Chiefs vs. Raiders: Mitch Morse, Charcandrick West ruled out
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs will be without their interior offensive line for yet another week with news that Mitch Morse and LDT aren’t quite ready.
Despite returning to practice in recent weeks, the Kansas City Chiefs will once again be without a couple starters along the interior of their offensive line when they suit up to play the Oakland Raiders on Thursday Night Football. Starting center Mitch Morse and starting right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif remain sidelined with a sprained foot and a knee injury, respectively.
Charcandrick West, Mitch Morse and LDT are OUT vs Oakland on Thursday. Albert Wilson is questionable.
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) October 18, 2017
The loss of Duvernay-Tardif and Morse in the middle has crippled the Chiefs ability to grind it out in the running game, as starting running back Kareem Hunt’s rushing numbers have dropped every week. He still leads the NFL in rushing yards with 630, but his rushing average of 8.5 yards/carry in Weeks 1-3 has dropped to 3.88. It’s also intriguing that last year’s starting left guard, Parker Ehinger, has yet to supplant his replacement Bryan Witzmann. If the Chiefs love Witzmann, then why not move either player over to right guard where LDT is missing and Cameron Erving hasn’t looked all that great? Hopefully the Chiefs can push the ball a bit more on the ground against the Raiders front seven.
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As for other injuries, the Chiefs depth at running back and wide receiver will be tested in this short week. Hunt will team with Akeem Hunt (no relation) and C.J. Spiller in the backfield. Spiller was recently re-signed by the Chiefs after being cut a few times in the preseason (for the sake of various roster moves). Given that West is out, it will be on these new(er) performers to pick up the load.
Out at wide receiver, the Chiefs lost Chris Conley for the season just two weeks ago and No. 1 wideout Tyreek Hill was pulled for a potential concussion just four days ago. If Albert Wilson isn’t ready to go, the Chiefs will be seriously relying on DeMarcus Robinson, Jehu Chesson and De’Anthony Thomas to move the chains—all of which are unproven when it comes to being a sustained offensive threat at the NFL level.