We asked Madden how the Chiefs start off the final five games of the season, and things are looking extremely positive.
Only five games left in the Kansas City Chiefs regular season, and yet so much can happen.
With the tiebreaker over the Baltimore Ravens and a matchup against the New England Patriots coming next week, the Chiefs are actually in a prime condition to steal a first round bye come January and the start of the playoffs. At the same time, the Raiders are in range of stealing the top position of the AFC West and knocking the Chiefs out of the playoffs.
With so much at stake, the Chiefs need to play hard and put everything on the field over the next five weeks. That starts with putting away the Oakland Raiders, their longtime rival and, lately, a popular punching bag.
We asked Madden ’20 to simulate what happens when the Chiefs match up with the Raiders for maybe the last time before they move to Las Vegas. In what is hopefully a reflection of Sunday afternoon’s reality, the Raiders’ offense could not get anything going in this game and they let the Chiefs run away with a 34-14 victory.
Patrick Mahomes went 16 or 21 passing, throwing for 261 yards and 1 TD (a 47-yard pass to Hill) without playing for most of the first quarter. Matt Moore took over while Mahomes had his ribs looked at, completing 7 of 9 passes for 80 yards and a TD (a 2-yard pass to Kelce).
Derek Carr however looked much less efficient, completing only 16 of 27 attempts for 216 yards and 2 TDs (a 7-yard pass to tight end Darren Waller, and a 1-yard pass to tight end Foster Moreau) and 1 interception (to Chiefs corner Bashaud Breeland).
The Raiders tried to lean on Josh Jacobs, who ran the ball 16 times for 69 yards. But the Chiefs even one upped the long time rival there as well, splitting the load between Lesean McCoy (12 carries) and Darrel Williams (19 carries), who collectively ran for 87 yards, with Mahomes adding 20 yards of his own to bring the rushing total over 100 yards.
The real stars for the Chiefs however were on the defensive side of the ball. The Chiefs were able to sack Derek Carr six times (Alex Okafor had 2, while Chris Jones, Damien Wilson, Frank Clark, Reggie Ragland each had one), pick him off once (B. Breeland), and held the Raiders to only 14 first downs.
After a dominant defensive showing against the Chargers, the Chiefs again were able to dominate defensively, except this time, the offense was able to score nearly every drive. With the playoffs approaching quickly, the Chiefs defense chose the best possible time to get hot, and hopefully can stay that way for the couple months.