Chiefs at Raiders - Week 6 - Record: 3-2

I have that funny feeling again. I don't like it, I really don't. Do you have that feeling? Are you as nervous as I am about that funny feeling? Today, right now...

I like Andy Reid and Alex Smith.

It is a good, bad, good, nervous feeling. It is very bad, and very good at the same time. Please -- please tell me you know what I mean at this point in Chiefs history of things. Right now the Chiefs should be cruising through the NFL, mostly because it is the fourth year of the Reid/Smith regime. That's the time the Chiefs should be doing just about the very best that any Chiefs team has ever done in the history of Chiefsdom.

We've got good players.

We've got that Arrowhead spirit.

We've got vibrant youth, veteran leadership, solid health, and decent balance at every level of our game.

But is all of this just a fake-out?

Today we played a Raiders team I was told had an all-that offense. At the beginning of this game it looked to be true -- their QB Derek Carr carved us up and got the Raiders what looked like a far-too easy touchdown. But then they got bogged down pretty much the rest of the game. Was that because Carr just had a bad game or was our defense all that?

After the game had gone a few plays, the television people put up a "Keys to the Game" kind of graphic. The Raiders defensive strength? "Edge rushers." The Chiefs offensive weakness? "Pass protection." I thought, Great, that'll be our undoing -- they have a crappy defense, they say, yet Smith will get sacked every other play. Guh-rate. In fact, Smith got sacked twice on Kansas City's very first possession, but to be honest, I don't think Smith got sacked again the rest of the day.

We simply took advantage of the rest of the poor Oakland defense. Thing is, while that's great and all, that's just the thing. It was a very poor Oakland defense.

And know what? We still messed it up too many times. On our 6th possession Tyreek Hill got a terrific punt return into Raiders territory, then Spencer Ware did something great running it down to the three, then we went into one of the Chiefs play-fart modes. On third down -- about as obvious a play as you could have: quarterback draw -- we instead throw another of those wide screen passes and sure enough -- plotzz -- it gets stuffed. We have to kick another field goal.

On the other hand, who couldn't LOVE that screen pass touchdown thing to Dontari Poe at the one-yard line after another nifty Reid-constructed/Smith-executed drive. What a splendid wonderful splendidly wonderful play. And that the Chiefs did something crazy like that -- who has ever seen that before?! -- and it worked perfectly.

On the other other hand, the clock/game management at the end of the first half was, ahem, beyond abysmal -- ahem ahem, Andy Reid. With the score 13-7 and under two minutes left in the half, we get a fantastic long pass from Smith to Maclin to get us into sure scoring range and then run Ware a few times, only to see our O-line spittle on 3rd-and-1 and we have to try the FG with about 30 seconds left instead of 1. Santo misses (::errrgh:: in and of itself), and the Raiders storm down the field and kick their field goal, some of which was set up by an inexplicable failure to cover properly to prevent the field goal position to begin with. It was a joke.

Other things of note that were pretty darned positive:

Jamaal Charles was back and running well. If he's 100% through the rest of the season, what a trio we have with Ware doing much of the dirty work, Charles spelling him for more dynamic offense (although Ware is no slouch either, for sure), and Charcandrick West getting back in the mix.

And special mention to Spencer Ware. The guy was a workhorse out there. I think they said the Chiefs had a season high close-to 200 yards rushing today. Today it was pouring rain and a good running game is essential in those conditions. It really helped us today. Our O-line was serviceable, it did make it so Smith could do good things back there, and it did get some nice steady pushes so Ware could grind.

Our defense gets at least some of the credit for stopping this Raiders offense. The run defense was solid, and the pass defense somehow shut down Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree in the second half. It appears too that Marcus Peters does not have a concussion, that's a major relief.

Our most highly touted rookies, Tyreek Hill and Chris Jones, were terrific today. Both have that got-it, you can just see it. Both players instinctively know how to play football at their particular skill positions, and ironically both can inspire all the other players to play with that feel. It's great stuff, and they're just the greenest of rookies -- what'll it be like when their game gets more refined? It'll be even better.

Annnd, yes, Alex Smith had a fine game. Ergh. Ergh ergh ergh. There's that funny nervous really-good really-bad feeling again. He was something like 19 for 22, and at one point had, like, 11 or 12 straight completions. Oh oh oh oh oh would I like to see that against a really good defense. Next week we play New Orleans, and from what I gather they've got a good offense but a suspect defense.

We've now won seven straight against AFC West opponents. That has to be a record, at least in recent Chiefs history. Remember when it seemed we couldn't buy a win in the division? Maybe, just maybe, all that drafting strategy by John Dorsey specifically with AFC West opponents in mind is paying off. I remember the Dee Ford pick was specifically made to challenge the fine QB's in the division -- well, Ford had two important sacks today, one of them a strip to get the Chiefs the ball early in the 4th quarter.

Well, this was certainly one of those this-was-a-good-day-for-Reid-and-Smith days. We like them. They were good today. We like that a lot.

Please guys be as good when we really really really have to be good.
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