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| Other Week 13 Game Recaps | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARI at PHI | ATL at SD | BAL at CIN | CAR at GB | CHI at MIN | DEN at NYJ | IND at CLE | JAX at HOU |
| KC at OAK | MIA at STL | NO at TB | NYG at WAS | PIT at NE | SEA at DAL | SF at BUF | TEN at DET |
Week 13 Game Recap: Kansas City Chiefs 20, Oakland Raiders 13
What you need to know
| Kansas City Chiefs |
The Chiefs played unevenly at times but made enough big plays to come away with their second win in their last 21 games. Among their biggest plays was recovering a fake field goal attempt in the second quarter that they took in for a touchdown, which turned out to be the margin of victory. Larry Johnson ran with excellent power, and helped his team enjoy an advantage of just over ten minutes in time of possession. He showed good vision and patience in selecting which holes to attack, and used his power to break tackles and gain additional yards after initial contact, including his touchdown run, which was Kansas City's first rushing touchdown in their last 105 rushing attempts. Johnson became more effective as the game wore on, and 16 of his 24 rushing attempts came in the second half. Of those rushes, eight gained seven or more yards, and he did an excellent job of wearing down Oakland's defense late in the game.
Kansas City's passing attack was inconsistent. Tyler Thigpen only appeared comfortable with Tony Gonzalez, and targeted him on 11 of his 22 throws. Eight of Thigpen's 11 passes that were directed towards other receivers were very short passes, and he had one pass intercepted and threw another one directly to a Raiders defender, who dropped the ball. However, Thigpen and Gonzalez were on the same page, with Gonzalez running mostly intermediate and deep routes, and then using his size to shield his defender from the ball, then jump and catch the passes. Gonzalez was so effective at the beginning of the game, getting open against safeties and linebackers, that the Raiders tried covering him with their cornerbacks at times. Although Thigpen was unable to develop a consistent rhythm with his other receivers, he made several big plays with his legs, including several designed running plays, adding a different dimension to the Chiefs' offense.
The Chiefs ran eight plays in the red zone on two possessions, and came away with one field goal and one touchdown. They ran the ball seven times, with Johnson getting five of those carries, including one he punched in for a touchdown from the two yard line. Thigpen had the other two red zone rushes, including one that was designed for him. His lone pass was a check down pass to tight end Brad Cottam for minimal gain.
| Oakland Raiders |
The Raiders played aggressively on offense but suffered from several miscues and missed opportunities and could not overcome them all. Oakland botched a fake field goal in the second half that Kansas City recovered for a touchdown to put them up 10--3, and the Raiders seemed to lose some momentum after that play that they never fully regained. Their running game showed promise in the first half, but Oakland did not utilize their running backs much in the second half. Justin Fargas carried the ball 11 times in the first half, and just seven times in the second, while Darren McFadden only carried the ball once in the second half. Fargas ran hard on every carry, and gained positive yards on all but one of his rushing attempts. He fought for extra yards every time he was tackled, and kept his legs driving in an effort to gain additional yards. Fargas scored his first touchdown of the season. McFadden only had seven carries and averaged less than two yards per carry. He had a difficult time getting past the line of scrimmage. However, he made several contributions in the passing game. He lined up as a wide receiver several times, and was used on a variety of routes, along the sideline, across the middle, deep, intermediate and short. McFadden showed an ability to get open by running his routes well, including a play where he got open deep but was fouled by his defender.
JaMarcus Russell epitomized the Raiders' missed opportunities and miscues. He connected on four of his first six passes for 78 yards, but was an anemic six of his remaining 22 passes for 54 yards afterwards. Russell made a few outstanding deep passes, but was victimized by a drop apiece by Zach Miller and Ashley Lelie. However, he missed three scoring opportunities, when he threw low to Johnny Lee Higgins a few yards outside of the end zone with no defenders in front of him, missed Zach Miller in the end zone by throwing too high, and not connecting with an open Ronald Curry in the end zone. The pass to Curry came on a fourth down play, when Oakland eschewed going for a field goal to attempt the touchdown. Russell overthrew his receivers either too high or wide 11 times, but did have two scrambles that electrified the crowd, running for 17 and 20 yards and showing surprising mobility to elude defenders. On one of his runs, he finished the run off by taking two of Kansas City's defenders head on.
The Raiders ran four plays on two red zone possessions, and came away with a field goal and touchdown. Three of the plays were running plays, with Fargas scoring on his lone red zone rush. McFadden had one rushing attempt and Johnny Lee Higgins had an end around. The only red zone pass was to Zach Miller, who was overthrown in the end zone.
What you ought to know
| QB Tyler Thigpen, Pass: 15 - 22 - 162 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 11 - 48 - 0 |
Thigpen looked very efficient when passing to Tony Gonzalez, but did not create many passing plays with other receivers, except for a crucial third down pass late in the game that was caught by Dwayne Bowe. Thigpen relied on short passes with receivers other than Gonzalez, and seemed more comfortable relying on his feet to make big plays if Gonzalez was not open. He also benefited by some excellent catches by Gonzalez, who bailed him out on a couple passes that floated and could have been knocked away or intercepted. Even the pass to Bowe was close to being deflected, but to Thigpen's credit, he did not waver in his decision to throw to Bowe when he was able to get open, and that play helped seal the victory.
| RB Larry Johnson, Rush: 24 - 92 - 1 (1 targets) |
Johnson started slowly but as the game wore on, he ran with great determination and power. He showed excellent judgment in determining which holes to attack, and was very difficult to tackle. He routinely gained yards after contact by using his size and power to shed defenders and drag others. Johnson got stronger as the game wore on, and five of his seven rushes that gained seven or more yards, were in the second half.
| RB Jamaal Charles, Rush: 2 - 5 - 0, Rec: 1 - 15 - 0 (2 targets) |
Charles did not have many opportunities, but did show good elusiveness in gaining additional yards on the pass he caught.
| RB Mike Cox, Rec: 1 - 2 - 0 (1 targets) |
Cox's contributions were mostly as a blocking back
| WR Dwayne Bowe, Rec: 2 - 27 - 0 (4 targets) |
Bowe was used on shorter routes, and showed his strength by breaking three tackles to gain yards after his first catch. He dropped one of his targets, and was overthrown on another that resulted in an interception. Bowe did show good concentration in making his second catch late in the game while being well defended.
| WR Devard Darling, Rec: 1 - 2 - 0 (1 targets) |
Darling was targeted once, on a short screen pass.
| WR Will Franklin, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (1 targets) |
Franklin had a minimal impact on the game.
| TE Tony Gonzalez, Rec: 8 - 110 - 0 (11 targets) |
Gonzalez had an outstanding game, getting open routinely against the Raiders' defenders. He ran his routes well to get open, and used his size, leaping ability and hands to his advantage. When he got open, he ran well to gain yards after the catch, and when he was well covered, showed excellent hands in making some tough catches.
| TE Brad Cottam, Rec: 1 - 2 - 0 (1 targets) |
Cottam was the outlet receiver on one play but was otherwise not involved much.
| PK Connor Barth 2 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 8 points |
Barth made both of his point after attempts and both of his field goal attempts, which were from 38 and 27 yards.
| KC Rush Defense |
Kansas City's defense played hard throughout the game, and although they were missing starters at linebacker, turned in a solid performance. Although they allowed an average of 4.55 yards per rush and a rushing touchdown to Fargas, they corralled McFadden and held him to less than two yards per carry. They made a big play to help maintain their lead late in the game by stripping Fargas of the ball and recovering the fumble.
| KC Pass Defense |
The Chiefs were helped by Russell's inaccuracy in holding him to 132 yards passing. They could not generate a pass rush consistently, and did not sack the Raiders quarterback. On a couple of occasions when they did force Russell from the pocket, he managed to scramble for over 15 yards both times. Kansas City's secondary did not stop Oakland's receivers from breaking open many times, and were fortunate that the receivers and Russell could not get on the same page with any consistency.
| QB JaMarcus Russell, Pass: 10 - 28 - 132 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 37 - 0 |
Russell looked as though he was on his way to a big game early by connecting on some well thrown passes, averaging 19.5 yards on his first four completions. However, he became inaccurate after that, and missed open receivers several times, and not because he was facing a stellar pass rush. He and his receivers seemed to be disconnected on where they should be, as Russell seemingly was throwing to a place where he thought they would be, but were not. Zach Miller was Russell's favorite target with 11 passes thrown Miller's way.
| RB Justin Fargas, Rush: 18 - 82 - 1, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (2 targets) |
Fargas ran with tremendous desire and rarely went down on first contact. He showed excellent burst through the line of scrimmage, and kept his legs driving as he fought for additional yards after being tackled. His tenacity was rewarded as he was the primary running back on the Raiders' first goal-to-go possession, and he scored his first rushing touchdown of the season. He did have a miscue when he lost a fumble late in the game as Oakland was trying to rally.
| RB Darren McFadden, Rush: 7 - 13 - 0, Rec: 3 - 50 - 0 (2 targets) |
McFadden did not contribute much running the ball, but contributed well in the passing game. He lined up outside as a wide receiver several times, and not only showed very good hands in making tough catches, but ran his routes very well. McFadden got open deep twice, and was able to get a penalty called on his defender who did so in an effort to prevent a potentially big score. McFadden was also involved on a hook and ladder-type play where he took a short pass from Ronald Curry after Curry had caught a pass and ran for several yards.
| WR Ronald Curry, Rec: 1 - 0 - 0 (4 targets) |
Curry was open the four times he was targeted. His one catch was part of a play where he immediately threw it to McFadden, while his other three targets were thrown out of his reach, including one where he had gotten open in the end zone.
| WR Johnnie Lee Higgins, Rush: 1 - 7 - 0 (1 targets) |
Higgins was involved in an end around play in the red zone, but otherwise his contributions were on special teams as a punt returner.
| WR Ashley Lelie (4 targets) |
Lelie ran intermediate and deep routes, dropped one of his targets, and was overthrown or thrown too wide on the others. He and Russell seemed to be on different pages.
| WR Todd Watkins (1 targets) |
Watkins made a nice catch of a deep pass, but it was called back due to offsetting penalties. He was not involved afterwards.
| TE Zach Miller, Rec: 5 - 79 - 0 (11 targets) |
Miller was Russell's favorite target, and they connected on several intermediate routes where timing was important. Seven of the passes thrown to Miller were of the intermediate or deep variety, and his number could have been even better, had he not dropped a pass where he was open as well as being hit as the ball arrived, forcing him to drop another pass. Miller was overthrown twice, including once in the end zone.
| PK Sebastian Janikowski 2 - 2 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 7 points |
Janikowski made his only point after attempt and made both of his field goal attempts, which were from 25 and 51 yards. He was part of the botched fake field goal attempt that gave up the touchdown.
| OAK Rush Defense |
Oakland's rush defense was put to the test by a hard-charging Larry Johnson, and while at times they stopped him for minimal gain, they gave up several significant runs in the second half, including a touchdown run in the fourth quarter to put Kansas City up by a touchdown. They could not stop Johnson at first contact, and gave up several yards after the initial hit. The Raiders' defenders did not make many plays behind the line of scrimmage as they rarely penetrated the line of scrimmage.
| OAK Pass Defense |
The Raiders' pass defense played aggressively, but was not consistent. They did not have an answer for Tony Gonzalez, trying linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks to defend him with little success. Their pass rush only recorded one sack, but caused Thigpen to scramble at other times. Oakland's secondary did a good job of containing the other receivers, but did not have many big plays. They did take an interception to the one yard line, but dropped a potential interception in the third quarter with the score tied.