What We Saw: Week 14

Rashaad Penny came out of nowhere to be a potential league winner. Who knew?

Ben Brown
What We Saw 3 Years Ago
Series Navigation
Introduction
Steelers @ Vikings
Cowboys @ Football Team
Jaguars @ Titans
Seahawks @ Texans
Raiders @ Chiefs
Saints @ Jets
Falcons @ Panthers
Ravens @ Browns
Giants @ Chargers
Lions @ Broncos
49ers @ Bengals
Bills @ Buccaneers
Bears @ Packers

Raiders @ Chiefs

Final Score: Chiefs 48, Raiders 9

Writer: Adam Sloate (@MrAdster99 on Twitter)

 

This game was over by the end of the first quarter. The Raiders’ defense had no answer for the Kansas City offense, which got contributions from pretty much everyone; however, more of the scoring actually came from the lesser-known targets in the offense, instead of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Derrick Gore got in on the fun. Josh Gordon grabbed a TD. Darrel Williams even picked up a score. The Raiders tacked on some points here and there, but really never got going, and failed to execute when they had the opportunity to do so. In fact, the very first offensive play of the game for the Raiders ended with the Chiefs’ Mike Hughes scooping the ball away from Josh Jacobs and running it into the end zone for a 23-yard fumble return TD. The Raiders drop to 6-7, while the Chiefs improve to 9-4.

 

Las Vegas Raiders

 

Quarterback

 

Derek Carr: 33/45, 263 yards, TD, INT

 

Carr was fine, I guess. There really wasn’t much he could’ve done to improve the Raiders’ performance, given how often the Raiders gave away the ball, but you can see just from his stat line that Carr didn’t do a whole lot to drive the offense. The problem is that Carr passed behind the sticks frequently. Carr threw 14 passes behind the line of scrimmage (completing 13), and they didn’t really go anywhere once completed.

 

 

He really didn’t push the ball downfield, and I’m not sure if it’s because Darren Waller is out or the playcalling, but either way, that kind of passing chart probably isn’t going to get it done against the Chiefs.

At least his interception wasn’t his fault…

 

 

Carr needs to wipe the slate clean and come back better next week.

 

Running Back

 

Josh Jacobs: 9 carries, 24 yards | 6 targets, 5 receptions, 46 yards

Trey Ragas: 1 carry, 9 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 6 yards

Peyton Barber: 1 carry, 7 yards | 3 targets, 2 receptions, 13 yards

 

When you’re down 35-3 at the half, you’re probably not going to run the football a whole lot in the second half. So, unfortunately for Josh Jacobs investors, there’s really not much you can do about this one.

Here’s Jacobs’ fumble:

 

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Hunter Renfrow: 14 targets, 13 receptions, 117 yards, TD

Bryan Edwards: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 23 yards

Zay Jones: 7 targets, 5 receptions, 25 yards

Foster Moreau: 6 targets, 3 receptions, 13 yards

 

It’s time for the Lone Bright Spot(TM) Awards!

And, the winner, with an unreal 100% of the votes, is Hunter Renfrow!

The Raiders’ offense seems to coalesce around 1 or 2 players each week. Usually, it’s Darren Waller who picks up an absurd amount of targets. Today, it was Renfrow, who vacuumed up 32.5% of the Raiders’ targets. Renfrow didn’t pick up a ton of yardage on each reception, going for a long of just 19 yards and averaging just 9 yards per reception on the day. Boy, did he sure get open in a very fun way today:

 

 

Zay Jones was able to reel in some additional targets, but from what I saw, none of them were particularly exciting or high-value fantasy targets. When Waller is back, this offense runs through him and Renfrow, so it’s probably not worth looking into Jones, anyways.

As much as I wanted the Foster Moreau Experience to pan out, the Raiders don’t seem intent on feeding him much of anything. He, like several of the other Raiders receivers, was able to generate nice separation from his defenders, but Derek Carr had eyes only for one person, and it was Hunter Renfrow. Don’t try to make the Foster Moreau Experience happen.

 

Kansas City Chiefs

 

Quarterback

 

Patrick Mahomes: 20/24, 258 yards, 2 TD | 4 carries, 20 yards

 

Mahomes’ performance today was inevitable:

 

 

Game script dictated that Mahomes really didn’t have to do much in the second quarter, or even the second half. And, he did just fine from a fantasy standpoint, so no complaints there, either. Instead, let’s just take a look at this throw and marvel at his rocket launcher of an arm:

 

 

That was the real-life play on video, here’s the diagram:

 

 

Sheesh.

 

Running Back

 

Clyde Edwards-Helaire: 10 carries, 37 yards, 2 TD | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 5 yards

Darrel Williams: 2 carries, 8 yards | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 31 yards, TD

Derrick Gore: 9 carries, 66 yards, TD | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 23 yards

 

Today was a running back day. Even before the Chiefs put the game out of reach, their RBs were able to churn up some good yardage on the ground and make some plays through initial contact. Take a look at this run from CEH:

 

 

The diminutive RB was able to push through some Raiders defenders today, which was more than I usually see him do. Both of those rushing TDs were set up by nice passing plays, so CEH was really more of a TD vulture than a chain-mover today. Even so, it was nice to see him finally put up an RB1-type of day.

Derrick Gore‘s TD run was the best of the bunch, though. Gore found his way through a big hole (seriously, he wasn’t even touched) in the Raiders’ defense and then sped up to take the ball to the house.

 

 

Gore got up to 20 mph on that carry.

I’m not sure I see CEH getting a couple of walk-in TDs every week (or Gore getting that kind of run in the second half), but the Chiefs’ offense looks to finally be working at full speed, which means he should have at least a couple of red zone opportunities every week.

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Tyreek Hill: 4 targets, 4 receptions, 76 yards

Travis Kelce: 4 targets, 3 receptions, 27 yards

Mecole Hardman: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 59 yards

Josh Gordon: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 9 yards, TD

Byron Pringle: 1 target, 1 reception, 28 yards

 

As you can probably tell, there wasn’t much action to go around today. Kelce and Hill soaked up a couple of targets, but since the run game was churning up plenty of yardage (and the Chiefs were up by a million), there wasn’t much the Chiefs needed them to do. The throw to Tyreek Hill was so darn pretty, I’ll share it again here:

 

 

Those TDs that CEH vultured were a result of nice plays by Kelce, Hill, and Hardman that got the Chiefs into the red zone. And, with the early TDs going to the running backs, the two top options for the Chiefs really didn’t get the points fantasy managers were likely hoping for.

The Josh Gordon TD should have been a second Darrel Williams reception TD, as the Chiefs pulled out one of their favorite plays: the shovel pass. Williams got the little deflection from Mahomes but ultimately fell just short of the goal line. Seriously, this TD pass was for about a quarter of a yard:

 

 

Anyway, it still ended up being a Mahomes passing TD, and the Chiefs expanded their lead to 27 as a result of the play.

 

— Adam Sloate (@MrAdster99 on Twitter)

Series Navigation
Introduction
Steelers @ Vikings
Cowboys @ Football Team
Jaguars @ Titans
Seahawks @ Texans
Raiders @ Chiefs
Saints @ Jets
Falcons @ Panthers
Ravens @ Browns
Giants @ Chargers
Lions @ Broncos
49ers @ Bengals
Bills @ Buccaneers
Bears @ Packers

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