AFC West Recap - Week 2
The Chargers and Broncos blew late leads and the Chief’s pummeled the Raiders. In other news, water is wet and grass is green.
The Bolts converted a hot start into an embarrassing blown lead courtesy of two missed field goals and a goal line fumble, losing 13-10 to Detroit.
ICYMI, Mike Badgley has been out of action the last few games and Punter Ty Long has been kicking in his absence. This situation worked out just fine last game, but became apparent after a missed 39 and then 41 yard field goal that something has to change. Yes, Long kicked in the CFL and no, signing a kicker as a stopgap is not ideal. But Long missing two very makeable kicks that lost the game requires a fix. Rivers was playing well enough throughout the game vs an improved Detroit secondary. He was making great use of Keenan vs Slay in the intermediate game, but was unable to get him any deep balls. This apparently did not set off anything in his brain as he launched a 3rd & 19 bomb into double coverage, getting picked off to seal the game for Detroit. Mike Williams looked great as well aside from a few drops in at the start of the game, and Ekeler was receiving at a consistent rate as well. The latter averaged 3.9 YPC on 17 carries, rushing in a TD but also fumbling on the goal line while Justin Jackson averaged 8.4 on 7 carries. I think it’s becoming more apparent that Jackson should take the lion’s share of carries and Ekeler should keep the receiving duties.
The defense played relatively well especially considering the injures that piled up during the game. Casey Hayward had a redzone pick and Rayshawn Jenkins also picked a long ball as well. A big problem was a single QB hit all game and no sacks. The run defense looked better than last week but the secondary also gave up a lot of long balls to Kenny Golladay.
Notes: The offense needs to be something more than anemic and the kicker situation needs to be rectified. Also, fire the trainers. Adrian Phillips left the game with a forearm injury. Easton Stick, Michael Badgley, Roderic Teamer, Michael Davis, Jatavis Brown, Hunter Henry and Cortez Broughton were all inactive.
The Chiefs started a little slow vs the Raiders in Oakland but picked it up and turned a close game into a route in about 5 seconds. Final score 28-10.
This was the first scoreless 1st quarter of Mahomes young career, but damn was it worth the wait. He had an absolutely historic second quarter, throwing for 278 yards (second only to Brees for the all time mark) and four touchdowns. There was a point where every pass Mahomes threw was a 25+ yard completion, literally. Demarcus Robinson was the star receiver of the day, hauling in all 6 of his targets for 172 yards and pair of touchdowns. Kelce also had a fantastic game which helped offset a poor rushing outing for the unit of McCoy and Damien Williams, who totalled 31 yards on 20 carries. The best news from this is that Mahomes injury is not impeding his game too much
The Raiders offense was actually clicking pretty well to start the game off, the wheels sort of came off when Josh Jacobs left with injury after their first two scoring runs. Tyrell Williams played well as a #1 guy again, catching 5 of 7 targets for 43 and a touchdown, and Darren Waller continued to be a pleasant surprise with 6 receptions for 63 yards. It looks like Waller has been plugged into the same sets they used Jared Cook in last year and he isn’t really skipping a beat. Jacobs had a fantastic game, rushing for 99 yards including a 51 yard ripper.
He had to leave early in the game to get an IV, and the teams offensive tempo sort of fell apart. Derek Carr began to struggle, and by the time Jacobs was back it was too late. Carr finished 22/38 with the lone TD and two boneheaded interceptions. One was a redzone fade that Tyrell Williams never had position on, and another was whatever this was.
That one had to be some sort of miscommunication, I hope. The Chiefs defense looked to be back into their pass-rushing form, taking down Carr 3 times and hitting him 5 times. Is Chris Jones back? Tough to say!
They struggled a bit vs the rush which isn’t great. Even if you take away Jacobs 51-yard run, he still averaged 4.3 YPC which could have been deadly vs a competent team. Anthony Hitchens was lined up on Tyrell when he scored (idk why either) and he essentially had his ankles shattered into a billion pieces.
The Raiders defense was actually pretty stout at the beginning of the game. Keeping Mahomes scoreless in the first quarter and forcing him into two straight Three-And-Outs is more than literally any defense can say. *The last airbender voice* that all changed when the Chiefs decided to bomb it again. Lamarcus Joyner got baited into covering a McCoy wheel route and left Robinson wide open for his first TD and Conley got straight beat by him in a 1v1 for his second one. Curtis Riley and Joyner combined to almost purposely leave Mecole Hardman open on his score, and Karl Joseph got beat and sort of fucked over by weak safety work by Erik Harris on Kelce’s score. Other than entirely fucking up that second quarter, they played decently well. They sacked Mahomes twice and had a whopping 11 tackles for a loss.
Notes: For Kansas City, seeing Jones turn it on is a great sign. He’s one of the most electric defensive players in the NFL and this is the year he will get star status. Mahomes being good to go regardless of his ankle is also a great sign, obviously. For the Raiders, their secondary needs a lot of work. They looked old and slow which is just not going to cut it. Josh Jacobs looks like a bona fide star, though, which is fucking awesome. Have him run right behind Trent Brown every play. see who can stop it.
Injuries: For the chiefs, Reggie Ragland, Martinas Rankin, Deon Yelder, Ryan Hunter, Nick Allegretti, Khalen Saunders and Tyreek Hill were in active. For the Raiders, Keelan Doss, Gabe Jackson, David Sharpe, Jonathan Cooper, DeShone Kizer, Dallin Leavitt, and Corey Liuget were all inactive. Eric Fisher left on the opening drive nursing his groin injury, and Dwayne Harris also left after tweaking his ankle.
The Broncos, man, the Broncos.
Shoutout to avid broncos fan and stool scenes maestro Rudy, this must have been tough. The Broncos offense mostly struggled throughout the whole game until Flacco time (4th quarter). After a nice opening drive ending in a field goal, they were forced to punt 5 straight drives until scoring another FG. This was followed up by a Flacco redzone INT on what looked like a busted up pick play on the goal line. All credit to them, though, as they were able to drive a shit ton of time off the clock with a little over two minutes left on their final drive, scoring on a Sanders TD and 2PC. On the original XP attempt, they had a holding call bump them back before a missed kick from McManus that was called back thanks to a VERY lucky offsides call. Sanders had a great game while Sutton struggled to get open, only totalling 40 yards.
The defense did not record a sack, again. Vic Fangio somehow doesn’t know how to get a generationally great edge rusher in Von Miller and a promising 12-sack player in Chubb into the backfield is literally mind boggling. If Green Bay could get 5 sacks vs the Bears week 1, Miller/Chubb should be good for that ALONE. They were more stout in the secondary until Chris Harrison got burned for the game sealed reception by Allen Robinson. It was a very unlucky break, but it’s still a loss. Just like last week, I think the offense is playing better than I would have expected (They need to work on getting Lindsay better looks, he can obviously ball), but the defense is definitely underperforming considering Fangio’s credentials.
Notes: Give Lindsey more chances and do something to shore up the offensive line. Flacco got hit 6 times and taken down twice, and was under a ton of pressure all game. Also, I’m throwing in the towel on Garett Bolles. 4 Holding calls. FOUR.
Injuries: Juwann Winfree, Bryce Callahan, Andy Janovich, Joe Jones, Todd Davis, Ja’Wuan James, and Mike Purcell were all inactive