The Kansas City Chiefs lose to the Las Vegas Raiders, who are led by Zamir White.
Zamir White started for the second week in a row because All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs was hurt.
He told his Las Vegas Warriors offensive tackles that he would buy them all a new pair of Nike Jordans if he ran for more than 100 yards on Monday.
Next, he ran 22 times for 145 yards. With 2:35 left to play, his 43-yard run up the right side in Arrowhead Stadium sealed the Raiders’ 20-14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
“These are moments that you dream of, yet with my line and teammates, anything is possible,” White stated.
“I ought to head out there or trust these guys right there.” It looked like a safe bet because White had only run for a total of 28 yards once in a game.
Raiders freshman quarterback Aidan O’Connell didn’t complete a pass after the first quarter.
He was 0 for 10 from the second to fourth quarters combined, had a career-low passer rating of 50.3, and the Raiders only had 48 net passing yards. This meant that Las Vegas had to rely on its defense as well.
The defense scored two touchdowns in seven seconds in the second quarter: an 8-yard score by Bilal Nichols off of a fumbled exchange between Isiah Pacheco and Patrick Mahomes, and a 33-yard pick-six from Jack Jones off of Mahomes.
Not only did the Raiders (7-8) keep the Chiefs (9-6) from clinching the AFC West, but they also kept their slim playoff hopes alive. This made Antonio Pierce’s case for becoming the full-time head coach even stronger.
Think back to when the Raiders beat the Chargers from Los Angeles 63–21 and then lost against the Minnesota Vikings 3-0 at home four days before that.
Not that making the playoffs was always at the top of the Raiders’ thoughts in middle America. Since he joined the NFL in 2019, Crosby had only won twice in 10 games against the Chiefs.
“It’s a huge win,” Raiders defensive player Maxx Crosby said. Malcolm Koonce, the team’s back-up edge rusher, sacked Mahomes multiple times and possessed seven hits. “Two division wins in a row. We’re already playing good football, so we just need to keep getting better.
“That is amazing. We know we have to fight and claw every time we step out here, particularly around Arrowhead. This is what everyone did, and I’m extremely proud of everyone who did it. “What a lovely day.”
Pierce said that defense or a running game are two classic ways for teams to do well when they are on the road.
Pierce said, “We talked concerning it all week.” “With bad intentions. Physical violence, pain, and violence That’s enough. What was shown was right there.
So, the Raiders played like they were from the old days. They held the usually strong Chiefs offense to -18 yards to the first quarter and ran out the clock in the fourth.
White, on the other hand, ran for 154 yards against the Chiefs, which is the third most in team history, after Darren McFadden’s 164 yards in September 2008 as well as Jacobs’ 154 yards in October of last year.
Raiders offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said of White, “I’m happy for him because before the season started, people were talking concerning him and saying he was a wasted draft pick and other things like that.”
“He takes that personal, and when you go out against one of the top rushing groups in the league or put up 140 on them, that strengthens his commitment to this game along with this team along with how great he wants to be.”
White has run for 214 yards upon 39 carries in his two starts. With Jacobs set to become a free agent this summer, the Raiders may have more to think about.
The Chiefs had one of the worst games under Patrick Mahomes. They let the Raiders score two defensive touchdowns within seven seconds of each other, made a lot of mistakes on defense, dropped more passes, or were generally bad on offense.
In the second half, they failed twice on fourth down, including one time inside the Raiders 10 with the game still close.
Unfortunately, Kansas City lost 20–14, ending their chances of winning the AFC West for a record-tying eighth straight season and putting an end to coach Andy Reid’s team’s hopes of getting the top spot in the AFC.
The Chiefs (9-6) started the season 6-1, but they’ve lost three of their last four games, four of their last six games, and five of their last eight games.
The Chiefs’ Nick Bolton said, “We had a chance to win our division this week, and we didn’t do it.”
There really wasn’t much to cheer about for Taylor Swift, the pop star who is dating Chiefs offensive lineman Travis Kelce and who came into Arrowhead Stadium with Santa Claus beforehand the game.