Chiefs Beat Improving Raiders, 31-17

The Las Vegas Raiders (5-7) fell, 31-17, to the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs )8-3) on Sunday, but it is clear that the Silver and Black are improving.

LAS VEGAS, Nev.--The Kansas Chiefs have the Las Vegas Raiders’ number, and right now it’s six.

The Super Bowl champion Chiefs rallied from an early 14-point deficit to defeat the Silver and Black for the sixth straight time and the 11th in 12 games, 31-17, on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

The Raiders slipped to 2-2 under Interim Coach Antonio Pierce.

"I think as the game went on, for four quarters, they became the better team," Pierce said. "There’s a reason why Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in football.

"I'm not going to second guess myself. We went into the game with a certain mindset that if we got opportunities to put on points, let’s put on points."

Mahomes passed 298 yards and two touchdowns, and Isiah Pacheco ran for two scores as the Chiefs (8-3) scored touchdowns on four of five possessions to take control of the game.

The Raiders scored two of the first three times they had the ball on rookie quarterback Aiden O’Connell’s 18-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jacobi Meyers on the first possession of the game and a brilliant 63-yard scoring run by running back Josh Jacobs with 12:41 left in the second quarter.

Las Vegas drove 75, 69, and 77 yards on its first three possessions and could have been farther ahead, but the second drive stalled at the Kansas City 12-yard-line, and incredibly, Daniel Carlson missed a 30-yard field goal after making his last 10 in a row.

The Las Vegas Raiders did a lot right but came up short versus the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs / © Stephen R. Sylvanie | 2023 Nov 26

It was virtually all Chiefs the rest of the way, as they outscored the Raiders, 31-3, after that.

Pacheco, who rushed for 55 yards, scored the first Kansas City touchdown on a one-yard run with 6:32 left in the second quarter, and then Mahomes hit wide receiver Justin Watson with three-yard scoring pass with 25 seconds left in the half to tie the score, 14-14.

Then Pacheco scored again from a yard out on the first possession of the second half to cap a 75-yard drive on 10 plays, as Kansas City took the lead for good with touchdowns on three consecutive drives to take a 21-14 lead.

The Raiders narrowed the gap to 21-17 on Carlson’s 34-yard field goal with 2:09 left in the third quarter, but the Chiefs stretched their margin to 28-17 on Mahomes’ 39-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice on the first possession of the fourth quarter.

Harrison Butker kicked a 32-yard field goal for the game's final score with 3:11 remaining as Coach Andy Reid passed Pro Football Hall of Famer Hank Stram for the most regular-season victories in Chiefs’ history with 125.

"Defensively, our guys put the hammer down when needed," Reid said."It’s a tough thing to do to win a game like this after a big Monday night game and then Thanksgiving. You get the tryptophan hangover, so you’ve got to work through that."

Mahomes, after a slow start, completed 27-of-34 passes for those 298 yards and the two touchdowns with no interceptions, while Rice led Kansas City with eight catches for 107 yards and the score, while All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce had six receptions for 91 yards, and Pacheco caught five balls for 34 yards.

"We still have stuff to learn from this game," Mahomes said. "There were some situations where we didn’t execute at a high enough offensive level, but we obviously took a step in a positive direction. Now it’s just continuing to do that throughout the rest of the season."

The Chiefs finished with 360 yards to 358 for the Raiders, who had 221 on their first three possessions and only 137 on their next seven. Kansas City gained only 13 yards on its first two possessions before dominating the game.

O’Connell didn’t play badly, completing 23-of-33 passes for 248 yards and the touchdown without an interception, while being sacked once -- by his former Purdue teammate, defensive end George Karlaftis -- in his fifth NFL start and has a 2-3 record.

"It's hard to do things against this team, to not put drives together," O’Connell said. "We kept our defense on the field for too long."

Meyers led the Raiders with six receptions for 79 yards and the touchdown, while All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams caught five passes for 73 yards, and wide receiver Hunter Renfrow continued his resurgence under Pierce with four grabs for 48 yards.

Jacobs, the NFL’s defending rushing champion, ran for 110 yards on 20 carries, including the touchdown, his second 100-plus-yard game of the season, and made four catches for 15 yards.

Pierce has said he wants Jacobs to have a minimum of 20 touches in every game.

Linebacker Robert Spillane again led the Raiders with 11 tackles and a quarterback hit. At the same time, cornerback Nate Hobbs made eight stops, including one for a loss, and cornerback Jack Jones had five tackles in his second game with the Silver and Black after being signed on waivers from the New England Patriots.

Defensive end Maxx Crosby, who did not practice this week because of illness and a knee injury, was not the usual dominating self but had the Raiders’ only sack of Mahomes to give him a total of 11½ this season. Crosby also drew two holding calls against tackle Jawaan Taylor, the most penalized player in the NFL.

Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed of the Chiefs had nine tackles, while safety Justin Reid also made nine stops, and linebacker Drue Tranquill finished with eight.

Neither defense forced a turnover in the game.

Raider Nation can only hope there is more after that, but the Raiders have work to do after losing to one of the best teams in the NFL for the second straight week.

The Silver and Black will return home to Allegiant Stadium to take on the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, December 10, at 4:05 p.m. EST/1:05 p.m. PST.

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