Ahead of the Raiders’ Week 13 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, we spoke with Charles Goldman of the Chiefs Wire to preview this AFC West contest. So without further ado, here are his thoughts about the Chiefs and this upcoming game:
1. Patrick Mahomes isn’t having the same season we saw last year. What has been the biggest difference in his game?
The stat sheet might not be as full as in 2018, but Mahomes is still playing some amazing football. We’ve all just come to expect amazing things out of Mahomes on a weekly basis, and he’s dealt with some unique adversity this season. I’m not sure that you can point to any one thing that has caused a difference in his game, but instead quite a few things.
Mahomes faced injury for the first time in his professional career, fighting through an ankle sprain suffered early on and then losing 2.5 weeks to a kneecap dislocation. He’s had an offensive line that has been in constant flux for the majority of the regular season. He’s had his top two wide receivers in and out of the lineup due to injury.
The running game has been entirely inconsistent for Kansas City, causing increased strain on the passing game. Mahomes also had to deal with early-season growing pains of a new defensive scheme.
The Chiefs are hoping to get the offense back on track against the Raiders after they didn’t have their best outing against the Chargers in Week 11. They’ve spent time during the bye week working on a few of the issues that really hurt them during the early goings of the season.
2. The Chiefs offensive line is banged up this season. How do they expect them to perform this week?
This week should actually be the healthiest that the offensive line has been since Week 1 of the regular season. I anticipate that all of the starters will play in this game, including LT Eric Fisher, RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, and RT Mitchell Schwartz. Those three were the most recent players dealing with injuries.
Fisher didn’t look 100% in his return from a groin injury in Week 11. It’s important to remember that he wasn’t exactly put in the best spot coming off an injury. He was playing against a potent Chargers pass rush and had to play his first game back at 7,300 feet above sea level in Mexico City.
I think he’ll be a bit more steady this week considering the bye week and he’ll be playing on familiar turf.
3. Give us one under the radar player to keep an eye out for in Week 13.
Defensive tackle Mike Pennel was a midseason add for the Chiefs, and he’s been an absolute stud in the run game. He’s only played in 3-of-4 possible games for the Chiefs since joining the team ahead of Week 8, but he’s made a noticeable impact when he’s on the field.
In those three games, he has only played 63 defensive snaps but accumulated eight tackles, two tackles for loss, a pair of QB hits and a sack. He’s a big man at 325 pounds, so he’s hard to move, but he can also use his hands and quickness to get penetration into the backfield. Fans have started to call him “MVPennel” because of the way he’s performed so far.
4. How confident are Chiefs fans that they can still make a playoff run this season against teams like the Patriots and Ravens?
Surprisingly, I think fans are still pretty confident against both of the teams you mentioned. New England may be leading the AFC, but they don’t look like the juggernaut they’ve been in seasons past. The Chiefs will get their first crack at them in Week 14 after they take on the Raiders.
Fans also feel a little more confident against the Ravens, knowing they’ve beaten them handily once already this season.
It wasn’t just a matter of outscoring them either, the Chiefs slowed down MVP favorite Lamar Jackson to one of his worst games of the season thus far. One team that fans absolutely don’t want any part of during the AFC playoffs is the Tennessee Titans.
Derrick Henry is the bane of this defense in a big way, they just haven’t found an answer when it comes to stopping him dating all the way back to the 2017 AFC wild-card round.
5. What is your prediction for this game?
I know a lot of people are looking at the Raiders’ performance against the Jets in Week 12 and counting them out already. I’m expecting them to be quite a bit more prepared this week and put up a solid fight against Kansas City. The Oakland offensive line is improved enough to cause the Chiefs some problems.
I just question if the Raiders have enough offensive firepower to keep up with a Kansas City team that is fresh and primed coming off their bye week.
Chiefs 34, Raiders 26
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