Raiders Week 12 Slay and Bomb

A tough week 12 slay and bomb article following another difficult loss by the Raiders to the Chiefs.

For the 6th time in a row, the Chiefs have once again defeated the Las Vegas Raiders. This time by a score of 31-17. The only thing that’s funny is I predicted a Chiefs win by the score of 31-14.

The Raiders defense did their best to contain the Chiefs offense but simply could not hold Travis Kelce and the army of Swifties on Sunday. What didn’t help matters was once again seeing the team go ultra-conservative with a 7-0 lead, a decision which ultimately backfired.

The Raiders had a chance to jump on the Chiefs with a 7-0 lead and go for a 4th and 1 deep in Kansas City territory. Instead, they opted to go for a 30-yard field goal which ultimately went wide right. While it didn’t have short-term ramifications, it certainly did in the long run.

The Raiders took a 14-0 lead on a big 63-yard run by Josh Jacobs. The only thing was if they had been aggressive on the prior drive, it could have been 21-0. It would’ve made a huge difference because, after that point, the Raiders got absolutely manhandled by the Chiefs.

It was the same song and dance that Raider Nation and Chiefs Kingdom might be used to. The Raiders came out hot and aggressive, only to fall back and play conservatively while the Chiefs simply sat back and eventually counter-punched the tired Raiders to a decisive knockout.

At this point, this rivalry is hardly a rivalry. Andy Reid has tied Jon Gruden with 4 wins at Allegiant Stadium, the 2nd most by any coach in the NFL. Andy Reid coaches the Chiefs. He’s currently 19-3 against the Raiders since taking the Chiefs job in 2013. The only time he’s lost to the Raiders was in 2014, 2017, and 2020.

Andy Reid also managed to become the winningest coach in Chiefs history with his victory over the Raiders as well. This put him past Hank Stram for the record. The Chiefs also own the series against the Raiders now with a 73-54-2 record. They’re the only team in the AFC West(including former division rival Seattle) that has a winning record against the Raiders, and it’s not even close.

A rivalry isn’t truly a rivalry unless it’s competitive and until the Raiders can beat the Chiefs more than once every few years, it’s not competitive. Let’s get into the week 12 slay and bomb article.

Slay

Maxx Crosby

A familiar member of this list, Maxx Crosby deserves all the love and praise simply for being on the field on Sunday. He was the first NFL player listed as doubtful to make it onto the field this season.

A report surfaced after the game also which added to the amazing feat of even being on the field. Crosby was reportedly in the hospital on Thursday and still played. He’s truly one of the modern-day gladiators in this sport.

He didn’t practice all week. His knee was banged up and he’s going to need some sort of look at it this offseason. He was sick all week as well which didn’t help I didn’t think he would play on Sunday. He certainly didn’t play every snap, but he gave 100% and then more on every snap he played.

Crosby also got a sack on Sunday. He was a presence despite his injury and illness. In spite of the Raiders loss, Crosby deserves to get all the praise simply for being out there.

He didn’t play every single snap like he usually does and you could see that really grinded his gears. He really wanted to be out there every single play. At one point he was on the sidelines telling Pierce he needed to be out there while the commentators said that Pierce was perhaps “saving Crosby from himself.”

Hopefully, Crosby will be able to recover this bye week. He needs all the time off he can get.

Josh Jacobs

Josh Jacobs absolutely went off again on Sunday. I had said if the Raiders wanted to win, they needed to get him involved. They went to him early and often, and it made a huge difference.

Coming into today’s game, nobody had run for 100 yards on the Chiefs run defense. They had been that good this season. Jacobs became the first one to do so this season with 110 yards on Sunday.

He broke off a 63-yard run for a touchdown to make it 14-0. It’s unfortunate that after that, the Raiders offense completely disappeared. It overshadows what was a great performance by Jacobs.

Bomb

Weird Play calling Strikes Again

Once again, the Raiders decided to get weird with the playcalling and decision-making. A lot of it didn’t make any sense.

The running game was working great, as well as the play-action fakes. The Raiders decided to go with a lot of screen passes in the second half which didn’t work.

Down by 11 points, the Raiders decided to go with a wide receiver pass by Jakobi Meyers that went incomplete. On 4th down while trying to come back, they threw the ball to Meyers with the idea he would then lateral the ball across the field. It made absolutely no sense.

The game plan was working in the first half and then for some reason the Raiders got cute in the second half. It led to them getting outscored 31-3 after going up 14-0. It’s something we’ve seen happen to the Raiders time and time again, especially against Kansas City. It’s part of the reason why the rivalry has been so lopsided.

In-game adjustments are going to happen. The Chiefs made adjustments while the Raiders failed to make any correct ones. It led to them getting burned.

Marcus Peters and Roderic Teamer

This is a two-for-one special. Marcus Peters got into a heated sideline discussion with head coach Antonio Pierce which led to him being benched on Sunday. On Monday morning, he was given his walking papers and released. The move saves the team money, and it’s almost an addition-by-subtraction move.

I can’t think of a player who was more afraid of contact than Peters, and that’s putting it nicely. He appeared to be more of a matador on the field when an opposing ball-carrier came running toward him.

He dropped at least 1 interception in every game he played in as well, which added to the frustration. On Sunday, he spent the entire game after getting benched standing by himself with a beanie on. He didn’t interact with teammates or coaches and sulked alone.

Roderic Teamer also was released on Monday morning with good reason. He was activated by the Raiders off the injured reserve list on Sunday with the idea he would play for the first time in 4 games. On Sunday morning, he was arrested for speeding and a DUI.

After dealing with the Henry Ruggs situation in 2020, the Raiders have no need to deal with issues like this. It’s probably the biggest reason why the team passed on Jalen Carter in the draft, given his prior DUI charge in college.

There’s no excuse for this crime and the Raiders made the right decision by releasing both players. It shows that the interim regime isn’t messing around.

Pass Rush Faltered Hard

The Raiders got absolutely no pass rush in on Patrick Mahomes on Sunday. Maxx Crosby got a sack on Mahomes but other than that, Mahomes had more than enough time to dice up the Raiders defense.

It really showcased that the Raiders need another pass rusher. Other than Crosby, nobody else on the team is consistently winning at the line of scrimmage.

Tyree Wilson is still a step or two too slow and hasn’t developed any moves. Malcomn Koonce is a decent rotational piece but isn’t good enough to be a consistent starter at this point. Since 2022 the Raiders have drafted 4 defensive tackles and none of them have worked out on the interior.

The Raiders really needed the Chandler Jones signing to work out and unfortunately, it didn’t last season and now he’s gone this season after all the drama that took place. It’s really evident they were hoping that he and Crosby would carry the entire pass rush to help out the rest of the defense. Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham has done a good job with what he’s been given thus far, but he needs more.

The Raiders have a bye week coming up this week and they’re going to need it. At 5-7 and in 3rd place in the AFC West, the season is ending fast. They need to get healthy and make some adjustments before it’s too late.