The Raiders will travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs in Week 5 in a huge AFC West matchup. To get you prepared for this game, we spoke with Charles Goldman of the Chiefs Wire to discuss the Chiefs going into this matchup.
RW: How has the offense performed so far without Tyreek Hill?
CW: Very, very good. Through four games, the Chiefs’ offense ranks first in the NFL in EPA per play by a big margin. They’re second in the league in points per game as well. It feels like they just made a big breakthrough in the run game too.
The offense is going to look different compared to what has been seen in recent seasons. It’s predicated on rhythm and balanced offense as opposed to hitting the big downfield passing plays when Hill was here.
RW: Who is the top receiver on the Chiefs outside of Travis Kelce?
CW: I’m not sure you can really nail it down to one player. If you’re talking purely from a yardage perspective, it’s JuJu Smith-Schuster. If you’re talking from a touchdown perspective, it has been Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
If you’re looking at the red zone it’s Jody Fortson. They also have a number of receivers who can stretch the field vertically such as Mecole Hardman, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson.
Patrick Mahomes wasn’t kidding when he said this year that the passing attack was “going to come from everywhere.” They’ve done a good job of keeping defenses guessing so far.
RW: Who is one under-the-radar player we should watch for in Week 5?
CW: Rookie RB Isiah Pacheco. The Chiefs seemed to get him more involved in Week 4. He had a career-high in offensive snaps, averaging nearly 6 yards per carry with 45% of his carries coming against an 8-man box. As he gets more comfortable with the offense, he’s going to be a featured piece of the rushing attack alongside Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
RW: How have the two first-round rookies performed for the Chiefs?
CW: Yeah, so Trent McDuffie was balling in Week 1 before he hurt his hamstring and was put on injured reserve. You guys won’t be seeing him this week, but he should be back for the team’s Week 6 game against the Bills.
The player who has replaced him is seventh-round rookie CB Jaylen Watson and he’s been nothing short of incredible. Like, you just don’t see performances like this out of a seventh-round draft pick on the regular.
As for George Karlaftis, he’s been super disruptive in the run game and the passing game. He has the second-most pressures on the team behind Chris Jones. He’s still chasing that first sack, though. Maybe this is the week that he gets it?
RW: Who wins and why?
CW: In Week 3, the Chiefs showed us that they’re capable of playing down to their opponents. I just think that wound is too fresh for it to happen again so soon, at home and during prime time. The Chiefs win this game handily, but maybe with a little more focus on the run game than we’ve seen in any game so far this season.
Chiefs 37, Raiders 27
