5 things to watch as the Chiefs host the Raiders on Christmas Day

The (9-5) Kansas City Chiefs and (6-8) Las Vegas Raiders are taking on Christmas Day, dealing with off as the primary of three video games on the NFL’s vacation slate Monday. The AFC West rivals will battle at Arrowhead Stadium with a midday kickoff. As of Saturday, the Chiefs are 10.5-point favorites in line with DraftKings Sportsbook.

The Raiders are 1-1 since shedding to the Chiefs in Week 12: they misplaced 3-0 to the Minnesota Vikings, then flipped the script with a 63-21 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. With momentum and 10 days relaxation, Las Vegas might be taking part in spoiler, seeking to spoil the festive day in Kansas Metropolis.

I’ve 5 issues to look at on Christmas Day:

1. Maxx Crosby versus Patrick Mahomes

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Over the 9 profession video games the 2 have confronted one another, Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Raiders’ defensive finish Maxx Crosby have had memorable moments — like final 12 months at Arrowhead Stadium: Crosby racked up two sacks and went nose to nose with the MVP.

The person rivalry is actual, as a result of Crosby is actually one of many NFL’s high gamers, alongside Mahomes. He leads all NFL defensive linemen in Stops, a PFF statistic that tracks tackles constituting a “failure” for the offense. His 13.5 sacks this 12 months are tied for the fifth most across the league, whereas he sits at sixth in pressures.

Chiefs’ offensive coordinator Matt Nagy missed the primary three years of the rivalry, however relishes witnessing it.

“It’s been enjoyable to be part of the final couple years,” Nagy mirrored. “You see two final opponents which are on the high of the league at their positions… None of it’s ever private, however it’s cool to be on the sideline and see the hearth they’ve, and be on the sector afterwards to see the mutual respect they’ve for one another.”

2. The Chiefs using blitzes

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Within the first matchup, Raiders’ rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell appeared to select aside the Chiefs’ protection early. He transformed three third downs on the opening drive, and beat the blitz on different events to assist construct a 14-0 lead.

Chiefs’ defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo credited the Raiders’ offense, however acknowledged his unit’s shortcomings early as nicely.

“I simply thought we made some errors there that had we executed it the way in which we practiced, we would have been capable of get off the sector in these first couple of drives,” Spagnuolo recalled with reporters on Friday. “That’s most likely typical of any of those video games the place we’ve allowed drives early, normally it was someone simply out of wack a bit of bit, and we simply should settle in and be us only a lot sooner. We’ve got to start out quicker.”

My recommendation: preserve blitzing O’Connell, early and sometimes. It started working for Kansas Metropolis as the sport wore on, and it was the principle motive Minnesota held the Raiders scoreless. The Vikings blitzed O’Connell at an absurd rate of 41%.

3. The return of Isiah Pacheco

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Pacheco has been a full participant in practice this week, monitoring to return to the lineup after lacking two video games with a shoulder damage. The Chiefs’ offense missed him, particularly on the bottom: during the last two video games, the operating again place has averaged lower than 3.5 yards per carry.

When Pacheco performed the Raiders final, he didn’t have his most efficient sport — totaling only 55 yards on 15 attempts — however 5 of these carries moved the chains or punched in a landing, and two of them have been on third down.

That doesn’t imply the workforce has to dump the identical workload again on Pacheco. Look ahead to Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jerick McKinnon to spell the lead again greater than we noticed earlier than Pacheco was sidelined, towards the Raiders and within the remaining two video games.

4. A tightened up Chiefs’ run protection

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Final week, the Chiefs’ protection held the New England Patriots to 52 team rushing yards. That was the team’s lowest allowed total of the year, and the primary time surrendering beneath 114 yards on the bottom since Week 5.

On the floor, it was a giant enchancment on the efficiency towards Las Vegas in final matchup. Operating again Josh Jacobs got to 110 yards on 20 attempts — however solely a kind of carries went longer than eight yards: the lengthy landing run that capped off the Raiders’ scorching begin.

“You have a look at the final sport we performed towards them, apart from that 63-yard run, we have been good,” Spagnuolo identified Friday. “Not nice… however it all counts. If you surrender a 63-yard run, that’s a part of it, and so they ended up with 123 yards dashing; we’ve got to restrict these… we higher be dedicated to making an attempt to cease it.”

A extra constant, disciplined sport towards the run will be a magnet for the second-straight week.

5. Change in Chiefs’ receiver rotation

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The Chiefs’ rotation of large receivers will see a shake up on Sunday, primarily as a result of second-year wideout Skyy Moore went to Injured Reserve this week.

Nonetheless, large receiver Kadarius Toney’s play time can also have to be tweaked. The final two weeks, Toney has approached his season excessive in snap rely, and has produced extra detrimental than optimistic with that elevated workload.

That leaves large receiver Richie James, who initiatives to fill an identical position that Moore and Toney have performed for the offense. James is a slot receiver primarily, and flashed in coaching camp at that spot after Toney was initially injured.

Reflecting again on my coaching camp observations, I used to be very impressed with James and his match with the first-team offense. He could possibly make a few of the similar thrilling performs Toney can after the catch, whereas offering extra reliability all the way down to down.

In 2022 with the New York Giants, James’ dropped three passes among 82 targets. That may be a fourth-ranked drop fee within the NFL this season.