Another week and another blowout for the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders ended up with an embarrassing loss at Arrowhead against the Kansas City Chiefs 40-9, adding to their awful point differential of -87.
The Raiders actually moved the ball pretty decent against the Chiefs with a strong running game out-gaining the Kansas City Chiefs 332-259 on the day but had 3 turnovers and allowed a defensive touchdown.
The penalties were too much to overcome with 12 for 99 yards with multiple penalties hurting the offense or continuing drives for the Chiefs. Just an all-around ugly day for the passing game with the receivers being lockdown throughout the game.
The defense actually didn’t have a bad showing. Holding a dynamic Chiefs offense to 4.3 yards per play is excellent for the outlook going forward, especially after a terrible game last week against the New York Jets.
The Raiders were able to generate pressure on Patrick Mahomes, causing the quarterback to airmail throws and pass off his back foot into traffic. The young Raiders’ defense continues to grow and looks ready to finish the season.
Who were the Winners and Losers for the Raiders against the Chiefs? Time to take a look and figure out who played well and who didn’t after an embarrassing Sunday.
Winner: RB Josh Jacobs
The central bright spot every week for the Raiders offense is the impressive rookie Josh Jacobs. Jacobs came to play today and tried to carry the attack on its back, but it wasn’t enough as the team was still blown out 40-9.
Jacobs finished the game with 17 carries for 104 yards, which added up to 6.1 yards per carry. Jacobs was active early breaking tackles and creating yards after contract, which has been his specialty all season up to this point.
The most impressive run of the day was the 35 yarder off the quick toss, where Jacobs displayed explosiveness and burst into the second level for a considerable gain.
Jacobs still appears to be dealing with a shoulder injury as well, which makes his performances even better when added to the equation. Jacobs is ending up being worth every ounce of the first-round pick that Mike Mayock decided to use on former Alabama running back. Now it’s time for the rest of the offense to show up after missing for two games.
Winner: CB Trayvon Mullen
Mullen once again makes the winners list with a high performance displaying his potential to be a starter for the Raiders going forward. Mullen is a perfect fit for Paul Guenther and continues to get better every single week he is afforded snaps.
Mahomes and the Chiefs’ dynamic offense didn’t impact the game as much as they wanted. Mullen and the secondary displayed enough for the Raiders to steal one on the road, and Mullen made plays when he had the opportunity. He was on Hill for most of the game and deflected two passes on the day when guarding the star wideout in coverage.
His best play was taken away on a phantom pass interference call that came from upstairs that made Gruden very upset. It still exhibited great instincts from the young cornerback.
Mullen is having an excellent regular season and looks like a starter for the future. If he can continue to grow throughout the season and the Raiders can add pieces in the secondary, this defense could be revamped in a season. The potential for Mullen is rising with every snap he takes and hopefully will build on this play during the final four games.
Loser: QB Derek Carr
The biggest loser of the day is Derek Carr, and I’m sure many of the Raider nation would agree after their reaction on twitter to his performance. Carr can not get over the Arrowhead hump and added another bad performance to his resume when playing in Kansas City.
In a game where Carr had to be absolutely had to be perfect, he was anything but that. Carr threw two back braking interceptions that helped the Chiefs continue to build their lead.
On the first one, he as completely confused by the Chiefs’ coverage thinking Mathieu was going to continue with the seam route but ended up coming off it to the out route for the easy pick. The next one was worse with Carr not seeing the safety creeping on the slant throwing it right to him for an ugly pick-six basically sealing the ball game.
Carr will continue to be questioned by the media and fans for his play in big games. For a player who put together an active 10 weeks to start this season seems like the same old Carr is creeping back up out of the garage and parks the luxury version at the tow yard. Carr has to answer next week with a strong performance, or the boos will be thunderous at Oakland Coliseum.
Loser: HC Jon Gruden
Gruden makes the losers section for the second week in a row with another conservative performance against a team where he needs to be aggressive. Defenses are starting to catch on to Gruden’s scheme adjustments, and his play-calling has been suspect for two weeks in a row in back to back blow out losses.
The first interception of the game is basically a bad sign of Gruden becoming predictable. The Raiders have run that same sail concept several times this season and targeted Waller every play. That’s why it led to an interception with Mathieu being an intelligent player and recognizing it off the film.
Then came the horrendous play call of running a jet sweep with Trevor Davis, who fumbled earlier on a kickoff and expecting him to convert on fourth down. Just plain awful all around.
Gruden has to figure out why his receivers can’t get open and adjust his offense, or the Raiders won’t be scoring touchdowns anytime soon. Gruden came into the game running the ball a predictable 63% of the time on first down, and teams are starting to key in on the Raiders individual players out of their formations.
The NFL caught up to Gruden after he adjusted to losing Antonio Brown. Now it’s time for him to change for the last four games of the season.
Loser: WR/KR Trevor Davis
Speaking of Davis, there was no way he was not making this loser list after the performance he had today. Davis has not done anything in the kicking game this season in an attempt to replace Dwayne Harris, who was put on injured reserve, and he has been nothing but a disappointment so far in 2019.
Davis didn’t help his cause by fumbling on the Raiders’ second kickoff of the game leading to a Chiefs’ recovery right near the red zone. Luckily for him, the Raiders held up and shut down the Chiefs on a fourth and one to keep the turnover from costing points.
The next time he touched the ball was a critical fourth and one for the Raiders, where they decided to give him the football on a jet sweep. Davis actually had a hole that he completely missed and instead chose to run into his own blocker, creating a loss of down.
It is highly doubtful that Davis makes the plane ride home after this terrible performance, and kick returners are an accessible commodity to replace. Davis has not shown anything since he was signed by the Raiders. He doesn’t add anything to the passing game, and if he can’t handle the ball on kick returns, it is time to cut ties and let him attempt to find work somewhere else.
