Three stars: Chiefs roll past Raiders

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Oakland Raiders to move to 7-5 on the season. At this point, the Chiefs might be double-digit favorites in every game they play the rest of the regular season, with three of the four coming in Arrowhead Stadium.

Yet, before we look ahead, let’s look at what happened at the O.co Coliseum. Kansas City was trailing 20-14 and looking like it might let this contest slip away before reeling off 20 consecutive points. Here are the three stars of the game for the victors:

1. Jeremy Maclin

Maclin was absolutely nails down the stretch. Many people talked about how he was a bad signing at five years and $55 million for a team that would certainly underutilized him with Alex Smith at quarterback. Instead, Maclin has become invaluable. Through 12 games this season (Maclin has played in 11 due to a concussion), the stud receiver has 66 catches and 862 yards with five touchdowns. With four games remaining, Maclin is going to have an 1,000-yard season with seven or eight scores.

2. Andy Reid

This game could have gone the other way. The Chiefs turned the ball over twice in the first half and Marcus Peters was absolutely coming apart on the sideline after Kansas City fell behind 20-14 in the third quarter. Yet, Reid and the coaching staff kept the team plugging away. Reid kept calling plays that sprung Maclin wide open and the was able to find the offense’s pulse in the second half. Reid gets plenty of blame in defeat. He deserves ample credit here.

3. Josh Mauga

Mauga made the single biggest play of the game. Down 201-4 and with the Raiders driving in the second half, Mauga picked off Derek Carr thanks to ample pressure on the young quarterback, and ran it back to the Oakland 2-yard line. The Chiefs tied the contest on the subsequent touchdown and rolled from there.