A valiant performance from the Raiders, but unfortunately they couldn't escape Arrowhead with a W. Here I am looking for the reason behind it.
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.
On the second play of the game, Richardson allowed a 14-yard catch. Later, Jones was cited for pass interference to put the Chiefs within field goal range.
On the next drive I gave up a catch and missed the tackle for a ten yard gain. And. A few plays later, Pola-Mao gave up the longest catch to date of 24 yards and brought the Chiefs into field goal range.
On the Chiefs' first touchdown, Pola-Mao was out of position to allow the tight end to make a wide-open 27-yard catch – a new long for the game. That catch put them within scoring range on one play. But it was Jones who gave up the touchdown catch from six yards out.
And on the next drive, Jones made the double play and Pola-Mao came around late and returned *another* 24-yard catch to midfield.
On the first drive of the third quarter, Richardson gave up an 11-yard catch to allow an easier field goal, giving the Chiefs a 13-3 lead. And then on the next drive, on third-and-10, he allowed a 30-yard catch to put them back in field goal range. And there you have the 16:3 lead.
After the Raiders scored two rushing touchdowns to take the lead, the Chiefs pushed right down to take the lead. They did this in part because Jones gave up a 15-yard catch on second-and-20 and, on third-and-5, helped Pola-Mao give up another 19-yard catch late to give the Chiefs the lead to bring and score the goal.
LT Kolton Miller, RT DJ Glaze
There were several opportunities for the Raiders to finish the game 16-3 long before they actually did it. A drive began in the second quarter with 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 within field goal range. But when they tried it on 4th-and-1, Miller gave up the run stuff without making a gain for the turnover on downs.
On the next drive, a crazy one-handed grab by Brock Bowers got the Raiders all the way to the KC 22-yard line. 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 on to fend off the Raiders' next drive, which threatened to thwart a 69-yard return. But this time a long TD pass from O'Connell to Bowers got them out of trouble.
After the Chiefs retook 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-9, resulting in an incompletion and a punt.
HC Antonio Pierce
Aidan O'Connell took the blame for the errant snap on the final play. And yes, it was his fault. He tapped to speed things up, and right back Dylan Parham interpreted that to mean he wanted to grab the ball, so he tapped Jackson Powers-Johnson's leg to get him to grab the ball. But here's my bigger problem: you should never have been in this situation.
There was too much to lose and not enough to gain by calling this play. He shouldn't have carried a shotgun. He probably shouldn't have put on a play at all. They were within field goal range with 11 seconds left. That should be the game winner. And instead the team was a panicked, confused mess.
Even if there hadn't been a botched snap, there would have been an illegal shift penalty that negated everything they were doing and backed them up because they weren't ready at the time of the snap. You simply have to show more composure in such crucial moments. Or they shouldn't be put in that position in such a hostile environment.
We should talk about *another* big, improbable come-from-behind win in KC. Instead, we are talking about a huge missed opportunity.
