Oakland Raiders: Third Quarter schedule breakdown and predictions
By Kevin Saito
Kansas City Chiefs
This is going to be Oakland’s first look at Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs in the Patrick Mahomes era.
Two years ago, it was the Chiefs and Raiders battling it out for the AFC West crown. If not for Carr’s broken leg in week sixteen, the Raiders would have won the division and wouldn’t have had to play Houston in the opening round.
But, as they say, that’s water under the bridge.
Last year, the Chiefs walked away with the division with a 10-6 record – narrowly edging out the Chargers for the honor of losing in the Wild Card round.
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This is a Chiefs team that has undergone a radical transformation in the offseason. And there are a couple of moves in particular, that should worry the Raiders.
Kansas City already had two tremendous offensive playmakers in Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Both have given the Raiders fits for a while now. This offseason though, the Chiefs went out and added Sammy Watkins, who is coming off a decently productive season with the Rams last year (39 catches for 593 yards, and eight touchdowns).
A year ago, the Chiefs fielded the league’s fifth-ranked offense (sixth in points scored), behind Alex Smith, Hill, Kelce, and running back Kareem Hunt, who ground out 1,327 rushing yards. Smith is gone, having been traded away to Washington, which means the Chiefs are going to live and die with second-year man Mahomes.
Suffice it to say, there are very likely going to be some bumps in the road for Kansas City’s offense, as Mahomes adjusts to the steep learning curve of the NFL.
The Chiefs are pinning their hopes this season on a radically revamped defense. A change was needed afer Kansas City’s defense, long a strength of this team, ranked twenty-eighth in 2017. Reid purged many of his older, veteran players, and brought in new talent to turn the ship around.
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Though the defensive unit should be improved over last year, there may still be enough holes in it for Lynch to run (Kansas City was twenty-fifth against the run), and for Carr to throw (Kansas City was twenty-ninth against the pass).
Kansas City’s dfense will be better, but don’t expect them to be one of the elite units in the league this season. Which could bode very wel for the Raiders and what should be a high octane offensive attack.
Chiefs: 20 Raiders: 27