Ranking the studs and duds from Chiefs win over Raiders
By Matt Conner
Dud: Demarcus Robinson
Honestly, spending too much time here is only going to make all of us more frustrated that we need to be. These are already frustrating times, and we likely have very little margin when it comes to emotional health. Still, we have to at least discuss the disappointing night from Demarcus Robinson.
All night long, it felt like Robinson was making one weird move after another. On Mahomes second interception of the season, Robinson failed to come back to the ball as planned (or as Mahomes expected) and Trayvon Mullen came up to make the play. On another first down, he tried to extend himself to give himself the… first down? He ended up fumbling the ball and the play could have been cost the Chiefs dearly. On another play, he caught the ball only to run backwards to try to make something more and ended up with quite a bit less. Then there was the negative yards on a punt return.
Yes there was a wonderful 4th down conversion in the fourth quarter, but Robinson’s night could serve as a film study in “making mental miscues”. Okay we need to move on.
Stud: Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Ever since the Chiefs acquired Le’Veon Bell a few weeks ago, the Chiefs have actually moved away from the running game more than ever—defying beliefs that the tandem of Bell and Clyde Edwards-Helaire would suddenly become a two-headed monster for an already unstoppable offense. In fact, Edwards-Helaire went from averaging over 84 yards per game to 81 total yards in the last three games for the Chiefs.
On Sunday night, Edwards-Helaire came up big for the Chiefs on a night where they had to ask a lot of every major offensive weapon. The first-round pick finished with 69 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground (and another 8 receiving yards) for his best night on the stat sheet in over a month—since his incredible 161 yard rushing performance against the Buffalo Bills in Week 6.
Edwards-Helaire’s good hands and tough running style both came in handy at key points and helped the Chiefs offense keep up with a surprising Raiders team. Good to see the rookie so productive once again.