Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley says the team needs to come out and attack the Oakland Raiders early in Week 17 in order to get things right.
If you’ve watched the Kansas City Chiefs in primetime over the last few months, you’ve likely become concerned with the way that the offense has started slowly in primetime at certain moments.
Even on Sunday, during the team’s most recent loss to the Seattle Seahawks, starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes looked a bit too amped as he started with only one completion among his first seven attempts and overthrew some deep targets. The Chiefs have largely been a potent offense to start off games, but in recent weeks, other teams have beaten them off the blocks.
After the game, wide receiver Chris Conley spoke to reporters and was asked what the Chiefs need to do to turn the corner from the Seattle loss and even more struggles in recent weeks.
"We got to elevate our play. I, personally, have got to elevate my play. I think we can all look at ourselves and find areas where we can improve, offense, defense and special teams. Come out and really attack this game and not wait a quarter, or two, to really get rolling. So that’s one of the things we need to go and look at and we need to fix."
The Oakland Raiders certainly present a likely candidate for just that to happen. The Chiefs, on paper, match up very well against the division rivals. The Raiders lack talent at many key positions and the Chiefs should be able to roll over the defense offensively and enjoy a banner day, especially in the passing game. The Raiders defense ranks dead last in the NFL in sack percentage, which should mean plenty of time for Mahomes to find the open man.
Then again the Raiders surprised the Chiefs last time around with a second-half run that brought them back from 17 points down (33-16) to within 7 by game’s end in a 40-33 loss. The Raiders are also coming off of a convincing win over the Denver Broncos in Week 16 and consecutive wins over divisional opponents would go a long way toward convincing the fan base that brighter days are ahead under Jon Gruden.