Mailbag: COVID Hits Chiefs-Chargers, KC's Defensive Renaissance

Could Josh Gordon or Rashawn Slater play on Thursday night? Is the Chiefs' defensive turnaround for real? Will Eric Bieniemy coach the Raiders next year?

The Kansas City Chiefs are currently at the halfway point between two AFC West rivalry games, with one reaching blowout status by halftime and the next coming on Thursday Night Football. From the Las Vegas Raiders' untimely midfield meeting to the Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers' unfortunate COVID-19 news, there's a lot to discuss in Chiefs Kingdom. I asked for your questions on Twitter (@jbbrisco) and picked a few of my favorite queries to answer in today's Arrowhead Report mailbag. Let's get to it.

Jordan Foote (@footenoted): Hi there, Josh. First time mailbag question-asker checking in. How can/will the Rashawn Slater and Josh Gordon COVID-related situations impact the Chargers and Chiefs this week? Thanks in advance for your response.

With Chiefs wide receiver Josh Gordon and Chargers left tackle Rashawn Slater landing on the COVID-19/reserve list on Monday, their shared status for Thursday Night Football is (obviously) up in the air. Both Gordon and Slater reportedly tested positive but are also both reportedly vaccinated, giving them a chance to return to their teams after two negative tests 24 hours apart. Even with the best testing luck possible, both players will miss practice time during this short week.

The Chargers got the worst of the news here, as LA would take a major hit if they have to replace Slater with Storm Norton, Trey Pipkins or guard Matt Feiler at left tackle. This could basically amount to a dinner bell for Frank Clark, Chris Jones, Melvin Ingram and the rest of the Chiefs' pass-rush. With Slater at LT, they'd face a very worthy challenger.

For the Chiefs and Gordon, the positive test comes at an unfortunate time, just one day after Gordon hauled in his first touchdown as a Chief. Even in his best game with KC, Gordon was behind Tyreek Hill, Byron Pringle and Demarcus Robinson in wide receiver snaps, with Mecole Hardman just one snap behind him. The Chiefs can survive without Gordon, though it would put a pause on his building momentum in the offense. 

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Michael Reed (@xXDanteHicksXx): What's something you could say about this Chiefs team right now that you wouldn't have believed 2 months ago?

I'll give you three things I can say about them that I couldn't have believed two months ago:

1. The defense isn't a nightmare.
2. The defense is actually good!
3. The defense is one of the best in the entire league right now.

I also could have said "the offense looks comfortable again," but that's on the back of one blowout win. The Chiefs' defense has been proving and re-proving itself for weeks now. They've given up double-digit points one time in their last five games, and that one smudge on their record was a 14-point effort from the Raiders. And sure, their best performances have come against Daniel Jones, Jordan Love, Derek Carr (twice), Dak Prescott and Teddy Bridgewater — a list with something like one and a half good quarterbacks — but the process has been different as well. Jones has led a healthy Clark and impactful Ingram to their best stretch as a pass-rushing unit. Willie Gay Jr. has been a breath of fresh air among the linebackers. Juan Thornhill's increased role has paid dividends. All of those factors have helped KC's young (and cheap) cornerbacks look their best.

Two months ago, after being obliterated by the Bills, the Chiefs didn't have a single stand-out position group on defense. Now, with every unit stepping up and making life easier for their teammates around them, the defense is humming. (Don't forget to give Steve Spagnuolo his share of the credit as well.)

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Hit 'em with the Hezzy (@jettyrat_RB: Are we still going to hate the Raiders when EB is the head coach next year? Also which uniform would look weirder on Derek Carr next year Steelers or Panthers?

Man, the Raiders could use Eric Bieniemy. If that's what it takes to get a head coaching position, he should absolutely take that job. And I think Bieniemy would actually appreciate having Carr around for one year as he looked for his quarterback of the future. With that said, the Steelers and Saints seem like prime locations for Carr without getting too in the weeds for salary cap implications. (And the Steelers, Saints and Panthers all have black uniforms in their rotation, so it actually wouldn't look all that strange to me!)

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Collin Eric (@PopeClementsIV): Mike Hughes showed out this week in his limited opportunity. Who will be the “non-top dog” MVP of the chargers game?

Mike Hughes was amazing against the Raiders, and I'm not even sure how good he was in coverage. That's the sort of analysis you can get away with when a player has a scoop-and-score touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and two punch-out forced fumbles. With Keenan Allen likely set to return on Thursday, I'll stay in the position group with Charvarius Ward. Opposite Allen or fellow wide receiver Mike Williams, Ward will likely be asked to shoulder the toughest matchups of the Chiefs' corners, and he's answered that call many times already this season.

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Average Gift Giver (@AlexTFoster): Where does the Raiders gathering on the logo rank in unforced errors?

Pretty high! After the beatdown, both Hughes and Tyrann Mathieu said they didn't hear about "the logo thing" until after the game. ...You can decide if you believe them or not! Even if you do, the Chiefs "used last season's game as motivation all week," according to James Palmer of NFL Network, speaking specifically about Arrowhead's bus-themed exit music. The Raiders were looking for a spark in both instances, and all they did was reignite one of the NFL's best rivalries to the tune of an 89-23 final score in the 2021 season.

The Chiefs beat the Raiders 89-23 this year.

— Joshua Brisco (@jbbrisco) December 12, 2021