Kansas City Chiefs: Four things to watch vs Raiders in Week 11

Can the defense step it up?

Prior to the Week 5 debacle, the Chiefs defense had dealt Derek Carr fits whenever the two teams squared off. He had never had a good performance at Arrowhead until this year and now I’m curious to see if he puts on a similar performance this time around now that he knows he can put up points against them.

The defense has been lackluster recently while the Raiders offense has played quite well. Carr hasn’t been slinging the pigskin around in Vegas’ past two wins, but that’s even worse for KC, as their run defense has been suspect and that’s the Raiders’ bread and butter.

If the Chiefs want to blowout the Raiders and then drive laps in their parking lot, the defense needs to play a heck of a lot better than it did in Week 5 or the end result could be the same.

Offensive line woes

The Chiefs could be in a heap of trouble along the offensive line, as both Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz landed on the COVID list and might not be able to play on Sunday night. Schwartz hasn’t played since Week 6, exiting that game early with a lingering back injury.

If the Chiefs don’t have either of their usual starting tackles available for this game, it’s going to be tough for Patrick Mahomes to get the time he needs to make plays. While there’s been rumors swirling that all of the COVID tests came back negative, we don’t know that for sure as of now.

The Chiefs have been patching their offensive line together all season long, but having Fisher out would give them a huge disadvantage in what’s already a critical game.