The Raiders pulled out a come from behind victory in overtime on Sunday. While a close game was expected by many, the way that it got there was not. With the rain falling in a game with the NFL’s top two rushing teams you’d expect the majority of the plays to come via the ground game. This was not necessarily the case.
Chiefs Pass Rush vs. Raiders Pass Protection
The Chiefs ended up with 4 sacks for 20 yards, but more often than not Jason Campbell had time to throw the ball. Tamba Hali got one sack today when he overpowered Jared Veldheer to make his way to Jason Campbell.
However, the Chiefs sent different types of blitz packages in this game then they had all year. Coming into this game the Chiefs had not recorded one sack from anyone not in their front seven. This game rookie safety Eric Berry recorded two sacks.
Chiefs Pass Defense vs Raiders Passing Attack
The Raiders struggled mightily trying to get anything going through the air in the first half. Jason Campbell ended the half with 9 yards passing. In the second half, he and Jacoby Ford took over.
Campbell ended up 19/33 for 229 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Ford was his main target as he ended with six catches for 148 yards. All of Fords yards were in the second half and overtime.
Brandon Meyers filled in admirably for Zach Miller and ended up with three catches for 20 yards, but it was Tackle eligible Khalif Barnes that had the catch of the day out of the TE spot when he made a two yard TD grab.
The Raiders backs had a combined six catches for 33 yards. This was much closer to being a larger number, but FB Marcel Reece was denied a catch when he was pass interfered with down the right sideline. The play itself was denied on a Robert Gallery holding as the penalties offset.
All in all, both teams varied from their tenancies as each passed more than they ran the football. In the end, it was the Raiders rushing game that got the better of the marquee matchup as they had eight more yards on eight less carries.