Chiefs film room: Reviewing the Jaguars and how to beat the Raiders
By Grant Tuttle
Key offensive players:
Sammy Watkins: After a huge week against the Jaguars, the Chiefs will need big things from Sammy Watkins again against the Oakland Raiders. With youth and injury looming over the cornerback group, Watkins will need to find his way open in the middle over the field and be a solid player for the offense.
Andrew Wylie and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif: While the Raiders certainly don’t appear to have a terrifying pass-rush, which should be concerning to team playing the Chiefs, they do look very good against the run. The Chiefs will need their guards to be physical with the talented run-stoppers for the Raiders if they hope to establish a ground game.
Key defensive players:
Anthony Hitchens: Just like last season, I have concerns about Anthony Hitchens. Particularly, I am worried about Hitchens in the passing game. If Spagnuolo expects Hitchens to stay with Darren Waller, I think they will be making a mistake. That being said, no matter what is asked of him, Hitchens will need to step up.
Frank Clark: The Chiefs traded away a first-round pick for Frank Clark, who they deemed “elite.” After staying relatively quiet in the passing game, the Chiefs will need pressure on Derek Carr off of the edge, or they will struggle to disrupt his rhythm, which he found in week one against the Broncos.
Attack these players offensively:
Trayvon Mullen: After Gareon Conley went down with a scary-looking injury, Mullen becomes the next man up. Mullen is a rookie and will likely be handsy with any receiver that he is tasked to cover. Patrick Mahomes should be attacking him at every man to man matchup.
Tahir Whitehead: While Whitehead will show up on tape as a guy who is around the ball all the time, the tape also shows how Whitehead misses loads of tackles and struggles in the passing game. The Chiefs should certainly attack the part of the field where Whitehead is playing.
Players to slow down:
Josh Jacobs: Josh Jacobs is a powerful runner. The Raiders were not afraid to feed him the ball a ton during the game against the Broncos in which he rushed 23 times for 85 yards and a pair of touchdowns. While the run defense looks better in Kansas City, they will certainly need to do a good job of tackling.
Tyrell Williams: With Antonio Brown out of the picture, the Raiders will be looking to go to Tyrell Williams early and often. In week one, he was the go-to target finishing with six receptions on seven targets for 105 yards and a touchdown. The Chiefs should make sure that they have help on whichever side of the field he lines up on.
Darren Waller: The athletic tight end could give the Chiefs a black eye if they cannot slow him down. The Chiefs should consider putting a combination of Tyrann Mathieu and Juan Thornhill in man coverage on him so that he cannot exploit weak spots in the zone coverage.
Final thoughts:
The Raiders looked surprisingly good in their Monday night matchup with the Denver Broncos. While the Broncos looked horrendous on the offensive side of the ball, they have a solid defense that struggled to keep up with the Oakland offense. While I don’t expect the Chiefs to lose a game in Oakland, they are a much scrappier team than anyone anticipated even if they don’t have Antonio Brown catching passes for them.
Next. Six CB trade targets for the Chiefs. dark
If Kansas City is able to slow down their connections of Carr to Waller and Tyrell Williams, they should have a great day. Knowing the way that the Kansas City defense operates, that may be a tough task. All in all, look for Oakland to give Kansas City everything that they have, as they continue to play with a chip on their shoulder.