Oakland Raiders Upset Kansas City for First Win

On a very wet and rainy evening in Oakland, California, the Oakland Raiders upset the Kansas City Chiefs with a 24-20 victory for their first win of the season. They improved to 1-10 on the season. It looked like this game would slip away from the Raiders in the second half, but a huge drive with nine minutes to go fueled the comeback win.

In the first half, the Raiders’ defense came out to play by forcing Kansas City to two-straight three and outs and didn’t allow Kansas City to get into the red zone once, before Denarius Moore fumbled the fair catch at the Oakland 10-yard line. This fumble later led to a Kansas City field goal, but that would be all the Chiefs would get.

In the first half, the Raiders forced the Chiefs to punt seven times, and the Raiders scored 14 points on two rushing touchdowns by Latavius Murray. His first touchdown was an 11-yard run on handoff from Carr at the Kansas City 11-yard line. Then Murray exploded for a 90-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter that gave the Raiders a 14-0 lead.

Nov 20, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray (28) celebrates with fans after scoring on an 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Most importantly, the Raiders’ defense caused multiple negative yard plays by the Chiefs by tackling their running backs Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis beyond the line of scrimmage. Khalil Mack and Sio Moore also provided a lot of pressure on Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, causing Smith to throw passes to the outside or out of bounds. Not only did Mack and Moore pressure Smith, they were also key players in stopping Charles, De’Anthony Thomas and Davis in the run game.

If the defense was not stuffing the run game, they had adequate coverage on receivers by making quick tackles, breaking up pass plays and deflecting passes. Charles Woodson, Justin Tuck, Mack, Moore and Brandian Ross were all major contributors to the Raiders’ first half success. Not only did the defense step up, the Chiefs also accumulated two major penalties when on offense that allowed the Raiders to get big defensive stops.

The defensive success continued briefly in the third quarter, allowing the Chiefs only two sets of downs and a sack from Charles Woodson that forced the Chiefs to punt. The Raiders would then respond with a nine-play, 27-yard drive that started at their own 49-yard line that resulted in a Sebastian Janikowski field goal to give the Raiders a commanding 17-3 lead.

However, the Chiefs came roaring back with a six-play, 60-yard drive that resulted in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Anthony Fasano to cut the Raiders’ big lead to 17-10. On that drive, the defense allowed three ten-or-more yard passes for three Kansas City first downs before getting the touchdown.

The defense would continue to struggle late in the third quarter as well as the fourth quarter, leaving receivers wide open down the field leading to another Kansas City touchdown that would tie the game at 17. On that drive, the Chiefs had two holding penalties, but Smith at the time had completed his last eight passes. Each pass play on that scoring drive for Kansas City was over 20 yards long and to three different receivers.

November 20, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders free safety Charles Woodson (24) is congratulated by outside linebacker Sio Moore (55) on a defensive stop against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

However, the Raiders’ offense in the second half also declined having only 84 yards of offense with 9:03 left in the fourth quarter. All drives early in the fourth resulted in a punt and one three and out series.

Then, Carr would lead a seven minute, 21 second drive down the field for a James Jones touchdown to give the Raiders a 24-20 lead with 1:46 left in the game. The Raiders could not have gotten to the end zone though without the help of fullback Marcel Reece who had eight carries for 37 yards on the drive and one eight-yard reception.

The Chiefs got the ball with 1:42 to go on a 39-yard return by Thomas. Smith would throw an incomplete pass to start the drive and follow up with a seven-yard pass to Frankie Hammond. This was later followed by two straight incomplete passes to make it fourth and three with 1:06 to go. However, the Raiders drew three penalties on the play, giving Kansas City a first down at their 49-yard line.

On the first-and-ten, the Chiefs gave the ball to Charles for a four-yard gain to make it second-and-six with 53 seconds to go. Then it became third-and-six on an incomplete pass to Travis Kelce.

To put the dagger on the Chiefs, Moore and Mack sacked Smith on third and six to force a fourth-and-13 with 49 seconds to go. On fourth-and-13, Smith could not complete the pass to his receiver Hammond, turning the ball over on downs to the Raiders with 23 seconds left.

To end the game, Carr took a knee securing the Raiders’ first victory of the season to snap a 16-game losing streak dating back to last season.

The Raiders play the St. Louis Rams next Sunday in St. Louis looking for another a victory to try and kickstart a win streak.