A valiant effort by the Raiders, but alas they were unable to come away from Arrowhead with a W. This is where I am looking for why that may be.
Busters
S Isaiah Pola-Mao, CB DeCamerion Richardson, CB Jack Jones
Let’s talk about how the Raiders found themselves in a 16-3 hole in the first place.
The second play of the game, Richardson gave up a 14-yard catch. Later Jones was flagged for pass interference to put the Chiefs in field goal range.
The next drive me gave up a catch and missed the tackle for a ten-yard gain. And. few plays later, Pola-Mao gave up the longest catch to that point of 24 yards to put the Chiefs in field goal range.
The first Chiefs’ touchdown, Pola-Mao was out of position to give up a wide open 27-yard catch to the tight end — a new long for the game. That catch put them in scoring range in one play. But it was Jones who would give up the touchdown catch from six yards out.
And on the next drive, Jones it on the double move and Pola-Mao was late getting over to give up *another* 24-yard catch to midfield.
The first drive of the third quarter, Richardson gave up an 11-yard catch to make for an easier field goal to make it a 13-3 Chiefs lead. And then on the next drive, in third and ten, he allowed a 30-yard catch to put them in field goal range again. And there you have that 16-3 lead.
After the Raiders scored two quick touchdowns to take the lead, the Chiefs drove right down to take a back. They did so in part because Jones gave up a a 15-yard catch on second and 20 and on third and five Pola-Mao was late helping again to give up a 19-yard catch to put the Chiefs in first and goal.
LT Kolton Miller, RT DJ Glaze
There were several opportunities for the Raiders to close that 16-3 well before they actually did it. In the second quarter a drive began with a two runs for 28 yards. But it ended three plays later with Glaze giving up a sack.
The first drive of the third quarter began with a 12-yard run and a 25-yard catch and run to put the Raiders in field goal range. But when they went for it on 4th and one, Miller gave up the run stuff for no gain for the turnover on downs.
The next drive, the Raiders got as far as the KC 22-yard line off a crazy Brock Bowers one-handed grab. Then Miller gave up the sack for a 15-yard loss and Daniel Carlson missed the 55-yard field goal attempt wide left.
Miller was called for holding on the next Raiders drive which threatened to spoil a 69-yard return. But this time a long TD pass from O’Connell to Bowers dug them out of it.
After the Chiefs re-took the lead in the fourth quarter, the Raiders picked up a first down, but got no further when Glaze gave up pressure on third and nine, leading to an incompletion and a punt.
HC Antonio Pierce
Aidan O’Connell took the blame for the errant snap on the final play. And, yeah, it was his fault. He was clapping to hurry things up and right guard Dylan Parham took that to mean he wanted the ball snapped, so he tapped Jackson Powers-Johnson’s leg to get him to snap it. But here’s my bigger issue — they never should’ve been in that situation in the first place.
There was too much to lose and not enough to gain from calling that play. He shouldn’t have been in shotgun. He probably shouldn’t have been running a play at all. They were in field goal range with 11 seconds left. That should be the game winner. And instead the team was a panicky, discombobulated mess.
Even if there hadn’t been a botched snap, there would’ve been an illegal shift penalty that wiped out whatever they did and backed them up because they weren’t set when the ball was snapped. They simply have to be more poised in crucial moments like that. Or they shouldn’t be put in that position in a hostile environment like that.
We should be talking about *another* huge come-from-behind, improbable victory in KC. But instead we’re talking about a massive missed opportunity.