How good was Sunday? Divisional games don’t get much better than that.
The Kansas City Chiefs set multiple franchise records during their 31-0 destruction of the Las Vegas Raiders, while also accomplishing a feat they hadn’t achieved this century and giving head coach Andy Reid a rare career-first as well.
On offense, the Chiefs put on a clinic. With their full contingent of playmakers all available together for the first time, it felt like Kansas City could move the ball and score whenever they wanted. Meanwhile, on defense, the Chiefs were somehow even more dominant as they re-wrote the record books and held the Raiders to a historically poor performance.
Exactly how good Kansas City’s defense played might have flown under the radar, so here are some stats that will put their performance into context and make Chiefs fans feel even better about the huge win.
Illustrating how the Chiefs ruined the Raiders
Sunday’s box score is so comically lopsided that it would almost make Chiefs Kingdom feel sorry for Raiders fans—almost.
The Chiefs were practically unstoppable on offense, and they were even better on defense. Kansas City outgained Las Vegas 434 yards to 95, and had 30 first downs to the Raiders’ three. It is the fewest first downs the Chiefs have allowed in franchise history—that’s 66 years of football we’re talking about—and it’s the fewest first downs any team has had in a game since 2008.
The crazy stats don’t stop there. Kansas City had more touchdowns (four) than the Raiders had first downs (three), while Las Vegas had twice as many punts (six) as they did first downs on offense. With just three first downs, it’s no surprise that Vegas was atrocious on third down, going 0-7 and 0-1 on fourth down. Only two of their drives went for more than 10 yards.
The Chiefs had a huge advantage in time of possession, too. They had the ball for more than 42 minutes of game time, while the Raiders were on offense for just 17 minutes and 52 seconds.
The poor conversion rate, the lack of first downs, and low time of possession meant the Raiders ran just 30 total plays on offense, which is the second fewest in the NFL’s Super Bowl era. Yikes!
Sunday’s performance was also the fewest yards the Chiefs have allowed in a game in the 21st century, and the fourth-fewest yards Kansas City has conceded in a game ever. Kansas City held the Raiders to 93 yards back in 1997, a game the Chiefs won 30-0. The franchise’s stingiest game ever was way back in 1969 when they limited the Boston Patriots to 82 yards as KC won 31-0.
An ultra-rare shutout for K.C.
Shutouts are hard to come by in the NFL, which was highlighted by a surprising first-time achievement by one of the longest-tenured head coaches in NFL history.
Before Sunday, Reid had never coached a shutout in any of his 423 regular-season games over 27 years. Reid also had a shutout during the playoffs back in 2015 when the Chiefs beat the Houston Texans 30-0 in a Wild Card matchup. It was also defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo's first shutout as a Kansas City coach
The Chiefs and Raiders have played 133 times since their first-ever meeting back in 1960, with Sunday’s 31-0 win being Kansas City’s largest shutout margin. The victory last weekend was Kansas City’s first regular-season shutout since 2011, a 28-0 win that, coincidentally, was also against the Raiders.
Hilariously, the Raiders outgained Kansas City that day. They had 322 yards to KC’s 300, but they were brought undone by six turnovers, including two pick-sixes. The two players who scored offensive touchdowns for KC? Javier Arenas and Le'Ron McClain, of course.
Kansas City has had two other shutouts this century, a 41-0 win over San Francisco in 2006 and a 49-0 thumping of the Arizona Cardinals in 2002.