Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders Recap: Typical Chiefs-Raiders tilt sees KC fall back into the vortex

For nearly one full half of the football game the newly rejuvenated KC Chiefs showed up & took control of the up & coming Oakland Raiders.  They looked like an NFL playoff team right up to the point where Ryan Succop booted a field goal to stake them to a 13-0 late second quarter lead.  Then came a holding penalty that negated the field goal & forced the Chiefs to punt instead in what may very well have been the turning point in their entire season.  Great teams find ways to put opponents away when given the chance.  The Chiefs did anything but that.  They got the ball back shortly before halftime & were in position to take a commanding 17-0 lead except the Raiders picked off Matt Cassel in the endzone. 

When the Raiders Jacoby Ford returned the second half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to slice the Chiefs lead to 10-7 the Coliseum erupted and the game shifted into one dominated by the Raiders.  KC did manage to tack on a field goal for a 13-7 lead only to see Oakland embark upon a seven play, 74 yard drive to seize a 14-13 lead & hand off the reign of control in this contest to the Raiders defense.  From that point on KC could only manage a meager 84 yards of offense throughout the remainder of the contest.  The Raiders added a field goal to go up 17-13 & with their defense routinely stuffing Thomas Jones, who had 19 carries on the day for 32 yards & an anemic 1.7 yards per carry average, appeared poised to win this one going away.  No such luck for Raider fans though as Nick Miller fumbled a punt to setup the Chiefs on the Raiders 30 yard line with 9:36 remaining in the game.  KC took advantage too as Matt Cassel hit Dwayne Bowe with a 20 yard scoring strike for a 20-17 Chiefs lead with 6:13 to go.  After KC's defense rose up & forced Oakland to punt the Chiefs took over with 4:04 left & a chance to steal an ugly win with a couple of first downs.  No such luck for Chiefs fans as the offense could only muster one first down then punt the ball back to the Raiders with 2:06 left in regulation.  Speed kills & Jacoby Ford is fast & he killed the Chiefs chances at a win with a 29 yard reception down to KC's 22 that setup Sebastian Janikowski with the game tying field goal at the seven second mark.

In overtime KC got the ball first & went three & out.  Then the Raiders' Ken Stabler hit Cliff Branch on a 47 yard bomb down to KC's 15...oh wait, that was Jason Campbell to Jacoby Ford, he of the aforementioned speed kills.  Seconds later the game ended when Janikowski booted the game winner.

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This proved to be an ugly NFL game.  The two teams combined for 27 penalties for 240 yards.  They went 6 for 27 on third down conversions.  They turned the ball over five times.  The quarterbacks got sacked seven times.  KC's #1 ranked rushing attack only managed 104 yards on 34 attempts for a 3.1 average.  The turn of events is significant for Kansas City.  They had a chance to have a 6-2 record with divisional wins over both Oakland & San Diego at 4-5.  That could effectively have been a three game lead with eight to play.  As it stands now the Raiders are still in control of their own destiny within the division, the Chargers are coming on strong, & KC must travel next to Denver to face another division rival in desperate need of a victory.  Chiefs’ fans have had reason for hope again this season for the first time in several years, but the sucking sound of the vortex is beginning to ring in their ears.  

Gardner's Grades:

Offense:      C        Jamaal Charles had 15 touches for 100 yards.  Thomas Jones had 19 touches for 32 yards.  Matt Cassel went 20 of 35 for 216 yards with two touchdowns & one pick.  Who would you rather give the ball to?  

Defense:     C         The first half was a dominant performance by this unit but they could not get the stops they needed with the game on the line.

Coaching:    D         Charlie Weis & Todd Haley kept going back to the rushing attack & the Raiders kept shutting it down.  Cassel looked pretty good & perhaps should have been given more reign to air it out.  Instead of sitting pretty atop the AFC West KC suddenly finds themselves in a divisional dogfight.  They should be happy to be in the mix after this performance.  Time will tell if they are.             

By Allan Gardner
ProFootball-fans.com Kansas City Chiefs Correspondent