Oakland Raiders: Game breakdown and prediction for Week 2 against Kansas City Chiefs

It was a strong Week 1 for the Oakland Raiders. Now they get an immediate test against the reigning MVP in Patrick Mahomes. Any chance for an upset here?

The Oakland Raiders are riding high after their dominant win over the Denver Broncos on opening night after an emotional offseason.

Now they head into Week 2 to see the great Patrick Mahomes and the high-flying Kansas City Chiefs. How exactly does this game go?

It’s a pretty tall order in just Week 2 to knock off a team like the Chiefs who you know is going to put up anywhere from 30-40 points. Very few teams are going to be able to stop their offense, so the way to beat them is to simply outscore them.

We saw the Los Angeles Rams do it last year. We saw the New England Patriots do it twice last year. You can only slow down Mahomes and that offense if you’re lucky. Otherwise, you’re going to have to be able to put up 35 points or so of your own and outduel them.

Does this Raiders team have that in them this week?

Unfortunately, I don’t believe so. The Raiders put up 33 points at home last season against these guys and still lost by a touchdown.

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I think we see something similar in this meeting. Don’t get me wrong, Derek Carr and the offense will put up points in this game; there’s no doubt about that.

But will they put up enough points to outmatch Pat Mahomes? Or can their defense do enough to at least slow Mahomes down? I’d have to say “no” to both of those questions.

Kansas City has a good/not great offensive line, but the tackles are where its strength is, so an outside pass rush from a young Raiders defensive line is going to have some problems.

On the flip side, we did see Trent Brown and Kolton Miller do a very good job against Von Miller and Bradley Chubb last week, but now they get another blitzkrieg pass rush in Frank Clark and Chris Jones. Can they repeat what they did last week and protect Derek Carr? We shall see.

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But the Raiders’ secondary slowing down Patrick Mahomes in the pass game? I think it’s very unlikely.

I give them a puncher’s chance since this Chiefs defense can be scored on, and this Raiders offense has offensive weapons. But if it’s going to come down to Derek Carr vs. Patrick Mahomes in a shootout, I’ll take Mahomes in that battle, even without his favorite target in Tyreek Hill.

That just means more Travis Kelce, more Sammy Watkins, more Damien Williams, and maybe even Mecole Hardman can step up in Hill’s absence.

I got the Chiefs 43-36. Nice offensive effort by Derek Carr and the offense again, but not quite enough to out-battle Patty Mahomeboy.