Raiders Defense Gets Las Vegas a Win on Christmas
If you are a Chiefs fan and you saw Kansas City had Las Vegas on the schedule for Christmas, you may have thought getting a win would be a nice and easy holiday gift. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, that was not the case in this one as their incredibly lackluster play on offense caused them to lose at home. With this loss, the Chiefs fall to 9-6 on the season and with this win the Raiders improve to 7-8 on the year. Kansas City will stay home to play the Cincinnati Bengals next week and hope for a much-needed win, while the Raiders will head to Indianapolis to take on the Colts in a have-to-win game for them. Let’s take a look at how the Raiders got this win.
Las Vegas was the first team to score in this game as their offense set up a 24-yard field goal for kicker Daniel Carlson on their second drive and after Carlson made the field goal, the score was 3-0 Las Vegas early. A few drives later the Chiefs would finally score their first points of the game after a scoreless first quarter as running back Isiah Pacheco ran into the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown. After kicker Harrison Butker made the extra point, the score was 7-3 Kansas City. Unfortunately for Chiefs fans though, the score would soon go from 7-3 to 17-7 with a Raiders lead in the blink of an eye as the Chiefs turned over the ball on both of their next two drives.
The first turnover occurred as Pacheco fumbled the ball on the Kansas City 8-yard line and Las Vegas defensive tackle Bilal Nichols ran the ball back for a touchdown to make the score of the game 9-7 after the Raiders went for a two-point conversion and were unsuccessful. However, the Raiders would score quickly again as Mahomes threw an interception on the first snap of the Chiefs' new drive into the hands of Las Vegas cornerback Jack Jones, who returned the interception 33 yards for a pick-six. After running back Brandon Bolden ran into the end zone for a successful two-point conversion the score was 17-7 Las Vegas. The Chiefs would have one more drive to score before halftime and it would be a disaster once again as Butker missed a 36-yard field goal before both teams headed into the locker room.
The first points of the second half were not scored until nearly the end of the third quarter when Carlson knocked down a 35-yard field goal to give the Raiders a 20-7 lead. While the Chiefs would score a touchdown late in the fourth quarter as quarterback Patrick Mahomes connected with wide receiver Justin Watson for a 7-yard touchdown to make the score of the game 20-14, it was too late as the Chiefs could not overcome the damage all of their mistakes on offense made in this Christmas game.
Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell completed only nine of his twenty-one passes in the game finishing with a total of 62 passing yards. Running back Zamir White had a monster game with twenty-two carries for 145 yards. Wide receiver Jakobi Myers led the Raiders in receiving yards with three receptions for 42 yards. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed twenty-seven of his forty-four pass attempts in the game, finishing throwing for 235 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Mahomes also led the Chiefs in rushing yards in the game, finishing with ten carries for 53 yards, but running back Isiah Pacheco had Kansas City’s only rushing touchdown in the game. Wide receiver Rashee Rice had six receptions for 57 yards and wide receiver Justin Watson had the Chiefs only receiving touchdown in the game.
