Credit to the Chiefs. When they get a bye week, they don’t often let it go to waste.
Derek Carr and the Raiders offense turned in another lackluster performance at Arrowhead on Sunday in part because the Chiefs are the better team, but also because Kansas City was better prepared.
Chiefs defensive back Tyrann Mathieu talked after the game about his first-quarter interception and said that the Chiefs had a good understanding of what the Raiders were doing based on pre-snap formations. There’s no reason to doubt Mathieu when you take a closer look at Carr’s first interception.
“I think the biggest thing is that we knew that when he did take shots down the field, we were able to understand it pre-snap by the formation, and it would put us in a position to make a play,” Mathieu told reporters in the post-game locker room. “Derek [Carr] is going to try to take care of the football. Tight ends, running backs, checkdowns, that’s kind of his game. I was glad I was able to capitalize on him when he did try to throw the ball down the field.”
This is the play Mathieu was talking about specifically. A dangerous exchange in coverage, but a good one if you know what’s coming…
With Sunday’s win, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is now 18-3 in his career coming off a bye. If all goes as planned, he’ll probably get the Las Vegas Raiders after his bye next year, too.
twitter: @raidersbeat
I’ve been a raiders fan since day 1and some changes are needed. Carr needs to spread the ball around and if necessary take off running. They need to draft some wide outs and quit the vanilla play calling. Here’s a simple plan,beat the teams that you should beat and pull out all the stops in the other games. Thank God we’ve got a good running back or we’d be in trouble.