Arrowheadlines: Chiefs get an ‘A+’ for complete performance against Raiders

Chiefs headlines for Tuesday, October 21

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NFL Week 7 grades: Eagles earn high mark after snapping two-game skid | CBS Sports

A+ Chiefs For the first time all season, Patrick Mahomes had his full arsenal of weapons available to him on offense and it definitely showed. With Rashee Rice back from his six-game suspension, Mahomes went off with 286 yards passing and three touchdowns in just three quarters of action (He spent the fourth quarter on the bench). Rice, who didn’t really show any rust, had a team-high seven catches that went for 42

yards and two touchdowns. Mahomes kept the Raiders defense guessing on a day where six different receivers finished with at least 35 yards. As good as the offense was, the defense might have been better: The unit didn’t allow a third-down conversion while also holding the Raiders under 100 yards of total offense. The defense also pitched the team’s first shutout in 14 years. After struggling at times through the first six weeks, the Chiefs officially look like a serious Super Bowl contender.

Winners and Losers of the NFL Week 7 | The Ringer

Loser: The Raiders’ Nonexistent Offense

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs delivered a vintage offensive performance in Rashee Rice’s season debut (he was previously serving a six-game suspension for his role in a serious multicar crash in 2024), cruising to a 31-0 win against the Raiders. The Chiefs offense was humming right away, with long, methodical drives that seemed to crush the Raiders’ spirit well before halftime. Rice caught his first touchdown of the season at the end of the Chiefs’ nine-play, 92-yard drive. He caught a second touchdown just before halftime, the capper to a 16-play, 94-yard drive. In between those possessions, the Chiefs had a 17-play, 84-yard scoring drive.

By the time the game was over, the Chiefs had 30 first downs, the second most by any team in a game this season. That figure is impressive enough on its own, but then compare the Chiefs to the Raiders, who had just three first downs—the fewest in any game this season by a considerable margin (the dreadful Titans even managed seven in their Week 1 loss to Denver). But that was far from the only ignominious stat for the Raiders:

By EPA added per play, it was the worst performance by an offense in a game this season. Yes, worse than that Jake Browning Bengals game against the Vikings.

The Raiders’ offensive success rate on the day was just 14.3 percent—nearly 7 percentage points worse than the second-place team (the Dolphins, on Sunday against Cleveland).

Las Vegas ran just 30 offensive plays—the fewest in a game since at least 2000, and three fewer than the Carson Wentz–led Chiefs in Week 18 last season.

The Raiders had the ball for just 17 minutes and 52 seconds, the lowest time of possession for an offense this season (no other team is below 21 minutes). Quite an easy day’s work for the Chiefs defense.

NFL Week 7 winners and losers has Commanders, Dolphins fading fast | Chiefs Wire

Kansas City Chiefs’ receiving corps

“Everybody Gotta Eat,” indeed. Kansas City’s offensive mantra manifested on the field upon Rashee Rice’s return from a six-game suspension, with nine different players catching a pass from Patrick Mahomes in a 31-0 rout of the Las Vegas Raiders before the starting quarterback’s exit in the third quarter. Rice got in the mix early with two short touchdowns, but the real benefit of his presence is a compounding effect for a receiving corps that finally got its top trio on the field – albeit a year-plus later than the coaching staff and front office initially envisioned. Now, a unit that was so thoroughly maligned throughout September appears to be in prime position for the stretch run of the season.

NFL Week 7 takeaways: What We Learned from Sunday’s 12 games | NFL.com

Next Gen Stats Insight for Raiders-Chiefs (via NFL Pro): Patrick Mahomes only attempted one pass longer than 28.5 air yards on Sunday, a 40.3-air-yard completion to Tyquan Thornton.

NFL Research: Las Vegas had only three first downs in the game, the fewest in the NFL since the Raiders had three in a Week 9 loss to the Falcons in the 2008 NFL season.

With Rashee Rice back, can Patrick Mahomes finish as fantasy football’s No. 1 quarterback? | The Athletic

Since Mahomes has posted 21+ FPPG over a full season on two occasions, he can replicate his Weeks 4-7 pass FPPG pace for the rest of the year and maybe improve upon it if Rice continues to produce anywhere near his Week 7 pace.

Rushing production spike

Mahomes had been incredibly consistent in fantasy rushing scoring prior to this season. He averaged between 2.4 and 2.9 rush FPPG in every season from 2018-24, sans the 2022 season when he posted a 3.5 FPPG mark.

His 7.0 rush FPPG pace this season is double his former season-high in this category. Mahomes posted a very high mark in this area in both season segments, so it isn’t just a matter of a single game spiking his numbers.

Mahomes is posting most of his ground points on scrambles (5.2 FPPG), but he has also tallied points on planned rushes (1.8 FPPG).

Around the NFL

Lions knock Bucs out of first behind Jahmyr Gibbs’ big night ESPN

Gibbs was spectacular, totaling 218 yards and two rushing touchdowns, as the Lions continue to make a case as the NFL’s best following a loss.

After falling at Kansas City in Week 6, Detroit bounced back with another home win while breaking out its all-black uniforms for the first time this season. Detroit is now 13-4 following a loss since the start of the 2022 campaign, which is the second-best record in NFL over that span after the Chiefs (11-2), per ESPN Research.

In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride

Chiefs Rost: Week 7 shutout of Raiders reduced Chris Jones’ workload

In this more nonchalant shutout, Kansas City finished with just one takeaway: a botched snap that was recovered in the fourth quarter — well after the game was in hand.

It was a straight-up domination by the Chiefs’ defense, which wasn’t on the field for more than five plays in any of the 10 Las Vegas possessions — and after consecutive weeks with at least 44 snaps, defensive tackle Chris Jones was basking in the minimal stress he put on his body.

“The energy is still high — but I feel really, really good,” Jones declared after the game. “We have a few guys that are battling injuries, we have to get them healthy… I personally feel really, really good; I played 23 plays.”

Jones actually played just 22 snaps — the fewest he’s recorded in a game since Week 3 of 2023. It was a similar situation: a 41-10 blowout of the Chicago Bears.

He earned the lighter workload when he earned the team’s only sack of the afternoon. With the Chiefs defending a 28-0 lead in the third quarter, Jones violently made his way past Raiders’ second-year guard Jackson Powers-Johnson to bring down quarterback Geno Smith. That same blocking matchup resulted in a holding call during the opening drive, negating a third-down conversion that led to a punt.