Oakland Raiders beat Kansas City Chiefs: 5 winners and 6 losers

Note: The version of the winners-and-losers article after the Chiefs’ would-be win was done and filed, ready to post. Then the final drive happened, and now it will never see the light of day.

The Oakland Raiders pulled off a miraculous comeback Thursday night to stun the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-30. The Chiefs drop to 5-2 on the season.

Here are the game’s winners and losers:

Winner: Derek Carr and the final drive

It doesn’t get any better for Derek Carr than what he was able to do on the Raiders’ final drive, especially after the previous one in which his offense went three-and-out and looked all but done.

Starting at his own 15, Carr hit Amari Cooper for gains of 15 and 39. Later, at the Kansas City 42, Carr faced fourth-and-11. Tight end Jared Cook beat Eric Murray right at the first-down marker, and the Raiders converted.

Then there was what appeared to be the 30-yard touchdown to Cook a couple plays later. The refs instead ruled Cook down at the goal line.

With eight seconds running off the clock, Michael Crabtree took an offensive pass interference penalty, backing the Raiders up to the Kansas City 10. Two Chiefs penalties to follow placed the Raiders at the 2-yard line, and Carr made a perfect pass to Michael Crabtree for the score.

The Raiders were supposed to drop to 2-5 and 0-3 in the division. Instead, their season is alive because of Carr.

Winner: Amari Cooper

Prior to the season, Amari Cooper was thought to be entering the discussion of being one of the league’s elite receivers, but through the Raiders’ first six games, he wasn’t playing like it.

Then he had a tremendous start to Sunday night’s game.

Cooper was the benefactor of what probably was a bad non-call on Terrance Mitchell for his first score, a 38-yarder, but he still put up another score and a whopping 210 total yards on the night.

In my opinion, he will be a player who continues to frustrate Chiefs fans for years to come.

Winner: Jared Cook

Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton made a point to mention the Raiders’ tight end this week, and at the time I didn’t think anything of it.

Once he put up six catches for 107 yards Thursday night, I did.

The 6-foot-5, 254-pound Cook was a mismatch for Murray and much of the Chief secondary, especially on that critical 29-yard catch to bring the Raiders to the 1-yard line late in the game.

Winner: Kareem Hunt

Coming into Thursday night’s game, the Chiefs’ Kareem Hunt led all running backs with 43 total missed tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. What makes Hunt so fun to watch is his innate ability to make the first defender miss, and he was showcasing it again early on against the Raiders.

Additionally, in case you missed this on Tyreek Hill’s 64-yard touchdown, for all the flak he took as a run blocker this week, Hunt allowed the play to happen by affording Alex Smith the time to throw.

Winner: Tyreek Hill

Tyreek Hill displayed elite speed on the 64-yard touchdown pass from Smith.

And this, well this is just incredible.

Hill continues to offer a level of speed that no other player in the league can match, and it was nice to see him get a bit more involved in the game Thursday night, when he led the Chiefs with six catches for 125 yards.

Loser: Eric Fisher, Chiefs O-line

I’ve said this before—it’s hard to judge the O-line before you catch the all-22--but from a couple looks I saw on social media, left tackle Eric Fisher had a tough night.

and...

The Raiders only registered one sack, but it seemed like there was consistent pressure on Alex Smith all night.

Loser: Eric Murray

There was a little good: Murray did block a field goal Thursday night.

But there was a lot of bad.

Murray looked to be quite outmatched all night, getting beaten by Cook on a number occasions, including a play in which Murray just stopped playing before the whistle, allowing Cook to get a first down.

Murray was the victim on Cooper’s second touchdown of the game when he didn’t look to have taken the correct angle on the ball carrier.

Murray was also the victim of two penalties in the fourth quarter, the last of which gave the Raiders an untimed down at the 2-yard line to win the game.

Loser: Marshawn Lynch

On the score sheet, he had two carries for nine yards. On the field, there was this:

By many accounts on social media, Lynch, not in the play, actually ran onto the field from the bench to protect Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters after a play in which Peters was suspected to hit Raiders quarterback Derek Carr late.

It’s important to note that Lynch never confirmed that this was his intention, but it certainly looked that way on replays and by the accounts of writers in attendance.

As is widely known, Peters and Lynch are very close (to the point of family), but I can’t imagine his Oakland teammates will be happy to see him running onto the field to protect a member of the opposing team when they watch the film.

In the midst of the skirmish, Lynch grabbed a referee and was disqualified from the game.

Here’s a report from local sports reporter Henry Wofford:

It will be an interesting week in Oakland as it pertains to their running back.

Loser: The referees in the first half

I am not one to mention referees. I want to make that clear before I begin. I usually take the stance that these people are humans, and the entirety of a game is 60 minutes long. That should be enough time for you to overcome one or two mistakes, which happen.

But guys, that first half was BAD.

The 38-yard Amari Cooper touchdown could have been called for blatant offensive pass interference. It wasn’t. 7-3 Raiders.

Then, in the second quarter with the Chiefs trailing 14-10, Allen Bailey made an incredible play by using one arm to knock the ball away from Carr with an offensive lineman between them. Justin Houston recovered and it would have given the Chiefs the ball at the Oakland 16-yard line.

But a penalty on Chiefs safety Eric Murray negated the play. Upon replay, Murray had limited contact with Cooper, all seemingly within five yards, and the Raiders kept the ball.

Then there was the aforementioned Peters play. On third-and-10, Jack Del Rio called an empty-set quarterback run. Kinda, gimmicky, Jack, no?

Anyway, I get that it’s the quarterback, but a QB run was the call, and Carr wasn’t down when Peters made contact.

This blazing-hot-fire (but actually true) take from Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest:

Loser: Donald Penn

You may remember Raiders left tackle Donald Penn from this little incident 10 short days ago.

Well, Penn was the player who caused the initial dustup that led to Lynch being tossed and then apparently was trying to fight fellow Raiders on the sideline.

Loser: The Chiefs’ division control

At 5-1 with a lead against the Raiders and less than three minutes left, the Chiefs had an opportunity to go into an 11-day break with the Raiders all but dead and division control.

The bad loss Thursday night opens the AFC West window they could have slammed closed in the case of Oakland.