The last time a Jon Gruden-coached Raiders team upset the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, it preceded his team taking flight from a pretender into a contender. Twenty one years later, Gruden and the Raiders stunned the undefeated and defending-Super Bowl-champion Chiefs with an impressive 40-32 victory Sunday. As expected, the Raiders needed to
Raiders 40, Chiefs 32
Boom!!!!
Great win, we finally start getting calls after leaving Oakland. Gruden needs to keep the playbook open and going for it on 4th and 1. Guenther finally figured something out and let the d play. He is still not using Littleton correctly. WIth the Rams Littleton was all over the field making plays. He could rush the passer and cover. Hopefully he simplified something for the D. Ferell was even looking good. Incredible win. Go Raiders and GO D Carr
I did not expect a close game, let alone a win. Carr played the way I thought he could play, but always seemed to fall short. He took hits, he scrambled (and didn’t throw the ball away), he hit his deeper receivers. Wow, just wow!! The defense finally looked like it was playing together (a testament to them finally figuring each other out after no off season?). Yes, they still allowed a ton of points, but again, when it counted they made plays.
Gruden called a good game (dare I say it? He outcoached Andy Reid!).
Gabe Jackson took a long time to get up after many plays. Is he hurt?
I liked the use of Booker in the first half to keep Jacobs fresh for the second half.
Lots to applaud, much to still improve upon, but nice to get the W in KC. Can this game be a momentum builder for the rest of the season?
The big question is, was this a one off or a glimpse into the near future for the Raiders?
Oh, how I ache for that second alternative to be true!
Consider this. After a stellar offensive performance in the first half, on 3rd-and-3 with 2:11 left in the 4th quarter, Carr overlooks wide open Witten and throws to Jones who runs a route short of the sticks and doesn’t make the 1st down! And then, totally out of character, Gruden goes for 4th-and-1 at the KC 45 yard line and they make it!!! How do you square that gamble with chickenshit playcalling that led to it?!
Jekyll-and-Hyde performance by Carr and Gruden!
In the end, it was the defense that won the game in the second half !!!
On Chiefs first 4 second-half drives, they forced 3 punts and an interception, practically for a TD, while giving up only 25 yards and holding Mahomes to 3-for-7 and 25 yards, 1 INT and 2 sacks for -7 yards!!! Only on the Chiefs 5th drive, while up by 16, they gave up a 78 yards TD drive, with Mahomes completeing 5-for-7 and 78 yards. And that was mostly due to an idiotic defensive play call on 4th-and-5, blitzing with Morrow-the-speedster and giving up 37 yards. So, in the 2nd half, they held Mahomes to 7-for-14 and 96 yards net, with 1TD and 1 INT (practically for a TD)!
Your a tool, just saying
Plus one Great Win Raiders
Is there any doubt that Gruden and Mayock are 100% all in on Derek Carr? Can we finally put that one to rest?
Not sure about that. After two long completions in the first half and an intermediate incompletion to Ruggs early in the second, he was no longer targeted. Why? Similarly with Agholor – one long pass for a TD, another short to close the half, no more targets for the rest of the game. Why?
I think because Gruden just does not trust Carr with downfield plays. It appears, prudently, he’s allowing him to throw downfield only when he’s got a clean pocket and plenty of time to throw. There were plenty of times Ruggs, Agholor and Edwards were wide open downfield in prior games and Carr did not pull the trigger cause he felt under pressure. Carr just can’t deal with pressure, he gets happy feet, he’ll dink and dunk at best, or scramble to the right, but since can’t throw on the run Gruden doesn’t let him. As a perfect illustration, just look again at those two incompletions that stalled the 10-play drive at the KC 25-yard line early in the fourth quarter. And remind yourselves of how many times this season (and the last) we had to kick short field goals for the same reason. It’s not by accident that our red zone offense so frequently falters and is ranked near the league bottom.
Against the Saints, Gruden called the plays extremely well, working around Carr’s limitations. He failed to do so against the Patriots and Bills because the line couldn’t provide Carr with enough time. The protection provided by the line was the difference in the first half yesterday and the main reason Carr threw 11-for-13 for 248 yards and 3 TDs, gaining 19 yds per attempt! He completed 3-out-of-5 passes thrown 10+ yards downfield (1 of those was intercepted). In the second half, KC managed to put more pressure and Carr’s performance dropped significantly, more like in the prior two games – he was 11-for-18 for 99 yards, 5.5 yards per completion, throwing only 2 passes over 10 yards and completing 1 of them.
I’m sure, at this point, Gruden knows perfectly well that the ONLY way to get good performance from Carr (and I don’t mean his usual stats-padding, move-the-ball/stall-the-drive performances) is by giving him clean pocket with consistency, as yesterday in the first half.
I wouldn’t mistake that for them being 100% in on him. He’s the best they’ve got and are trying hard to win by working around his clear limitations.
You should be on Twitter Fool
Thank you Brian, man how some fans can’t be happy with a huge win in KC. Glad someone else notices.
Don’t forget Carr is only two games removed from just letting go of the ball when pressured.
Plus one
The first blow was the Agholor touchdown when we were down 14-3. I’m with Matt on the derek carr talk, that should be put to rest now. They went into KC and kicked the chiefs in the junk, no one gave them a chance to win but they pulled it off. RN4L!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the Carr folks doing a victory lap. We are 3-2 and he just won in KC for the first time in 7yrs. It’s great, we are all excited, but let’s raise the bar just a bit around the fan base.
Wow some of you raider fans on this site are the type that’ll never be happy. Fuck it’s pathetic. They could go 16-0 and you’ll still find ways to bitch and complain. They beat the chiefs in KC for fuck sakes!!!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!!!
Plus one
That Carr is the Raiders best hope going forward. Carr outplayed the master Muppet of KC Sunday
Wow – Carr isn’t good under pressure – is he unique in that respect? Seems the Micheal Jordan of quarterbacks and the “GOAT” struggle under pressure also – not saying Carr is in their league or even the one just below that one – but he sure seemed good enough to win yesterday – worse quarterbacks have been successful in the postseason
… yes, when they had perfect protection by the line, just like Carr had in the first half.
As long as Raiders OL stays healthy and plays as well as in the first half of the KC game, offense will be very effective and Carr might look great.