We said coming into the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders matchup that it would be a quick, run-heavy, boring game. I couldn't have been more wrong as QB Matt Cassel attempted a season-high 36 passes en route to the Chiefs 23-20 overtime, four-plus hour loss to the Raiders.
Here are three things that stood out to me after the game.
Matt Cassel played well enough for the Chiefs to win. Cassel was effective at times throughout the game including the second of his two TD passes hitting WR Dwayne Bowe to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. He completed 20-of-36 passes for 216 yards, two TDs and one interception. I think most of us would have taken those numbers if asked before the game (although the turnover hurts). Then again, we would have expected those numbers to be similar to the Chiefs rushing attack, which wasn't there.
Once again wondering what's up with the running backs. We haven't talked much recently about the workload of Thomas Jones compared to Jamaal Charles but expect those questions to rise this week. Charles averaged 5.3 yards per carry on a season-low 10 carries. Jones' longest run of the day was seven yards totaling 32 yards on 19 carries for the day. Charles' workload has been increasing week-by-week peaking at 22 carries last week. He was banged up for a bit in this game so maybe that's part of the reason he had a season-low in carries but the running game had nothing going.
Dwayne Bowe being Dwayne Bowe. On the one hand, Bowe caught a critical TD pass from Cassel late in the fourth quarter resulting in his sixth TD reception in the last four games. But this is Bowe we're talking about so there are some slipups, too. That was evident today when Bowe dropped a critical third down pass late in the fourth quarter. The pass was catchable and would have kept the Chiefs drive alive, maybe enough to end the game. Yeah, Bowe had a big play but he also caught just five of the 12 balls thrown at him (and not all were overthrown by Cassel).