Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 11/22

Chiefs Sign WR, Jason Avant; WR, A.J. Jenkins Placed on IR from The Mothership

Avant (6-0, 210) has played in 127 games (52 starts) in nine NFL seasons with the Carolina Panthers (2014) and Philadelphia Eagles (2006-13). His career numbers include 318 receptions for 3,847 yards (12.1 avg.) with 13 touchdowns. Avant spent seven seasons with Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid in Philadelphia while Reid served as the Eagles head coach (2006-12). He owns 57 catches of 20-plus yards and has produced 197 first down grabs in his career.

Chiefs vs. Raiders: Game Takeaways from The Mothership

The Oakland Raiders (1-10) beat the Kansas City Chiefs (7-4) 24-20 on a rainy Thursday night at the Coliseum in Oakland.

There's really no other way to put it. The Raiders were the better team on Thursday night.

"Congratulations to the Raiders," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the game. "They outplayed us, out coached us today. [Raiders interim head coach] Tony Sparano did a nice job. I didn't have the football team ready to go the way we should have.

"We obviously started way too slow and didn't finish strong enough."

KCChiefs.com Video: NFL.com: Chiefs Week 12 Report Card

KCChiefs.com Video: Arrowhead Update 11/21: Chiefs Kingdom Food Drive

Chiefs sign veteran WR Jason Avant, place WR A.J. Jenkins on IR from Chiefs Digest

He offers immediate depth to a Chiefs wide receiver corps that had grown thin with injuries.

Starting split end receiver Donnie Avery (groin) has missed seven straight games since undergoing a sports hernia procedure in early October, while Jenkins missed two straight games prior to Friday's transaction.

Junior Hemingway sustained a concussion during Thursday night's contest against the Oakland Raiders.

Frankie Hammond Jr. has started the past two games, totaling one catches for 7 yards on three targets, opposite of Dwayne Bowe. The Chiefs also have rookie receiver Albert Wilson.

Jason Avant signs with Kansas City Chiefs from NFL.com

Avant's hands have long been among the most reliable in the league, but he won't solve the Chiefs' need for a playmaker in the aerial attack. Once he learns Andy Reid's offense, the 31-year-old will likely man the slot in Kansas City.

Chiefs' after action review of Week 12 loss should focus on starting fast from Chiefs Digest

The Chiefs went three-and-out on the first two possessions and recorded a dismal 1-of-9 on third downs in the first two quarters en route to a 14-3 halftime deficit. The Chiefs finished the game 2-of-14 (14 percent) on converting third downs.

"You'd love to start fast," quarterback Alex Smith told reporters after Thursday's game. "We talk about that all the time. It's a matter of going out there and doing it. I think really, we look back, especially those first couple of series before it (rain) started coming down. We lacked execution. We put ourselves in some bad spots, and didn't convert on third downs."

How much better would Smith be in the clutch if Chiefs gave him a little more help? from FS Kansas City

When Alex Smith is under center, the Kansas City Chiefs are 1-9, including the playoffs, when opponents score 21 points or more. (The one victory: At Oakland last December, a 56-31 shootout.) Since 2011, Smith's teams are 5-13-1 -- and 0-4 this fall -- when the opposition hits the 21-point mark.

And yet No. 11 is also tied for the NFL lead in what Pro-Football-Reference.com called "game-winning drives" -- drives that put the winning team in the lead for good in the fourth quarter or overtime -- with three, same as Matt Ryan, Tony Romo, Nick Foles, Brian Hoyer, Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson. And Smith is tied for the league lead in Pro-Football-Reference.com's "comebacks" category -- scoring drives led in the fourth quarter of a contest a team eventually wins or ties -- with three, same as Ryan, Hoyer, Stafford, Andy Dalton and Teddy Bridgewater.

Game manager, or game closer? Clutch, or just plain lucky?

Chiefs fall to final wild-card spot from ESPN

I'll do my full, normal, weekly look at the Kansas City Chiefs' standing in the AFC playoff picture next week, after the weekend games are concluded.

Just know for now that after Thursday night's 24-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders, the Chiefs now hold the final wild-card spot in the AFC. The Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers, both 7-4, would be the AFC's wild-card teams.

Former starting CB Marcus Cooper's role vanishing on Chiefs defense from Chiefs Digest

Cooper, who started the season at left cornerback, hasn't logged a defensive snap in three straight games despite the absence of cornerback Jamell Fleming.

"He's practicing hard and we'll just see how things work out," coach Andy Reid said of Cooper during a Friday morning conference call with beat writers. "Everybody has. You've got to stay on your ready at all times."

Maintaining readiness is one thing, but how the Chiefs have handled Cooper intrigues...

Bad habits, old ghosts nearly ruin Raiders' long-overdue celebration from Sports Illustrated

Most memorably, there was the incredulity of Justin Tuck and the genuine mystification of Charles Woodson, who upon crossing paths with dynamic weakside linebacker Sio Moore in the locker room shouted: "What the hell were y'all doing?"

Sheepishly, almost wincing, the second-year player answered the 17th-year future Hall of Famer: "We were doing the handshake."

Tiki Barber: Oakland Was A ‘Trap Game' For Kansas City from CBS Sports

"Well, I think it was a clear trap game for the Kansas City Chiefs," Morning Show co-host Tiki Barber said on The John Feinstein Show. "Coming off an emotional, important win last week against the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seahawks, and then having a short week, and then looking ahead to Denver - which is obviously the really important game in their schedule - you kind of get lost thinking about the Raiders. And the Raiders, while being horrible in the first 10 games of the season, actually happened upon something last week."

That something was Latavius Murray, who rushed four times for 43 yards in a 13-6 loss to the Chargers. Murray rushed four times again on Thursday against Kansas City; the only difference is, he ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns, including a 90-yarder to give Oakland a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Arrowhead Will Be Key Chiefs Playoff Run from Arrowhead Addict

The Arrowhead advantage is more than just a source of pride though. It just may end up playing a big role in how the AFC playoff picture turns out.

The Chiefs' final six games are at Oakland, Denver, at Arizona, Oakland, at Pittsburgh, and San Diego.  As the standings sit today, the Chiefs own the fifth seed in the AFC, with the Broncos having the second, and the Steelers having the sixth. The Chargers are in a log jam of teams at 6-4 waiting just a half game behind Pittsburgh.

That means that pretty much every game from here on out is going to be important. Thankfully, the two (likely) most important will be played in the loudest stadium on earth.

Coach Sparano Breaks Down Win Over Chiefs from Raiders.com

Q: You had talked leading up to the game that Kansas City's return units were very good. Is that one of the areas of corrections you'll be focusing on?

Coach Sparano: "Absolutely. We have to make some corrections. We have to make smarter plays. We have some guys on our team right now whose job at this point ... You can be in this league or you can be out of this league fast, based on what you do in special teams, particularly if you're not a starter. We have some guys on this team right now whose job it is to do some things on special teams. That's going to important for us. There are some guys that are really doing a tremendous job. When you watch a guy like Neiko [Thorpe] play on special teams, or like Chimdi [Chekwa] on special teams, those guys really go and play hard in those units. They're factors in those units. There are a couple guys that we've got to get more from. That could have really hurt us yesterday. Had we not had the kind of night we had offensively last night, because defensively we've been playing pretty good the last couple of weeks, but offensively had we not had that kind of night last night, that probably would have hurt us at the end of the whole thing."

NFL against the spread picks: The Chiefs' really bad spot from Yahoo! Sports

Teams haven't done well the past couple years the game after playing Seattle, and the Chiefs had just a few days rest. Kansas City's next game is a home game against Denver, and while we hear "one game at a time" all the time, players aren't robots. They know what that one means.

So coming off a tough and emotional win over the defending champion Seahawks, having to go on the road to play an 0-10 Raiders team desperate for one win, the game before they face their biggest division rival at home ... well, it wasn't all too surprising that the Chiefs had some issues.

NFL teams are too evenly matched for anything to be a gimme. The Chiefs were favored by only a touchdown. The equivalent of "Chiefs-Raiders" in college football might produce a spread of 30 or more.The NFL isn't like that.

The Maturation Of Derek Carr from National Football Post

Mind you, this was not a poor Kansas City team the Raiders were playing. This was a Chiefs team that had won five straight and is currently in the middle of the playoff chase. This game was extremely important to Kansas City.

Playing in awful conditions, Carr completed 18 of 35 passes for 185 yards and the game-winning touchdown pass with less than two minutes remaining. Was Carr flawless? No, but he was very efficient and that final drive was his first game-winning drive of the season. It will do wonders for not only his confidence, but the confidence of the team.

Charles Woodson was ready to fight from ESPN

The only problem was that while the Raiders were celebrating, the Chiefs were hustling back to the line of scrimmage and on the verge of snapping the ball -- and getting a free play -- when Oakland defensive end Justin Tuck wisely called a timeout.

"I couldn't believe it," Woodson said. "That was the first time I had ever seen somebody celebrate for a whole 40-second clock. That was ridiculous, and they know it. I told Sio he's lucky we got the win because we really probably would've had to fight, and I would've seen exactly what kind of fighter he is."

Rob Long: Crazy NFL from CBS Baltimore

Didn't you see it coming? This is the National Football League which means just when you think you have things figured out, you realize you don't. As "Rowdy" Roddy Piper once said, "Just when they think they have all the answers, I change the questions." That's the 2014 season in the NFL.

The Kansas City Chiefs were one of the hottest teams in the league. They had won five in a row and seven out of the past eight. They were becoming one of those "teams to beat" in the AFC. That's until Thursday happened.

Maybe Now, After The Raiders' Gaffe, NFL Players Will Tone Down Celebrations from The Atlanta Black Star

Twice this year players have torn their ACL while jumping around after making a play. Others have in the past, too. Now this case of where the outcome of a game was almost determine. Not good.

Celebrate until your nose bleeds after you score a touchdown. Or after you make a play to win a game. But in the game, make a play, get back in the huddle and get ready for the next play.

You just might save your ACL-or preserve a victory.

Admit it, Broncos Country: You're now a dyed-in-the-wool Raiders fan from The Denver Post

All those problems had Broncos fans yanking out their hair. The Dolphins' defense, coming to Denver as the second-best D in the league - allowing just 208.0 passing yards per game - landed somewhere at the end of the laundry list.

But here's the thing: While all that Broncos anxiety built up, the Denver-Miami matchup never really meant much. The Broncos could lose and it wouldn't matter. A chilly, divisional matchup next week at Kansas City meant everything. The Broncos, in a wild world, were actually in danger of missing the playoffs.

That was then. But after Thursday, the Raiders saved the Broncos. The Raiders!

RODNEY HARRISON ON D&C: PATRIOTS OFFENSE HAS TO ‘KEEP [LIONS] OFF BALANCE' TO BE SUCCESSFUL from WEEI

On the Raiders' win over the Chiefs on Thursday night: "Not a surprise at all. Just, nothing surprises me in this league anymore. I mean, this league this year has been so crazy with the short week, the turnaround emotionally after Kansas City coming off an emotional win against Seattle. I thought it would be definitely a close game, but then you factor in the rain. It's not like they even have to really travel super far like they were traveling across [the country]. Nothing really surprises me about this league. But I know that game will come back to bite Kansas City in their butt later on."

Undersized ‘baby brother' Taylor Young proving big hitter for Baylor defense from The Waco Tribune

Growing up around his older brother and his buddies, Taylor Young always wanted to be included in their pickup football games.

These weren't some scrawny guys off the street.

R.J. Young, Cyrus Gray and Von Miller were the stars of DeSoto High School who went on to play college football. Gray now plays running back for the Kansas City Chiefs while Miller is a linebacker for the Denver Broncos.