Chiefs film room: Reviewing the Jaguars and how to beat the Raiders

Game Plan: How to beat the Oakland Raiders

The Antonio Brown-less Oakland Raiders had an interesting game on Monday night with the Broncos. The Raiders seemed to have very little trouble moving the ball and shut down a struggling Broncos offense for most of the game. The Broncos are certainly not the Chiefs on either side of the ball. Here is what the Chiefs should do to beat the Raiders in Oakland.

Contain Darren Waller (No, seriously)

It may seem silly, but the Chiefs need to be nervous about tight end Darren Waller. As a guy that most people have never heard of, Waller looked genuinely impressive against the Broncos. Waller is very athletic with great size. While he was not the leading receiver for the Raiders, he was very consistent and made some important catches throughout the game. The linebackers and safeties will have their hands full with Waller in the middle of the field.

Looking at this play, you can easily see why Waller is dangerous. The Broncos sent their nickel corner out to cover him and Waller ran right by him. With a great pass from Derek Carr, the Broncos are lucky that it did not go for more. If the Chiefs want to slow down Waller, they will need consistency in their coverage.

Finding the soft middle

The Raiders showed some soft zone looks against the Broncos. While most of the time, Joe Flacco struggled to move the ball against the Raiders defense, the easiest yards that he got were from throwing on the linebackers in the middle of the field when they showed zone coverage.

If the Raiders try this on Mahomes with Kelce and Watkins in the middle of the field, they are going to be hurting. If Gareon Conley misses this week, the Raiders may struggle to stop the passing attack all the way around. See here how open the middle of the field looked for the Broncos.

Make solid tackles

If Steve Spagnuolo has done nothing else, he has put an emphasis on tackling. In this regard, the Broncos were disappointing. As a team that many thought would have a great defense, they looked putrid when it came to tackling ball carriers. The Raiders had moments when they looked like a team of Marshawn Lynch players in his prime.

Here is an example. While Josh Jacobs is certainly a powerful runner, the Broncos had multiple opportunities to bring him down before he finally went down for an enormous gain. Jacobs releases from the backfield and every linebacker on the field had a chance to make the tackle and none of them were successful. The Chiefs will need to be able to make tackles in the open field or the Raiders will run up and down the field on them.