Christmas Day Football
For the fourth straight year there will be NFL football on Christmas Day. This year, the reigning Super Bowl champs will get in on the fun. The last time the Chiefs played on Christmas Day was in 2016 against the Denver Broncos. Kansas City won this contest 33-10 and will be looking for a similar performance against the Raiders.
Like the Chiefs, the Raiders are familiar with playing on Christmas Day. Their last Christmas game was in 2017 versus the Philadelphia Eagles. The Raiders will be looking to get back in the Christmas win column, as they lost to the Eagles 19-10. However, if you remember, the Eagles went on to defeat the Patriots in the Super Bowl that February.
It may have been a few years since the last time these teams played on Christmas, but it’s only been a few weeks since the last time they played each other. This first contest saw the Chiefs travel to Vegas and take care of the Raiders in a 31-17 win. A win is a win, but this score was slightly misleading.
Chiefs need to get off to faster starts
The first matchup against the Raiders could not have started worse for the Chiefs. At the end of the first quarter, Kansas City had run 7 plays for a total of 13 yards on offense. The defense got off to an equally bad start. Raiders running back Josh Jacobs was running wild and Aidan O’Connell carved the Chiefs on several third downs. Vegas first three drives resulted in two touchdowns and a missed 30-yard field goal.
Chiefs HC Andy Reid and QB Patrick Mahomes (15) – Jeff Bottari/ Getty Images
Kansas City will no doubt look to start faster in this matchup. However, the Chiefs haven’t necessarily come out fast in any of their recent games. Against Green Bay the Packers scored touchdowns on their first two drives while the Chiefs settled for two field goals. The game against Buffalo wasn’t much better with the Bills leading 14-0 before the Chiefs finally scored before the half.
The Patriots game was a little better of a start, but still not great. In the Chiefs first 4 drives on offense they missed a field goal, scored a touchdown, had a three and out, and an interception. It would be nice to see the Chiefs control a game from start to finish.
Patrick Mahomes talked about getting off to better starts following the game against New England, “We’ve kind of went in waves, I mean we started off from the middle part of the season we were scoring fast, then not scoring in the second half, then we were scoring in the second half, and not scoring early. So, you have to find a way to put games together.”
Mixed bag for Raiders
The Raiders have played two games since their last contest with the Chiefs. In those two games they’ve scored 63 points, or roughly 32 points per game, which is outstanding. However, looking at it from a points per game perspective is very misleading as all 63 points came in their most recent game versus the Chargers. In their other game against the Vikings, they got shut out and lost 3-0.
Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell should be riding high coming off the best game of his career. In their impressive 63-21 win on Thursday night, O’Connell threw 4 touchdown passes and no interceptions. O’Connell was also fairly solid in his first contest against Kansas City, throwing for 248 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions.
Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell (4) – Ron Jenkins/Getty Images
If Vegas can take care of the Chiefs, their last two games are against the Colts and Broncos, who are both slightly ahead of them in the playoff standings. Vegas is still very much alive in the playoff hunt, and I would expect them to play like it.
Final Thoughts
Playing on Christmas feels like both a blessing and a curse for fans. If your team wins, your day gets even better. However, a loss on Christmas Day can feel like getting coal in your stocking. The Chiefs still have everything to play for, as the one seed is still up for grabs. If the Chiefs take care of business in the afternoon, all attention will turn to the Ravens (11-3) and 49ers (11-3) game that night. My guess is Chiefs Kingdom will become big 49ers fans for an evening.
