The Las Vegas Raiders got a win against the Chiefs for the first time since 2020 on Monday afternoon in Kansas City, as interim head coach Antonio Pierce had his team ready to apply pressure to Patrick Mahomes and a shaky Chiefs offense on Christmas day.
The win could very well earn Pierce the full time job once the Raiders get into the official coaching search after the season, as he has shown he can get the team to show up and play hard each week, even when they’re at a talent deficit. In a way the manner in which the Raiders won this game helps his cause, as it was not thanks to a big offensive performance, but instead almost all courtesy of a huge day from Pierce’s defense. The Vegas defense scored touchdowns on back-to-back plays (their only touchdowns of the game), first with a Bilal Nichols scoop-and-score on a fumbled exchange in the backfield and then on a pick-six from Jack Jones — who then pulled off an incredible heel move, pretending to give a kid in Chiefs gear the ball before pulling it back.
The offense was not particularly impressive in Kansas City, but did get some big plays in the running game as Zamir White had 145 yards on 22 carries, including a few big runs on the game-sealing drive for the Raiders to run out the clock on the win. In fact, quarterback Aidan O’Connell finished the game just 9-of-21 passing for 62 yards, giving him the fewest yards passing from a winning QB with 20 attempts in an NFL game since Eli Manning in 2007.
Aidan O'Connell's 62 total passing yards is the fewest in a straight up win with at least 20 pass attempts since Eli Manning's 59 in 2007 pic.twitter.com/V3CVxAWvL6
— Evan Abrams (@EvanHAbrams) December 25, 2023
Beyond that, all nine of those completions came on the same drive in the first quarter, leading to a field goal. After his last completion (a 1-yard pass to Ameer Abdullah), he didn’t complete a pass for the rest of the game, meaning the Raiders got a win without a single successful passing play in the final three quarters of action. That would be insane against any opponent, but seems impossible going up against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. However, Vegas’ defense showed up big time with the two touchdowns, big time pressure on Mahomes, and a pair of 4th down stops in their own territory. It also underscores Kansas City’s offensive woes this season, as they now have to figure out how to do something because this is a particularly embarrassing loss in a standalone game on Christmas.
