Raiders sag to .500 as Kansas City bruises Oakland playoff hopes in rout

Playoff hopes took a huge hit for the Raiders when Kansas City snatched control of the AFC West with a dominating 40-9 win Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.

Derek Carr‘s first pass of the game was intercepted by Tyrann Mathieu, which Kansas City took advantage on a Darrel Williams score to put up the Chiefs up 7-0 early in the first.

Self-inflicted wounds continued to haunt Oakland on the ensuing kick off, when Trevor Davis coughed up the ball at the Oakland 19-yard line. Oakland’s defense, however, stood up Williams on a fourth down run.

Oakland running backs were responsible for all 92 yards in the first quarter, whether it was on the ground or the air. Jacobs did most of his damage on the ground with 55 yards, and Jalen Richard helped Carr with 35 receiving yards.

Oakland missed opportunities, as when Patrick Mahomes in early second quarter threw to the opposite side of the field and Nevin Lawson had a wide open chance at an interception and could not make the play.

Oakland struggled to get any sustained movement on offense. Oakland on 4th-and-1 was stuffed on a Davis sweep to give excelleent field possession to the Chiefs at their 40-yard line.

Mahomes, who missed a couple games this season with knee and ankle injuries, had his first rushing touchdown of the season to put Kansas City up 14-0 mid-second quarter.

With two turnovers, a struggling passing game, and costly penalties, Oakland had to respond with points before the game got out of hand.

However, just the opposite happened. Carr got picked off by cornerback Juan Thornhill who undercut the receiver and took it to the house for a pick-six and a 21-0 Kansas City lead.

With 1:09 left in the first half, Oakland entered the red zone and, with a chance to put some sort of points on the board, Daniel Carlson shanked the kick wide, wide left.

By halftime, Oakland had a near 100-yard rusher in Jacobs and had outgained Kansas City 189-127, but due to turnovers and miscues Oakland was down big.

Oakland receivers totaled 34 yards. One bright note for Oakland was Josh Jacobs becoming the first Raider rookie to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season with a bulldozing run of 15 yards in the first quarter.

However, Kansas City won by halftime as Oakland was only able to squeeze out three points. Carr finished with 222 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions-and one touchdown in garbage time.

Oakland finally got their long desired touchdown with 45 seconds remaining, but nothing went right for Oakland as the point after was blocked and ran back for a Kansas City touchdown.

Mahomes had a quiet game by his standards. The reigning MVP had a pedestrian 175 yards for one touchdown (and one rush touchdown).

With a two game losing streak, Oakland has back-to-back 30-point losses. Oakland falls to 6-6 and is now tied for eighth in the AFC with the Indianapolis Colts.

Oakland has a crucial matchup at the Coliseum next Sunday against the Tennessee Titans (7-5), who are one game ahead in the playoff standings.