Five things that stood out about the Kansas City Chiefs’ win in Las Vegas
All is well that ends well, right?
And finally, the ending included some points.
The Chiefs broke their second-half slump — and maybe their offensive slump? — in a 31-17 win against the Raiders in Las Vegas. They scored four touchdowns over a span of five drives.
Is the offense fixed? That’s probably a bit much to say that after one week.
But it sure as heck looked different. In more ways than one.
Which leads me to five observations from immediately after the game:
1. A first for this offense
We’ve seen Patrick Mahomes make a career out of erasing double-digit deficits. The NFL has literally never seen anyone better.
But we’ve not seen this offense do it.
Look, that might be a high bar, expecting an against-the-grain trend to be an annual thing — though it’s not a reach, considering it’s the one this team has set.
But after two drives of virtually nothing Sunday, we finally saw this offense at darn near its best.
Refreshing, wasn’t it?
The offense put together consecutive touchdown drives of 71, 79 and 75 yards — its first time all season with three straight drives topping 70 yards. Heck, it had been more than a month since they had two straight drives of 70-plus yards.
All it took? Their backs against the wall.
The Chiefs trailed by double digits for just the second time this season, and after gaining all of 13 yards on their initial two possessions, they scored touchdowns on four of their next five. They scored in the second half for the first time in a month. They scored in the fourth quarter for the second time all season.
The best sign?
How they did it.
Let’s explain.
2. The breakout for Rashee Rice?
We might still be learning about some of the finer details of Rashee Rice’s ability.
But there’s at least one thing settled: He’s terrific after the catch.
Like, the very best.
The rookie from SMU caught a third-down drag route 35 yards shy of the goal line — and a couple of yards shy of the first down, too — but out-ran cornerback Nate Hobbs on the sideline and used a block from Marquez Valdes-Scantling to cruise into the end zone.
Rice leads all NFL receivers in yards after reception this season, and by a wide margin — he entered the week at 8.0 per reception, with Deebo Samuel a distant second at 7.2 among the 48 receivers with at least 30 targets.
If the Chiefs’ offense is going to take a permanent step forward, you’d have to think Rice is part of the equation.
He finished with eight receptions for 107 yards, the first Chiefs wideout this year to top 100.
The Chiefs need to ask themselves why, and the next item might help provide the answer.
3. An accidental solution?
The Chiefs were playing without a pair of veteran wide receivers — Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney.
Might that be part of the solution?
Work with me here. The struggle of the Chiefs’ receivers has been an ongoing storyline — heck, it’s been the storyline, despite the Chiefs still sitting tied atop the AFC.
But I’ve long wondered about the effects of using so many of them in the rotation — wondered, because there is no easily objective way to measure it. So if the evidence we have is anecdotal, the first example of a slimmer rotation produced notably better results.
Rice, as I mentioned earlier, had the best statistical day of any Chiefs wideout this season.
Only three Kansas City receivers were targeted more than once on Sunday — Rice, Skyy Moore and Justin Watson. We’ll get the snap counts later, but Valdes-Scantling appeared to see a dip in his playing time.
Look at the quarterback’s final line: Mahomes finished 27 of 34 for 298 yards and two touchdowns. It’s his best completion percentage of the season.
4. Finally, some short-yardage success
A frequent appearance on this list.
For a different reason this time.
The Chiefs have struggled most of the season in short yardage spots on third and fourth downs — bottom third of the league, actually.
At last, there has been a breakthrough. The Chiefs twice were faced with third-and-1, and twice they looked to the simplest of options. A run up the gut.
The first? A touchdown on the goal line.
The second? A run for six yards and a fresh set of downs.
Both were to running back Isiah Pacheco, who had 15 carries for 55 yards and two touchdowns. His longest run of the day went for eight yards. But two were effective in a spot in which the Chiefs have long struggled.
5. The quarter from hell
We know how it finished.
But I can’t escape this without mentioning just how ugly it was early. The Raiders owned the first quarter.
What’s unusual, though, is how.
They marched 75 yards for a touchdown on the opening possession of that game. And to put that in perspective: It nearly doubles the longest opening drive the Chiefs have allowed this season, which previously was 39 yards (when the Broncos took advantage of a short field in Denver).
The Raiders were also 5 for 6 on third downs in the first quarter, and the Chiefs have allowed only 35.7% of opponents’ third-down attempts to turn into first downs.
This story was originally published November 26, 2023 at 6:20 PM.