Kansas City Chiefs Rewatch: 2009 week two vs Raiders

The Kansas City Chiefs began the 2009 season 0-1 after losing to the Ravens in the season opener. Next up for them was a date with the Oakland Raiders in the home opener at Arrowhead Stadium.

While we’re all flattening the curve and hanging out at home, I’ve made the decision to go back and rewatch the 2009 Kansas City Chiefs season one game at a time and write about each game. In their first game against the Baltimore Ravens, the Chiefs were without the starting quarterback they traded for in the offseason and were playing on the road against a team that went to the AFC title game a season prior.

Despite the odds being stacked against them, the Chiefs made a game of it! It ended up being a 38-24 loss in Baltimore, but the defense played well through the first three quarters. It was that pesky fourth quarter where they imploded, but the offense didn’t help them out much.

Sitting at 0-1, the Kansas City Chiefs hosted their division rivals in their home opener. Let’s take a look at how that game played out.

WEEK 2 VS OAKLAND RAIDERS – SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2009

Prior to this game, the Chiefs had won 14 of their last 20 home openers and had won ten of the last 12 match-ups against the Raiders, per the broadcast. Oakland, however, had won the last two games at Arrowhead Stadium and were hoping to make it a third straight win in KC.

After missing the season opener due to injury, Matt Cassel suited up for the Kansas City Chiefs for the first time in a regular season game. The difference between him and Brodie Croyle showed almost immediately, as the Chiefs dominated the time of possession in the first quarter.

It took Kansas City nearly an entire half to record a first down in Baltimore, but the Chiefs’ first offensive play against the Raiders was for a first down, which showed right off the bat the offense was in a better spot with Cassel. There were a fair share of miscues, however, as the team had to burn two timeouts in the first quarter and it cost them dearly later on (more on that in a bit).

The first score came after a nine minute drive from Cassel and the Chiefs that led to a Ryan Succop field goal. The Raiders matched the field goal in the second quarter, making it a 3-3 game.

The defense played well, especially after Todd Haley had special teams execute an onside kick that failed (it was close though), giving the Raiders the ball in KC territory. The Chiefs defense went to work and forced a three and out, including a HUGE sack from Derrick Johnson on third down. Here’s your weekly reminder that he was demoted when Haley got to town.

Kansas City marched down the field and were in the red zone, looking to add points right before the half. Remember when I said how they burned two timeouts early on and how that’d come back to bite them?

This was where that happened, as Cassel hit a receiver, who failed to get out of bounds and the clock ran out. The Chiefs had a chance to put points on the board and due to poor clock management, failed to do so.

As a result, it was 3-3 heading into the locker room.

The Raiders took a 6-3 lead and were leading to start the fourth quarter. The first three quarters of this game were excruciatingly boring, which goes to show that Kevin Harlan can make any game sound exciting (he was on the call).

Cassel did not play well in his Chiefs debut, giving us a sign of what was to come during his tenure in Kansas City. He threw two interceptions with the second one coming when the Chiefs were threatening to get in the red zone. In Cassel’s defense, his offensive line gave him little to work with and he was often running like hell play after play.

“What an ugly offensive game this has been” Kevin Harlan said as the Chiefs got the ball with 7:02 left in the game, and he wasn’t kidding. It had been an ugly offensive effort by both sides.

After nothing but field goals all game long, Cassel beat Stanford Routt for a beauty of a touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe with 2:38 remaining to give KC a 10-6 lead. It was Cassel’s first touchdown as a Chief and considering how poorly both offenses had played all afternoon long, it didn’t seem possible for Oakland to come back in this one.

As the case was with so many Chiefs games in the 2000s and early 2010s, the opponent did just that. Oakland gave the Chiefs a chance to put this one away with penalties and poor play, but somehow, someway JaMarcus Russell (yes – he was the Raiders quarterback in 2009) connected with Todd Watkins on third and 15 to keep their drive alive. Darren McFadden then ran it in thanks to a missed tackle by Mike Brown with 1:07 to play.

The Chiefs didn’t get anywhere close to scoring and the game was over.

REMEMBER THAT GUY?

• Glenn Dorsey had a good game with four tackles and a pass defensed.
• Larry Johnson had 78 yards rushing and had matched his 29 total yards from the week prior just minutes into the game.
• Bobby Wade led the team in receiving with 76 yards off of six catches.
• Shane Lechler – one hell of a punter.
• Darrius Heyward-Bey had his first NFL reception.

~~~

This loss made it three straight wins by Oakland in Arrowhead Stadium and it was a win the Chiefs should have had. Their time management issues at the end of the first half truly came back to bite them big time and it cost them a victory.

The offense played poorly and the defense made some crucial mistakes late. Cassel threw for 241 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions while rushing for 34 yards and getting sacked twice. He was better than Croyle, but that’s not saying much.

On the other side, Russell was atrocious, but made plays when it mattered most. He completed just seven passes for 109 yards, but at the end of the day, his team took the lead in the final minute and that was enough to win the ball game.

Starting a season 0-2 is never the way to go and next up, the Kansas City Chiefs would begin a four-game stretch against the NFC East.

Next up: Week 3 vs Philadelphia (1-1)