When the Kansas City Chiefs host the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, Andy Reid will be looking across the field at his only elder among current NFL head coaches.
Reid has no doubt what 73-year-old Pete Carroll
brings to the Raiders after the 14 years he spent leading the Seattle Seahawks.
“Toughness,” Reid declared before Wednesday’s practice. “There’s a toughness. He’s got a great scheme, too, but there’s a toughness that he brings in — and energy.”
The Raiders also boast the perfect rookie weapon to complement Carroll’s grit. Las Vegas selected running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick in April’s NFL Draft. After totaling 5,631 scrimmage yards in three seasons at Boise State, Jeanty has 424 rushing yards and five total touchdowns over six games with the Raiders.
Kansas City linebacker Drue Tranquill is impressed with what the film has revealed about the rookie back.
“He’s got incredible contact balance,” Tranquill observed. “You see it in that 60-plus-yard touchdown run he broke where he was able to break the leg tackle there going down the sideline. Obviously, we know what he did at Boise State, so they’re giving him a lot of touches. I think in Indianapolis, they gave him a swing pass for 40 yards to open the game. So they’re trying to get him the ball in a lot of different ways — and obviously they think very highly of him.”
Early in the Week 6 matchup against the Detroit Lions, the Chiefs’ run defense struggled — but ultimately rose to the challenge by holding the Lions to fewer than 100 rushing yards. Tranquill attributed Detroit’s early success to a top-level opening script of about 15 plays. He expects most teams will take note of what the Lions were able to do.
“There are a lot of good offensive coordinators,” the linebacker explained, “and teams that spend a lot of time on what we call their ‘first 15’ [are] obviously studying our tape, seeing where the holes are, what the big plays are going up on defense. They attack the concepts we do early in that first drive — and then as we see what they’re trying to do to us schematically, we’re able to make those adjustments on the sideline and at halftime and perform strong down the stretch. But ultimately, we want to come out of the gates executing at a high level.”
Advanced metrics haven’t been kind to Kansas City’s run defense this season, but the team is actually on a streak. No running back has rushed for 100 yards against the Chiefs since 2023, when Jeanty’s current backup Zamir White finished the day with 145 rushing yards as the Raiders upset the Chiefs in Kansas City on Christmas Day.
Tranquill is aware of the streak — and respects the Raiders’ ability to break it.
“We certainly take a lot of pride in stopping the run,” Tranquill remarked. “I think people perceive us as a defense that’s been built to stop the pass because we’ve played from ahead historically, but we certainly take great pride — and that starts with [defensive line coach] Joe Cullen and our Wednesday run meetings. He fires us up, and then we try to carry that energy throughout the week. But it’s certainly something we take a lot of pride in.
“I remember that [Christmas] game. Zamir White had a great game. We’ll have to be better this week.”
The Raiders are 2-4 — and three of their losses have been by multiple scores. But the Chiefs still understand the importance of the rivalry — and the ability of either franchise to rise to the occasion in any game they play against each other.
“You feel that when you step in the building during Raider week,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said on Wednesday. “I always say it doesn’t matter if you’re doing good, they’re doing good, both doing good, or both doing bad. This game means more to everybody. Everybody that’s playing in the game, on both sides of the football, has that mentality. It’s a true rivalry game. You don’t have a lot of those in the NFL. I’m blessed to be a part of it — because it really does bring out the best in both teams.”
