Sam McDowell: Five things that stood out about the Chiefs' ugly win vs. Raiders

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A toe.

A kick.

A blocked kick.

A scramble.

And now? The fluke of a botched snap.

The Chiefs escaped again, this time with a 19-17 win against the Raiders when Las Vegas botched a shotgun snap while sitting on the edge of field-goal range with 11 seconds to play.

It’s a gift. It’s a win, too, but an uncomfortable one.

The Chiefs clinched a spot in the playoffs — as though that was in much doubt — but their ability to do the same kind of damage they’ve done the last couple of years is somewhat in doubt.

For now, here are five observations from immediately after the game:

1. The left tackle. Again.

It’s sure starting to feel like the Chiefs’ ceiling is dependent on a player who wasn’t even in uniform Friday — on a player who hasn’t been in uniform in 11 months.

D.J. Humphries joined the Chiefs last week after being cleared from offseason knee surgery, and he understandably wasn’t active.

Yet.

The left tackle situation is not only failing to improve — it’s somehow growing worse. Wanya Morris was benched in the fourth quarter, in favor of Joe Thuney.

Thuney, I’ll remind you, is a guard.

That’s how bad it’s become.

Morris twice just flat-out whiffed on edge rushers in the first half — as in barely even got a finger on the rusher. But I don’t want to make it sound as though this was limited to a couple of plays.

The pressure is so immediate and so frequent that it’s dismantling the Chiefs offense. They’re fortunate it hasn’t dismantled the quarterback himself.

2. A fourth-down decision

Here we are.

Again.

The Chiefs had a chance to put the game away with their offense facing a fourth-and-2 from the 44-yard line, one snap shy of the two-minute warning.

Instead, they left it to their defense — the same defense that had allowed the Raiders literally their best day of the season. They were at 6.9 yards per play, a landslide compared to their previous best of 5.6.

ESPN Analytics had going for it as a 10.9% edge over punting — that’s as big of an advantage as you’ll find for any in-game decision in this league.

The decision was bad.

Worse? Head coach Andy Reid called timeout to think it over a bit more, as though they might go for it, but he left the punting unit on the field.

So, to recap: He burned a timeout in a 2-point game just to save five yards ahead of a punt.

It can’t happen.

The Raiders bailed them out. They predictably cruised down the field, same as they’d done the entire second half, but a snap came before Aidan O’Connell expected it, and Nick Bolton recovered the loose ball.

3. The back end is a problem

On Monday, in his first reflection after the defense struggled in Carolina, linebacker Nick Bolton pointed toward one particular area requiring improvement:

Limiting explosive passing plays.

So much for that.

The back end struggled to keep Aidan O’Connell from beating them deep.

Aidan. O’Connell.

He found Tre Tucker for a go-ahead 58-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, a receiver so open that most high school quarterbacks could have made the pass. But it wasn’t a one-hit wonder. The Raiders completed passes of 58, 43, 33 and 25 yards — to four different receivers too.

Kansas City’s secondary is struggling in coverage, same as it did a week earlier. The safeties were beat. Nazeeh Johnson was benched as the second quarterback in the first quarter.

4. Isiah Pacheco returns

In his first appearance in 10 weeks, Isiah Pacheco already offered the Chiefs something absent from their backfield:

Big plays.

Pacheco, who fractured his fibula in a Week 2 game against the Bengals, broke off a 34-yard run in the third quarter, the longest run for the Chiefs all season. The Chiefs, keep in mind, have run the ball extremely successfully this year. They have a remarkable ability to stay on schedule.

But they haven’t moved too far ahead of schedule. There are 32 NFL players with at least 100 carries this season, and 31 of them — all but one — has at least 10 explosive rushes.

Kareem Hunt is the exception. He has only eight.

That’s not say he’s without value. His ability to avoid negative plays — to fall forward upon first contact rather than being stood up — should be utilized, particularly in short yardage. Or, say, the red zone, where the Chiefs were horrible Friday.

But Pacheco’s speed gives the Chiefs a chance to better take advantage of an interior offensive line that has been dominant this season.

5. Chris Jones. Finally.

The $158 million man is back in the stat sheet — and in the most notable column.

After recording zero tackles a week ago, Chris Jones had two sacks against the Raiders, his first two since September.

Really.

But it’s been a misnomer to call him ineffective. Jones still leads all interior linemen in both quarterback pressures and pass rush win rate. It’s the rest of the group that needs to deliver more, because teams have continued to key attention to his side. George Karlaftis did have one sack.