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For the final time in the regular season, the Kansas City Chiefs will square off against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders are coming off of one of their greatest wins in team history, a 63-21 drubbing of the Los Angeles Chargers. Vegas had 42 points in the first half last week. While you could say the Chargers were simply at their breaking point as a team this year, the Raiders have begun to build some recent momentum, especially on offense. As a result, the Las Vegas Raiders offense is starting to show signs of what they originally anticipated, as their top weapons look to build even more consistency against the Kansas City Chiefs defense.
With Aidan O’Connell as the signal caller, Vegas has seen their passing game open up. The Raiders have begun to surprise defenses with their pass attack and catch opponents off guard. In the meantime, this has led to some easy, wide open looks for O’Connell to exploit. He has also impressed with some throws against tight coverage, though, too. Can the Raiders flash more of what we saw early in the first matchup against the Chiefs?
How have the Raiders been able to utilize all of their offensive weapons and spread the wealth better lately? Will the Chiefs be able to put a halt to this recent momentum of the Vegas offense? Let’s kick it off.
O’Connell Attacking All Areas
Aidan O’Connell has been able to slice up some opponents, due to how he is testing defenses. Vegas has opened up the passing game. And overall, O’Connell has excelled more when attacking the intermediate to deep areas of the field. In their first game against the Raiders, the Chiefs felt this early in the first half. O’Connell has displayed pinpoint accuracy on go routes, excellent touch on balls near the boundary and his anticipation on comeback or in-breaking routes has set his pass catchers up well.
The biggest concern for O’Connell and the Raiders has been an ability to recognize extra pressure or disguises. In these moments, the rookie quarterback can become late and hold onto the ball for too long. Against the Raiders earlier this year, the Chiefs found more success as the game went on, because this added pressure was able to get home.
With O’Connell showing little limitations when attacking all areas of the field, Vegas has produced more explosive plays. The Raiders are simply able to expand the playbook further and dictate the tempo that they want to operate at. For the Chiefs defense, they could look to increase their zone coverage looks against O’Connell on Monday. Kansas City may also be more patient in bringing more blitzes this time around against Vegas. In total, the Raiders offense has shown that they are not afraid to take major shots, and the Chiefs defense will have to be prepared for anything.
Pass Catching Group Displaying Versatility
After the coaching change from Josh McDaniels to interim Antonio Pierce, certain pass catchers have begun to see results most expected from them. The usage of some secondary pass catchers has been more simplified and is capitalizing on those players strengths. Before the coaching change, the roles just did not fit most of the Raiders pass catchers. On top of that, Vegas was unable to consistently get their top weapons rolling.
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Davante Adams does not need many catches to put pressure on opposing defenses. But in their recent games under Pierce, Adams has been moving around the formation more often. He is being set up for more wide-open looks, due to the play designs of Vegas. Finally, Adams is able to turn any short catch into a hefty gain.
Beyond the all-world Adams, the Raiders have begun to show how versatile and well-rounded this pass catching group can actually be. The Raiders may look to test the Chiefs with the speed of rookie Tre Tucker. His recent increase in looks has essentially been all gas and no breaks, if he is able to secure it. Kansas City has seen Hunter Renfrow before. But with McDaniels gone, Renfrow is back to being able to shake free with his savvy, technically refined skill set.
The duo of Jakobi Meyers and rookie tight end Michael Mayer have also found a routine spark with O’Connell. Meyers can play bigger than what his size may indicate, especially in contested catch situations. Though, Meyers’ ability to find the soft spots in zones has been huge for Vegas lately. In the end, the Raiders have been almost sneaky in their usage of Mayer, even though he offers immense size and strength heading into his matchup with the Chiefs. Kansas City will have to be able to match the size and speed of this group in crucial situations.
When Healthy, The Jacobs We Know Is Back
Time will tell if Raiders running back Josh Jacobs returns this week against the Chiefs. He did miss last week’s dominant win with an injury. But when he has been healthy, Jacobs is another offensive weapon that has benefitted immensely with the coaching change. Simply put, he is back to being the Josh Jacobs that we know can grow unstoppable, as we saw last year.
Before the coaching change, Josh Jacobs was averaging just a hair over three yards per carry. In games under Pierce, Jacobs is up to 3.97 yards per carry. Some of that is because of a Raiders offensive line that can impress as run blockers. But elsewhere, Jacobs is back to getting a more steady dose of carries. This has led to him getting stronger and more difficult to corral, as the game goes on. In their first meeting this year, the Raiders forced the Chiefs to stop Jacobs in space. That was something that Kansas City struggled with early.
If he is back from injury this week, the Raiders may look to force the Chiefs to get off of blocks and tackle in space from the jump. Jacobs will never go down too easily. And with Kansas City still looking to put together solid showings in consecutive weeks, Jacobs and the Raiders could view this as a perfect game to grind things out against the Chiefs.
Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles and analysis throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.
– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.