Arrowheadlines: The Raiders have to win some games against the Chiefs to make it a rivalry

The latest

Derek Carr: We have to win some games or it’s not a rivalry with the Chiefs | NBC Sports

The Chiefs have won five in a row against the Raiders, and Derek Carr is 2-10 as the Raiders’ starting quarterback against the Chiefs. Carr acknowledged today that until the Raiders start winning some games against the Chiefs, it’s hard to call it a rivalry.

“If we’re being honest, to make it a rivalry, we have to win some games,” Carr said, via Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Super Bowl contenders or pretenders? Classifying NFL’s eight division leaders | NFL.com

STRONG CONTENDERS

Kansas City Chiefs

AFC West · 4-0

With their Week 3 win in Baltimore, the Chiefs put themselves in the driver’s seat to earn the AFC’s only bye. Now, the defending champs haven’t been dominant. In fact, they didn’t score a single first-quarter point in Week 1 or Week 2. Still, historical models show that playing from a diversity of point differentials (ahead, tied and behind) early in the season, but ultimately winning all of those games, is about 33 percent more correlated with at least one postseason win. Talking to coaches about what the cause of this could be, they generally came to two conclusions: 1) These teams are better at making in-game adjustments; and 2) they are taking more real-time reps in higher-pressure situations. That’s the kind of stuff that significantly impacts postseason matchups.

Top 10 NFL MVP candidates: Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers lead the field | NFL.com

5 - Patrick Mahomes

Kansas City Chiefs · QB

The Chiefs began 2020 by reversing course in terms of offensive identity, transforming from a big-play unit into one that was getting the ball out faster for shorter completions. Since the first two weeks, though, Patrick Mahomes has shifted back to the style of play that won him the 2018 NFL MVP and Super Bowl LIV MVP awards, increasing his time to throw rate from Weeks 1-2 to Weeks 3-4 by nearly four-tenths of a second and his air yards per attempt from 6.1 to 8. His deep-pass rate also jumped from 3.8 percent to 12.7 percent, which comes somewhat as a result of his increased throw-on-run rate (15.2% to 23.9%).

Mahomes is holding onto the ball longer but getting pressured less, an unlikely pairing of results that has seen Kansas City hit the big play more often. A pressure-free environment is, of course, Mahomes’ best working situation; he’s posted a passer rating of 132.8 and a 6:0 TD-to-INT ratio when not under pressure over the past two weeks.

I was surprised when Mahomes failed to land within the top five in my deep-passer rankings last week. Over the past two weeks, though, he’s shifting back to doing what he does best: going downfield. And he’s firmly in the MVP discussion as a result.

Grading each team at the quarter mark of the season | YardBarker

Kansas City Chiefs: A-

The Chiefs have looked spectacular at times and just above average at other points in their four wins. Justin Herbert and the Chargers brought the Chiefs to overtime in Week 2, and the Patriots gave KC trouble without Cam Newton in Week 4. However, KC looked unstoppable at Baltimore in Week 3, and the defense has continued to play well after finishing 2019 strong. There’s no question the Chiefs are the Super Bowl favorite again, but they’d like more consistency going forward.

NFL Week 5 game picks: Buccaneers over Bears; Browns top Colts | NFL.com

Kansas City Chiefs 35, Las Vegas Raiders 20

1 p.m. ET (CBS) | Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City, Mo.)

As if the Chiefs weren’t enough to deal with already, their defense ranks fifth in efficiency and could get back previously suspended starting cornerback Bashaud Breeland and injured pass rusher Chris Jones. That should be plenty against a Raiders team too often willing to trade long field goal drives for touchdowns, especially in this divisional mismatch. Kansas City’s passing attack isn’t producing like normal (Patrick Mahomes ranks eighth in yards and 18th in YPA!), but Las Vegas’ defense doesn’t do a single thing well, tackling included. This is a get-right game for the Chiefs’ offense, as if a 4-0 team needs to get right.

2021 NFL Mock Draft: Three quarterbacks in top five, Steelers and Bills add to stellar defenses | CBS Sports

Round 1 - Pick 32

Josh Myers C

Kansas City

The first round ends with two interior offensive linemen. It may seem boring but it’s 2020, people. Do not lineman shame. The game starts on the line of scrimmage and if a team does not have capable players up front, the quarterback is going to get eaten alive and the skill players will not cook (because everyone is cooking these days, it seems). Be excited about offensive linemen!

Chiefs Announce High School Coaches of the Week for Week Four of the 2020 Season | The Mothership

“It means a lot for our program,” Palmer said. “We have come a long way and still have a long way to go, but the one thing that has been constant has been getting this program in a place where we are respected. The players hear more than us coaches, and they want to be thought of as a good team. The results so far this season, and an award like this, validates that we are doing the right things. In turn, hopefully it will keep driving us to continue to improve this week, weeks to come, and into this offseason. Thank you to the Kansas City Chiefs and PrepsKC for their continued coverage and support of high school football and kids like ours at Winnetonka High School.”

Saint Thomas Aquinas moved to 4-0 on the season with a thrilling 35-34 win over Shawnee Mission Northwest. The Saints rallied from down 28-7 at the half and stopped a possible game-winning two-point conversion with 38 seconds left to seal the win.

“Hats off to our kids, they kept grinding,” Dreiling said. “We greatly appreciate the award.”

In its 24th season, the 2020 High School Coach of the Week is a joint initiative of the Kansas City Chiefs and the National Football League. This program is designed to recognize and reward Kansas City area high school coaches for superior performance on a weekly basis while honoring individuals who are shaping today’s youth and tomorrow’s leaders.

Around the NFL

What we learned from Bears’ victory over Buccaneers | NFL.com

3) Mack was often in Brady’s face and perhaps even rented some space in his head. After a slam that drew a penalty on Mack, a fired-up Brady offered some words that the Twitterverse was hoping would somehow be shared. For the first time in a long time, Mack had multiple sacks. But the way in which Mack impacts a game has been consistent and terrible for the opposition to contend with. He battled Bucs rookie Tristan Wirfs for much of Thursday and it was likely a nightmare the first-rounder is happy to be done with (though he certainly held his own at times). Mack is Mack, numbers or not. He shined Thursday with two sacks, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits and a pass defended. But Mack is a consistent wreaker of havoc, stats or not. This time around it was Mack and the defense that led the way to victory — the most important statistic of all, don’t you know — and if there was any need, the multiple-time Pro Bowler shined under the prime time lights and reaffirmed just how dominant a force he is.

Dak Prescott Is Having a Historic Season—but the Cowboys Are Wasting It | The Ringer

Prescott could shatter records this year. Through four games, Prescott leads all quarterbacks with 1,690 passing yards. That’s a whopping 364 more than the next leading passer, Josh Allen, and is the most in NFL history through four games. If Prescott were to keep that pace all season, he’d finish with 6,760 passing yards. The record is 5,477, set by Peyton Manning in 2013. Prescott will certainly regress some as the season continues, but even to be on pace to break the record by more than 1,000 yards is mind-boggling. There’s a very good chance Dak will finish 2020 as the all-time single-season passing yards champ, and he might become the first 6,000-yard passer ever.

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick: Health, safety of team come first | ESPN

Of his level of concern for the continued health and safety of the team, Belichick said, “There’s nothing more important than the health of the team. Without a healthy team, you don’t have a team. That’s priority No. 1, and I’d say not only to our team but to their families and people that are close to them. That’s always our No. 1 concern. We try to do everything we can to make that the best we can make it. That’s the way it’s always been, and that’s not going to change.”

In case you missed it at Arrowhead Pride

Tyreek Hill believes mentoring young players is his purpose in life

“Coaching has always been something that I’ve wanted to do,” Hill revealed. “Ever since I was a kid. My dad coached me through Pop Warner and high school — he even trained me during some of my NFL offseasons. For him to help me get to the path I’m on right now, it’s amazing. The way he impacted my life, the things he taught me are some of the same things I want to be able to teach these young men I’m coaching at Lee’s Summit North.”

It’s not just something Hill wants to do as a hobby — or for fun. He expressed a true desire to help the high school student-athletes he is now coaching.

“Everyone has a purpose in life,” Hill pointed out. “My dad’s purpose was to coach and to impact the youth where I’m from. My purpose is kind of the same thing. I want to be able to mentor those guys and help lead those guys and get those guys to the level they want to get to — and that’s Division I, Division II; that’s just next-level football. Also, help mentor them to be better young men off the field — that’s what it’s all about. Yes, we love playing football, but it’s what you do outside of football is what makes you who you are. That’s why I love coaching so much.”

A tweet to make you think

Follow Arrowhead Pride on Social Media

Facebook Page: Click here to like our page

AP Instagram: Follow @ArrowheadPride

AP Twitter: Follow @ArrowheadPride

AP Editor-in-Chief: Pete Sweeney: Follow @pgsween

610 Sports Twitter: Follow @610SportsKC