The Kansas City Chiefs are over .500 for the first time this season and got to that point thanks to a 31-0 win over Pete Carroll and the Las Vegas Raiders. While we all figured the Raiders would finish last in the AFC West and be the worst team out of the four, it’s safe to say none of us expected them to look as bad as they did on Sunday.
Yes, the Raiders had some key players missing but to get defeated by 31 points and to not even score a field goal all day is remarkably bad. Carroll himself sounded surprised with his team’s struggles on Sunday, stating, “This was a game that I didn’t see coming,” while speaking to the media. Carroll seemed shocked that the missing players for the Raiders led to that kind of play from the rest of the team.
To put into perspective as to how bad it was for Las Vegas in this one, the Raiders were the first team to record three or fewer first downs in a game since 2008 when that year’s Raiders team accomplished the same feat. Gardner Minshew came into the game late in the third quarter to finish out the game against his former team and the Chiefs were in victory formation with two and a half minutes to go and the Raiders sitting with all three timeouts.
When I say it was an ugly game for the Raiders, that always feels too nice of wording. The Raiders do have two wins on the year but those came against the Patriots before they found their footing (we all know Week 1 is a crapshoot) and a terrible Titans team. Of course they’re going to struggle against the Chiefs and without two of their best offensive targets.
Andy Reid even felt bad for his opponent, telling the media after the game that “[His] heart goes out to Pete”. Yeah, losing 31-0 is a bad enough look but when your opponent’s head coach is saying they feel bad for you, yikes.
Maybe the Raiders figure things out and can rebound in the second half of the year but Carroll being stunned at his team’s blowout loss is not a great sign there. It’s highly entertaining for Chiefs fans though. It’s fun to watch the Raiders struggle.
