Kansas City Chiefs Vs Oakland Raiders 2: Chiefs Report Card

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback  Alex Smith (11) Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

OFFENSE

RUNNING GAME: If you were told before the game that Jamaal Charles would have 20 yards on 8 carries, there is no way you would have thought the Chiefs would win this game, even if one of those carries was for a touchdown. Usually, when Charles has a poor day running the ball, it is not good news.

Charles was actually out gained on the ground by rookie Knile Davis, who had 9 carries for 34 yards, and he only had 3 more yards than Alex Smith‘s 17 rushing yards. In all reality, Kansas City wasn’t very good on the ground all day, putting up just 78 yards on 24 carries, but they did run in two touchdowns.

As everyone now knows, the Chiefs didn’t really need a running game in this one.

GRADE: C

PASSING GAME: The reason the ground game was somewhat irrelevant was because of the near perfection of Alex Smith and Jamaal Charles in the passing game. Charles had a record breaking day, catching 8 balls for 195 receiving yards, and 4 touchdowns. His records on the day included the NFL mark for most receiving touchdowns in a game by a running back (4), tied the Chiefs record for most touchdowns in a game (5), became just the 4th player to have 4 touchdowns in the first half (4 – Priest Holmes also did this), and he became the first player in NFL hisotry to have 4 receiving touchdowns and 1 rushing touchdown in the same game. He did all this before the end of the third quarter.

On his 4 touchdown catches, he didn’t appear to have been touched. That is just unfathomable.

Alex Smith was near perfect himself. He completed 17 of his 20 attempts for 287 yards, 5 touchdowns, and no interceptions. He also averaged 14.4 yards per pass. This all translated to a perfect Quarterback Rating of 158.3. The only mar on the day was a fumble in the second half. Fans should let that one slide.

This morning on the radio, someone was complaining that Smith’s 5 touchdowns, good for 181 yards, only were in the air for a total of 14 yards. Well, who cares? He delivered the ball into the right hands. Enough said!

GRADE: A+

The Chiefs are looking better and better on offense, which is fortuitous because the defense is looking worse and worse. This team has scored 101 points in the last two games, both on the road. This is an amazing feat for a team that didn’t look very comfortable on offense for much of the first half of the season. Easy grade today.

OVERALL OFFENSIVE GRADE: A