The Raiders could not duplicate Week 1 and were humbled by the Juggernaut that is the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders ran into a buzzsaw in the second quarter and allowed the Chiefs to score four touchdowns and take a 28-10 lead. The last game on the dirt infield turned ugly after a quick start, and the offense could not move the ball.
The Raiders carried the energy from their win on Monday night, but it only lasted a quarter with the offense never scoring again and Carr throwing two interceptions. The defense came out hot as well but wavered and couldn’t stop the fantastic chiefs offense with Mahomes throwing for 443 yards and four touchdowns.
The Raiders are going to Minnesota next week and will begin their tough stretch of games on the road. The Raiders seem like an improved team from the year before, but fans will genuinely find out in the next couple of weeks. Let’s pick the winners and losers from Week 2 against the Chiefs:
Winner: RB Josh Jacobs
The offense did not play well today as a whole, but it didn’t stop Josh Jacobs from having a day. The Raiders running back displayed his patience and vision once again leading the way for the Raiders rushing attack.
Jacobs finished the game with 12 carries and 99 yards averaging 8.3 yards per carry. The Raiders did not run the ball as much as they did the week before and might be why the offense struggled.
His big run in the second half set up the Raiders to score but the offense stalled with an ugly turnover in the red zone. It was an ugly game, but Jacobs is definitely the bell cow for the future.
Winner: DT PJ Hall
A player who had a strong game but did not show up in the stat sheet was PJ Hall. Hall is learning how to use his power and athleticism to push the pocket leading to him creating pressure on quarterbacks.
Hall best play came in the fourth quarter with the Chiefs attempting to go by 25 after taking a commanding 28-10 lead. Hall was able to push the pocket, forcing Mahomes to step up to try to make a play.
The former second-round pick was able to reach out and grab Mahomes leading to Benson Mayowa coming in and stripping the football. If Hall can continue to reach his potential with that athleticism, he can be a good pass rusher from the interior.
Loser: DB Lamarcus Joyner
Lamarcus Joyner was supposed to be a pivotal piece to help stop Travis Kelce in the slot. That project has not been working the first two weeks with Joyner putting in a lousy performance in Week 2 getting picked on all over the field.
Joyner gave up big plays all game and was no answer for Travis Kelce or anyone else on the field. He had a massive breakdown on the first touchdown of the game that allowed Demarcus Robinson to roam free for an easy touchdown.
He got fortunate that the deep ball to Mecole Hardmen was called back because it would have been even worse for him statistically. The Raiders paid Joyner a good chunk of cash, but they haven’t seen the results so far.
Loser: DB Curtis Riley
With Johnathan Abram out for the season, the Raiders turned to Curtis Riley to step up and help out at the safety position. Well after this performance the Raiders might be calling Eric Berry with Riley struggling in coverage.
Riley was out of position as well on the Demarcus Robinson touchdown and was late to help in many of Mahomes deep balls in the second quarter. He let Hardaman get behind him in quarter coverage allowing the rookie to get inside for a big touchdown on third and 20.
At one point he was benched for back up Erik Harris who helped hold the Chiefs to no touchdowns in the last two quarters. The Raiders, for sure, have a safety problem.
Loser: Passing offense
The one part of this team that needed to show up no matter what was the passing attack. They did not show up in the 28-10 loss with them not scoring a point in the last three quarters.
The drops on the first drive kind of gave fans a sign of things to come with the Raiders receivers not being on the same page as Carr all game. These type of issues led to turnovers with Williams not getting the check from Carr, and it ended being intercepted when the Raiders had a chance to get back into the game.
Ryan Grant is not exhibiting he can be a reliable number 2 receiver for this offense as the chiefs started to focus on Tyrell Willams. Without Antonio Brown, the Raiders receiving core looked just like last year.
Carr struggled to find open receivers and was forced to dump off all game leading to another game with 30 plus pass attempts and less than 200 yards. Josh Jacobs better get his back ready because he will be carrying this team.
