The Kansas City Chiefs faced a tough matchup on Thursday, December 8, 2016. On a cold winter night, the Oakland Raiders came into Arrowhead stadium with the top spot in the AFC. Kansas City had beat the Raiders in Oakland earlier the season but this game was much bigger. Since then, the Raiders had rattled off six straight wins. The Chiefs were looking for that home field advantage in the playoffs and the Raiders currently had it. There were three big takeaways from the game that stood out.
Kansas City Chiefs Week 14 Takeaways
Derrick Johnson’s Injury
It would be impossible to talk about the game and not address Derrick Johnson’s injury. Johnson is the Chiefs all-time leading tackler. Johnson is the leader of the Chiefs defense and losing him is huge. The Chiefs lost the former Texas Longhorn in 2014 to a torn Achilles as well. That season the Chiefs barely missed the playoffs. That will probably not be the case this season but it affects the defense. The four-time Pro-Bowler is a major piece of this team. Now he’s lost for the rest of the year.
Young Secondary
Marcus Peters and Eric Berry are the faces of the Chiefs secondary. However, quarterbacks lately have been trying to avoid throwing the ball towards Peters. The Chiefs have been looking for players to step up to fill the role that Sean Smith left behind. Derek Carr has had a MVP caliber season so far and the Chiefs kept him in check. Carr completed only 17 out of 41 passes for just 117 yards. The receivers had a lot of dropped passes. Terrance Mitchell broke up a big pass play on fourth down that sealed the game in the Chiefs favor. Mitchell had a lot of playing time during the game and he stepped up.
Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill
Hill and Kelce were both mentioned in last week’s takeaways and this week is no different. Kelce is a Pro-Bowl tight end, that is a fact. The former Cincinnati Bearcat tied a record against the Raiders that only two other tight ends have ever set. Kelce reached four straight games of over 100 yards receiving in the victory.
This record ties former Chiefs tight end and future Hall of Famer, Tony Gonzalez, and Jimmy Graham. These are the only three tight ends in the last 50 years to record four straight games of over 100 yards receiving in football history. The Pro-Bowl tight end is becoming a big-time threat in the league and Alex Smith must continue to give him the ball.
Tyreek Hill is becoming a star in the National Football League, as well. The fifth-round draft pick put on a clinic against the Denver Broncos two weeks ago, and Week 14 was no different. Hill scored on a 78-yard punt return and a 36-yard touchdown pass. Hill has 4.25 40-yard dash speed that must be respected and is a legit threat in the passing game. People speculated that having Jeremy Maclin back would hurt his stats but in all reality, it seemed to help him out. Maclin is the top receiver so he must be well covered, which usually means the defense must put their best corner on him. This leaves Hill on a slower corner which he will burn every time, and big days will often follow.
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