Raiders Week 16 Preview vs. Chiefs

This week 16 preview against the Kansas City Chiefs comes during the most wonderful time of the year.

The “Silver and Black” are coming into a Christmas Day clash with their arch nemesis hot off the trails of a 63-21 whooping of the Los Angeles Chargers. That makes them look a lot better in this week 16 preview against the Chiefs than they did a few weeks ago.

The Chiefs come into this game after drubbing the New England Patriots 27-17 in a rather boring contest. The Patriots are having their worst season since 2000 so they didn’t pose much of a challenge, though they fought hard in the first half.

Previously, the Chiefs beat the Raiders 31-17 in a game in Las Vegas that started great for the Raiders. They had a 14-0 lead before the avalanche caved in the roof. They were outscored 31-3 after taking that 14-0 lead.

They’ve had extremely similar efforts against the Chiefs in games ever since Mahomes took over at quarterback and it has to drive the team crazy. It almost gives credence to the old quote by former Chiefs head coach Marty Schottenheimer, the inventor of Raider Week for Kansas City.

Marty once said, “I always would tell our players, if you just hang in there with the Raiders, they will find a way in the end to lose themselves.” This has been the mantra for the Chiefs against the Raiders since 1988 when Marty took over the Chiefs, and it has unfortunately remained true and we’re days away from the year 2024.

This needs to be the game where the Raiders reverse the tide. They can shift the entire AFC playoff picture with a win here in their house of horror. The Raiders have won 1 game at Arrowhead Stadium since 2013(2020). It’s arguably the toughest place to play in the NFL and it’s spelled doom for many Raider teams in the past.

With a win, their playoff hopes survive. With a loss, the Raiders season is truly over and they head into an offseason of questions and what-ifs. Let’s get into the week 16 preview.

Matchups to Watch

Magician Mahomes vs the Raiders Pass Defense

The Raiders pass defense locked down the Los Angeles Chargers all day long on Thursday Night Football. They need a repeat performance against the Chiefs if they want to win.

The pass rush was immaculate and powerful. “The quarterback must go down, and he must go down hard” as Al Davis used to say, and that statement rang true against the Chargers. It needs to be the mantra of the day in Kansas City.

If you can stop Patrick Mahomes, you can win. The Chiefs passing game this season has been suspect at best due to a massive problem with drops by the Chiefs receiving core. Only Rashee Rice seems to be able to consistently catch the football in recent weeks.

Even future Hall of Famer Travis Kelce has been having issues holding onto the football, something that has to devastated millions of Swifties worldwide.

Cornerback Jack Jones said it best on Thursday in the Raider locker room when he said “Mahomes is the magician. If we stop the magician, then the act is over.”

Looking at this week 16 preview, the most obvious answer for the Raiders to win is to limit Mahomes. Force him into mistakes and take advantage of them. That’s how they won the only time that they’ve beaten Mahomes.

The coverage has to hold up all game long for 60 consecutive minutes. The Chiefs receivers will make mistakes, that has been a trend for weeks now. Capitalize it and the Raiders will get the win on the road.

Can the Pass Rush Find Their Way Home?

You can’t stop Patrick Mahomes, you can only hope to limit him. The pass rush has to get there as well. It was as invisible as Casper The Friendly Ghost last time when the Chiefs visited Las Vegas.

The pass rush had a great game against the Chargers along with the rest of the team. The team needs to keep this effort up in Kansas City. The team needs to get the pass rush through to Mahomes if they’re going to win.

In this week 16 preview, I think this is the biggest key to the Raiders chances of winning. Last time, Mahomes had all day in the pocket and this enabled him to dice up the Raiders defense.

The Chiefs offensive line mauled the Raiders defensive front all game. Crosby was heavily limited with a gnarly-looking knee injury and it showed. Nobody else could get any sort of a rush at all. The Chiefs had time to do all their fancy tricks and highlight reel plays all over the Raiders defense.

If the Raiders defense keeps the pressure up on Mahomes, they have a much higher chance of winning.

Andy Reid vs Antonio Pierce

This is the coaching matchup that might determine if interim head coach Antonio Pierce becomes full-time head coach Antonio Pierce next season.

If Antonio Pierce can get this team right and focused, and they manage to walk into Arrowhead Stadium and come away with a win, I think it secures him the job for next season. That’s an incredible statement but it might ring true.

The late Tony Sparano, Jack Del Rio, Rich Bisaccia, and Josh McDaniels all coached the Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium since 2014 and all failed to lead the team to a win.

If Pierce wants to remain in this position and avoid the unfortunate likelihood of Mark Davis paying over $10-$11 million per year on another bloated contract to another big-name former head coach, then he needs to lead the team to a victory on Monday morning.

The key in this week 16 preview is for Pierce to avoid the trend that I mentioned near the start of the article. The Raiders need to avoid beating themselves. If they jump on the Chiefs, they need to keep the gas pedal going. They can’t let up for a second. Last time they did that, and it led to the Chiefs outscoring them 31-3.

Prediction

I think this game might go a little differently from last time. The Raiders have a lot of momentum after their big win against the Chargers. They’re coming into this week 16 preview with as much momentum as they could manage compared to before when they were coming off a loss in Miami.

The Chiefs haven’t been the world beaters of previous seasons. They’ve slowed down a bit. Looking at this week 16 preview, the Raiders need to jump on the Chiefs and not let up this time. They could’ve won in Las Vegas if they didn’t let off the gas pedal.

One of the underrated keys for this game will be health. Josh Jacobs and Kolton Miller are expected to play after Jacobs missed last week and Miller has missed several games. Maxx Crosby is also in a much healthier state than he was last time, or at least he’s managing his injury better.

I think the Raiders pull off the upset here in this week 16 preview. It won’t be easy, it’ll be an ugly one for sure. But they need this win to survive. Their playoff hopes currently still exist, even though they would need some help.

This goes beyond this season. Antonio Pierce would be the guy I’d want as the next Raiders head coach and the key for him to get the job would be a win in Kansas City in front of millions of Swifties on Christmas Day. If the Raiders are going to establish that it’s a new day and reverse this too-long trend of losing to the Chiefs, it starts on Christmas Day.

Final Score

Raiders 24 Chiefs 21