Kansas City Masterpiece: Raiders’ win at Chiefs is a major moment for franchise

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020 | 5:30 p.m.

As the football floated through the windy Midwestern air, silencing the roughly 16,000 fans inside Arrowhead Stadium in suspense and sending Chiefs’ safeties sprinting to catch up in a panic, Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs III had no doubts.

He knew Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had done just what he always asked him to and lofted a deep pass in his direction. The rookie first-round draft choice knew he was seconds away from his first NFL touchdown.

“I was telling Derek, I trust him when the ball is in the air,” Ruggs said. “I was just looking to see how I needed to attack the ball and catch it.”

Ruggs used his world-class speed to keep his distance from the nearest defensive back, Charvarius Ward, pulled down the catch and trotted his way to the end zone for a 72-yard score. The touchdown erased what had been a Raiders’ double-digit deficit just minutes before and gave them their second lead of the day shortly before halftime.

Although drama followed, Las Vegas never trailed again en route to taking down the defending Super Bowl champions 40-32. It was the biggest upset of the year so far in the NFL, with the Raiders a closing 10.5-point underdog, and quite possibly the one the longest in the making.

The franchise made Ruggs the first-ever draft pick of the Las Vegas Raiders last April expressly to fight fire with fire and attack the Chiefs with the type of speed they had weaponized over the last couple years. The Raiders similarly didn’t try to hide the fact that a number of other offseason moves were made with the Chiefs in mind.

Las Vegas knew its only path to success was through Kansas City after the Chiefs won the AFC West title for four consecutive years. Sunday’s victory was long-awaited proof that it’s possible, as the win snapped a five-game losing streak to the Chiefs dating back to 2017 and a seven-game losing streak at Arrowhead dating back to 2012.

It was also the Chiefs’ first loss in 13 games, dating back to midseason of last year’s Super Bowl-winning run.

“It was an important game to us all,” Raiders safety Johnathan Abram said. “I haven’t been around here a lot, but I know the history. I know how important it is to win a division game. These are the world champions.”

The Raiders (3-2) still sit a game behind the Chiefs (4-1) in the standings, but they’re now headed into a bye week with optimism. Their postgame cheerfulness was a world removed from the sour feeling they carried into Kansas City off of two straight losses.

More importantly, the Raiders have concrete evidence that their long-term vision is working. Among the talents they prioritized as a way to catch up with the Chiefs were explosive offensive players, relentless pass rushers, risk-taking defensive backs and personalities that thrived off of facing adversity.

They leaned heavily on each category to beat the Chiefs on the road for the first time in seven tries with Carr behind center.

“You sit there and think, ‘What better opportunity is there to see what this team is made of?’” Carr said. “I’m always optimistic, but the football character of this team is legit. Coach Gruden and (general manger) Mike Mayock have done a great job of finding people that aren’t only football guys but will do all they can do to win football games.”

Many of the players were motivated to win for Carr, who became the franchise’s all-time leader in touchdown passes last week but had always gotten criticism in a number of areas — including an inability to win at rival Kansas City. History seemed to be repeating in the first quarter when Carr threw an interception, snapping a streak of 316 passes without one, in Las Vegas territory to give Kansas City a short field it used to go up 14-3.

Cameras caught Carr asking Gruden, “do you trust me,” on the sidelines shortly after, and the coach’s actions soon demonstrated that the answer was an emphatic, “yes.” Instead of turtling up and playing conservatively — another knock on Carr — Gruden kept attacking.

When the Raiders got the ball back, they took a deep shot that resulted in a 59-yard touchdown to Nelson Agholor down the middle of the field. Another quick scoring drive — 75 yards in five plays capped by a touchdown pass to Darren Waller — preceded Ruggs’ touchdown.

In other words, it was three drives, three sets of aggressive play calls, three touchdowns.

“We threw the ball downfield today,” Gruden said. “I’m sure the Pro Football Focus statisticians will have to scratch their heads and they’re going to have to figure out, ‘Did they really do that?’ Ruggs is healthy and he can go down the field.”

Ruggs caught two of the Raiders’ three longest completions — also catching a 46-yard rocket down the sideline over the shoulders of Chiefs cornerback Rashad Fenton on the first drive of the game — but Carr included everyone. Ten different Las Vegas players had receptions on Sunday.

Put them all together and Carr went 22-for-31 passing for 347 yards and three touchdowns, outdoing defending Super Bowl MVP and former regular-season MVP Patrick Mahomes, who had 340 yards and two touchdowns on 22-for-43 passing. Mahomes bought time and tormented the Raiders in the first half, but the visitors did the near-impossible and held the Chiefs’ offense to one touchdown in the second half.

Las Vegas forced Kansas City to punt on its first three possessions of the second half.

“In the first half, we were a little bit repetitive with some of the things we were doing,” defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “In the second half, we switched things up and a lot of that was on purpose.”

Las Vegas punted right back twice in the third quarter but got into a rhythm on its third drive of the second half. Las Vegas bled eight minutes off the clock on a 13-play, 71-yard scoring drive capped by the first of two touchdowns by running Josh Jacobs.

Jacobs had to fight through a couple tackles from the 7-yard line on his first score, but the next was much easier. That’s because the defense set Jacobs up, largely by finally making Mahomes feel its presence.

After Crosby got to him for a sack and fellow 2018 draft classmate Clelin Ferrell consistently started getting through the line, Mahomes scrambled out of the pocket quickly on a key 4^th-and-7 play from his own 28-yard line. He didn’t have enough time to fully survey the field and flung a pass down the middle that was intercepted by veteran backup safety Jeff Heath, who returned the takeaway 47 yards down to the 2-yard line.

Jacobs found the end zone on the next play to put the Raiders up 40-24 with just more than five minutes remaining.

“This is the first time I feel we’ve played a complete game all year,” Jacobs said, “and it came against the champions.”

The champions wouldn’t go quietly as Mahomes took them down the field in less than 90 seconds for a touchdown to Travis Kelce, who had eight catches for 108 yards, and a two-point conversion to Darrell Williams. The Raiders would need two first downs to secure victory, and the second put Gruden’s aggressive streak to the ultimate test.

Las Vegas faced a 4^th-and-1 from the Kansas City 45-yard line, the type of situation where Gruden has traditionally punted. Not on Sunday.

“We just didn’t want to give Mahomes another crack at it,” Gruden said.

For the second time of the afternoon on a fourth-and-1, he called for a keeper with Carr, who snuck just put the line of scrimmage to end the game. Some players, like Jacobs, went out of their way to congratulate Carr.

It was a monumental win for the organization, and no one knows that better than Carr, who thought of all his Arrowhead disappointments as he walked off the field.

“I’ve taken a lot of sad walks up that ramp,” Carr said. “But not today.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.