Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 12/16

Chiefs Top Oakland, 56-31, Clinch Playoff Spot from The Mothership

During the Chiefs second drive, Jamaal Charles took the rock for an 8-yard gain, leading to a third-and-two, when Smith drilled a seven-yard throw into the hands of WR Dwayne Bowe, good for the first down. Later, the Chiefs faced a third-and-nineteen on the Oakland 39-yard line, when Alex again found Charles with a screen pass, before Jamaal took it for the score again. KC 14 OAK 3.

The Kansas City Chiefs defense made its presence felt early on the Raiders second offensive drive, when Chiefs S Eric Berry stepped in front of a McGloin pass on third-and-three, housing it 47 yards later. KC 21 OAK 3.

Alex Smith: Clinching A Playoff Spot Is "Special" from The Mothership

On clinching the playoffs:

"We knew we controlled our own destiny and coming here and getting a win, that's all that mattered for us. Anytime you can clinch a playoff spot, it's special. Obviously, there's still some left to go here, in the division, but yeah, it's special. It's what you're playing for, it's what you worked for all offseason to get to the postseason."

Tweets From Chiefs: Playoff Bound from The Mothership

See what the Chiefs have to say about defeating the Oakland Raiders, clinching a playoff berth and moving to 11-3

KCChiefs.com Photo Gallery: Chiefs vs. Raiders Game Day Photo Highlights

KCChiefs.com Video: Postgame Press Conference: Andy Reid

KCChiefs.com Video: Inside The Locker Room

KCChiefs.com Video: Postgame With Mitch And Reid

KCChiefs.com Video: Gameday: Chiefs vs. Raiders Highlights

KCChiefs.com Video: Postgame With Jamaal Charles

KCChiefs.com Video: Locker Room Celebration After Week 15 Victory

KCChiefs.com Video: Postgame Press Conference: Alex Smith

Chiefs' Alex Smith Doesn't Have To Apologize For A 'Perfect' Passing Day from FS Kansas City

Even when Alex Smith wins, he loses. Take Sunday. The Kansas City Chiefs suplexed Oakland, 56-31, at the O.Co Coliseum, or whatever they call it when sewage isn't flooding the place. Smith threw five touchdown passes in the effort, a new career high.

Of those five, four of them went to all-world tailback Jamaal Charles. Of those four, two of those came on screens that were absolutely, positively textbook.

A few hours later, an Associated Press reporter tweeted this: Alex Smith's 5 TD passes traveled a combined 13 yards downfield

And the haters laughed again.

Rapid Reaction: Kansas City Chiefs from ESPN

The Chiefs clinched at least a wild-card playoff berth with the victory. At 11-3, the Chiefs are tied with the Denver Broncos for first place in the AFC West. The Broncos would hold the tiebreaker at the end of the season by virtue of their season sweep of the Chiefs, so the Chiefs need to pick up a game in the standings over the season's final two weeks to overtake the Broncos and win the division title.

Recap: Chiefs Clinch Playoffs With 56-31 Win vs Raiders from The Associated Press via FS Kansas City

The Chiefs built a 35-10 lead before the Raiders scored three straight touchdowns to make it a game late in the third quarter. It quickly became a blowout again.

On a third-and-1, Smith found Charles on a wheel route down the sideline for a completion. Charles then cut toward the middle and raced in for the 71-yard score that tied Abner Haynes' team record set in 1961 against the Raiders with five TDs in a game.

The Chiefs put the game away after Taiwan Jones fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting up a 6-yard TD pass to Sean McGrath that made it 49-21.

Kansas City Chiefs Rout Oakland Raiders 56-31 from The San Jose Mercury News

Kansas City, 11-3 and only one year removed from winning two games all season, clinched a playoff berth and in the process put up more points on the Raiders than any team in NFL history.

The Chiefs entered the game with an NFL-best plus-16 turnover margin with the Raiders understanding the one thing they couldn't do was give the ball away.

Seven turnovers later, Charles had scored five touchdowns, four on passes from quarterback Alex Smith, to go along with a 6-yard pass from Smith to tight end Sean McGrath and a 17-yard run by Knile Davis.

Chiefs Thump Raiders 56-31, Clinch Playoff Berth from Chiefs Spin

With the Miami Dolphins winning earlier against the New England Patriots on Sunday, the late afternoon stage was set for the Chiefs.

A win secured a postseason spot, meaning it was up to the Chiefs to take care of business against the Oakland Raiders instead of relying on outside help.

The Chiefs more than accomplished the mission.

Individual and team records were established during the Chiefs' 56-31 destruction of the Raiders at O.co Coliseum, thanks largely in part to running back Jamaal Charles.

Chiefs' Amazing Season Could Get Even Better from FS Kansas City

I remember earlier this year when some talk show hosts in Kansas City were suggesting Jamaal Charles had lost a step and he simply didn't have that familiar burst from last year.

Well, he looks pretty fast to me.

And the truth is that Charles simply looks as healthy as he's been all season and that is likely why he ran like a track star Sunday.

Remember that Charles battled painful blisters on the bottom of both feet for the first half of the season. While he doesn't like to discuss his injuries, the guess here is that those blisters have finally healed completely.

Rodney Hudson At Center Of Kansas City Chiefs' Turnaround Season from AL.com

"I would probably tell you just his leadership ability and the stability of him being there every day and working hard every day," Reid said. "He's a transmitter from the right side to the left side. He has a ton of responsibility. The only one with probably more, not taking anything away from the importance of his responsibility here, is the quarterback. They have to be on the same page. They have to be thinking as one there. I think he's having a very good year."

Hudson has snapped the ball on every one of Kansas City's 895 offensive plays this season. Reid said that consistency in the middle of the offensive line makes a difference.

Jamaal Charles Is A Fantasy Football Hero from USA Today

On Sunday, the semifinal day for a majority of fantasy football leagues, Charles gained 215 yards from scrimmage and scored five touchdowns, earning 51 points in standard scoring leagues and many more in leagues that reward catches or long touchdowns. For anyone starting Charles in a final four game, the back's total was likely enough to bring victory and a berth in their fantasy football Super Bowl (which traditionally takes place in Week 16).

5 Things To Know After Chiefs Rout Raiders 56-31 from The Associated Press via The Charlotte Observer

Charles had five touchdowns in the first three quarters before sitting out the rest of the game and missing a chance to tie the record of six held by Ernie Nevers, Dub Jones and Gale Sayers. Charles said he was ready to go back in for a sixth but Reid opted to rest him. Charles said he would have gotten a chance if the team got close to the end zone, but that chance ended when Knile Davis scored on a 17-yard run midway through the fourth.

"If Knile had kneeled at the 1-yard line they would have let me go in," he said. "It didn't happen. Everything happened for a reason."

Charles Runs Chiefs Into Post Season Berth from Warpaint Illustrated

What's even more mind boggling about this game was the fact, midway through the third quarter, the Raiders closed the score to 35-31. So there was some doubt creeping in the Chiefs might actually lose this game.

But that wasn't the case as Charles, and the near perfect play of Chiefs Quarterback,Alex Smith, scored 21 unanswered points. To that end, it would appear behind that pair, KC's offense is in such a groove come playoff time they might become unstoppable.

Raiders Are Defenseless In Loss To Chiefs from NBC Bay Area

Raiders fans beat their team up on Twitter while the Chiefs were clobbering the team on the field.

A sampling: " ‘Can we play the Raiders all the time?' - Kansas City Chiefs"; "Raiders are a joke. Man, I swear, how do you allow 5 TDs to one player?"; "Boy, the Raiders really do blow. My God."; and, "Can the Raiders season just end right now so we can get an early start to rebuiliding for next year?"

As bad as the defense has played the past few games, it hasn't gotten much help from the offense, however. The offensive ineptitude gets a large assist for the disaster.

Chiefs Crush Raiders To Clinch Playoffs from The Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times and perhaps there's a spot for me on the Raiders defense.

In the first 25 minutes of Sunday's game at O.co Coliseum, Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles scored three times on simple screen passes to the left side. They weren't the only important plays in the Chiefs' 56-31 victory, but they were indicative of how badly things have deteriorated for a defense that was being hailed as one of the NFL's most improved less than two months ago.

Chiefs Fans Excited About This Year's Playoff Comeback from FOX4KC

The next thing Chiefs fans have to do is root for the Broncos to lose, which would make the Chiefs road to the Super Bowl a little bit easier.

"Hopefully Denver loses at some point then we actually get home field advantage for the playoffs too," said Friedling.

Alex Smith Has Big Day In Return To Bay Area from The Contra Costa Times

Charles, who gained the vast majority of his receiving yards after the catch, enjoys having Smith as his quarterback.

"It's fun playing with Alex, playing with a quarterback that can run the ball and take pressure off me, and throw the ball when we need it in crucial situations," Charles said. "He motivates us so much in the huddle."

But Charles is obviously the motor of Kansas City. When asked if Charles, now the NFL leader with 18 touchdowns, qualifies as a league MVP candidate, Reid said, "He's got my vote. ... I don't know how anybody can be more valuable to a team."

Raiders-Chiefs: What We Learned from Lindy's Sports

The Raiders (4-10) lost their fourth consecutive game and set a franchise record for points allowed, snapping the old mark of 55, which they gave up three times, including last season against the Baltimore Ravens.

"We get paid out there to play, we get paid out there to not let these guys light up the scoreboard the way they did," Raiders cornerback Tracy Porter said. "They did what we didn't want them to do. We have no one to blame but ourselves. That's just something that we have to live with for now."

Should Dennis Allen Be On Notice? from ESPN

Allen and the Raiders have lost four straight games and six of their last seven to fall to 4-10. Indeed, according to Associated Press, the Raiders have now given up at least 49 points in two of their last three home games after doing it three times in their first 406 home games, dating to 1960.

Yes, they've looked just as disturbing as it reads...

...Acting like they've never seen a screen pass before definitely hurt as Jamaal Charles took three for scores from 49, 39 and 16 yards for touchdowns.

Cornerback Marcus Cooper Cracked The Chiefs Starting Lineup, Something He Couldn't Do At Rutgers from NJ.com

Marcus Cooper could only laugh when an obvious question was posed: How can he be starting at cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs this season when he couldn't crack the starting lineup for Rutgers last year?

"It's crazy how things play out," Cooper said. "I learned so much from Rutgers. I try to apply some of those things that I learned there and just take it to my game here. I'm happy with how it turned out."

7 Oakland Turnovers Help Chiefs Crush Raiders from The San Francisco Chronicle

Raiders owner Mark Davis is going to need an extra massage this week, maybe some herbal tea. Pipe in some classical music.

Davis has been trying his best to stay patient through general manager Reggie McKenzie's rebuilding program, now in year two. And he's been trying to warm up to McKenzie's choice of Dennis Allen as Oakland's head coach.

But the Raiders have turned in back-to-back clunkers, and Sunday they did something no other team has done in the franchise's proud-until-the-past-11-years history: They gave up 56 points.

Best Fantasy Performances Since 1960 from ESPN

Fantasy owners are demanding of their first-round picks: Come playoff time, they ask leaderboard-topping performances of them.

On Sunday, Jamaal Charles did one better: He provided his owners an all-time caliber performance: 51 fantasy points, most since Doug Martin scored the same amount in Week 9 of the 2012 season.

Charles' effort was indeed one for the record books, literally from an NFL perspective. His four receiving touchdowns were the most by any running back in the game's history. From a fantasy perspective, he tied for the sixth-best single game by any player since 1960, using ESPN's standard scoring system.

Charles In Charge After The Catch from ESPN

Charles is the first player this season with three touchdowns of at least 35 yards. He joins Doug Martin, Darren McFadden, Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson as players with three rushing or receiving touchdowns at that length since the start of 2001. From a fantasy perspective, Charles' 51 points in ESPN standard leagues is tied for the sixth-most in a game since 1960 according to Tristan H. Cockcroft, tying Doug Martin from last season and Corey Dillon in 1997.

It wasn't all Charles, though. Alex Smith set a career-high with five touchdown passes, the third quarterback in Chiefs history with a five-touchdown, zero-interception game, joining Len Dawson (1967) and Trent Green (2002).

Jamaal Charles Explodes In Chiefs' Romp Of Raiders from NFL.com

The Chiefs' offense has been far more dynamic over the last month. The unit topped the 28-point mark for the fourth consecutive game and scored 35-plus points for the third time over that span. The 56 points the Chiefs hung on the Raiders is the most scored by any team this season, topping the Patriots' 55 against the Steelers in Week 9.