The Kansas City Chiefs’ first half against the Las Vegas Raiders has been quite underwhelming. It took the team a long time to get settled in and they’ve been struggling to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, but somehow they’ve battled back to make this a 10-point game. They’ll get the ball after the half, which will give them a chance to get even closer to mounting a comeback against their AFC West rivals.
Buy Chiefs TicketsHere are a few quick takeaways from the first half of play:
Offensive scheme needs halftime adjustments
The Chiefs are really missing Trey Smith on the offensive side of the ball, both in the run game and the passing game. They’re going to need to adjust if they’re going to be able to mount a comeback.
They need quick developing plays in the passing game because the pass protection isn’t holding up in the slightest. They’re helping without Smith, Allegretti has been tasked with helping Andrew Wylie on inside moves. That hasn’t been as flawless as it has been in the past. On the other side of the line, Orlando Brown Jr. has been getting worked by Chandler Jones.
The run game hasn’t had much success at all, outside of Patrick Mahomes using his legs and taking off on a few plays. As of nine minutes and 22 seconds to go in the second quarter, Clyde Edwards-Helaire has two carries for two yards and Isiah Pacheco has one carry for no yards. Really, Jerick McKinnon was the only player who found any success running the ball. He needs to be a focal point for the offense in the second half.
All-in-all it feels like every bit of success they achieved in Week 4 went out the window in the first half of Week 5. This looks like the team that lost to the Colts and not the team that beat the Buccaneers.
Defensive execution needs to be better
The execution on the defensive side of the ball hasn’t been stellar. On the defensive line, they’ve been losing the line of scrimmage in the run game and at times in the passing game. In the secondary, they’ve been struggling to locate the football. The linebackers haven’t been disciplined in their gaps.
The Raiders’ success has been aided by some costly penalties, but some of that comes back to execution from Kansas City. They’re not getting their head around to look for the football — and even when they have it has gone against them.
The NFL officially has a problem when it comes to roughing the passer penalties
Two days in a row the NFL has had two bad roughing the passer penalties that have caused a stir. Jerome Boger’s call in the Buccaneers-Falcons game was egregiously bad. The call in the Chiefs-Raiders game was somehow worse.
Chris Jones was called for roughing the passer while he actually possessed the football in a strip fumble. He braced himself for impact so as to not land with his full body weight on Derek Carr. He was still called for roughing the passer.
It makes very little sense and it’ll be the subject of much scrutiny moving forward. The fans in Arrowhead Stadium have let Carl Cheffers know they don’t like it, chanting “bullshit” and “refs you suck” on two separate occasions.
