Rin Tin Tin.
Gracias… genuflection yours as all the rest their niggardly acknowledgment Rin’s greatness accepted Lar.
Bob G, got any of those Terrible Towels left over so Chiefsfandumb can dry their eyes of all their weeping?
Rin tried to tell them how it was going be this game & the entire season; oh well, they can pay Rin now or pay Him later!
heh heh heh
daddy-o
[...] GAME STORY: Raiders show poise and win. [...]
so juvenile….. impersonate me? Aren’t you like 75?
Well right now Lassie can gloat but remember this about Herm all three years as Chiefs head coach what was KC’s record after the first two games? How about 0-2. Herm’s saving grace was that the Chiefs went 9-5 the first year however they went 4-10 in his second year (losing the last seven and going 2-12 last year. Haley won’t go 0-14 or 1-13 keeping the downward trend but could go 9-5 or 8-6. The division is weak and Denver won’t keep up their trend, San Diego is getting banged up each week, and Oakland just doesn’t have enough weapons themselves. The Chiefs have to find ways to win and stop finding ways to lose.
“Haley won’t go 0-14 or 1-13″
- correct… he’ll go 0-16 more so 0-20!
heh heh heh!
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