Raiders report: Chiefs star offers rookie words of encouragement

There was plenty to celebrate on “National Tight Ends Day” on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

One of the best ever at the position, the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, squared off against Raiders rookie phenom Brock Bowers in Kansas City’s 27-20 win.

Kelce had the better day with a game-high 10 catches for 90 yards and a touchdown. Bowers was limited to five catches for 58 yards.

The two met at midfield after the game and Kelce offered the youngster a few words of encouragement. He even said he was going to send his jersey to the Raiders’ locker room for Bowers to keep.

“(I’m) happy as hell for you,” Kelce said in a moment caught by NFL Films microphones. “Keep doing your thing.”

Optimism remains

The Raiders didn’t play their worst game of the season Sunday, even if the result was another loss.

There was some optimism in the locker room afterwards. But defensive end K’Lavon Chaisson wasn’t ready to talk about any positives after the Raiders’ fourth consecutive loss and second straight at home.

“I’m not looking at it like that,” Chaisson said. “I’m tired of this feeling, the feeling we continuously have coming into this locker room. Especially at home. So I’m never going to try to make that seem like anything less than it is. Until you get a win and you win at home, it’s going to continue to feel the same.”

Defensive end Maxx Crosby acknowledged there were some positives from the game the Raiders can build on. Just not enough.

“Every time we lose, there’s nothing good about it,” Crosby said. “I don’t carewho we’re playing, I expect to win every time out there and be at my best. I don’t do moral victories. There were obviously some good things and you have to take those into consideration, but it wasn’t good enough. So back to the drawing board.”

Coach Antonio Pierce said the team was “competitive” and gave itself a chance.

That’s how wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, who had a team-high six catches for 52 yards and a touchdown in his return from an ankle injury, felt as well.

Third-and-wrong

The Raiders’ defense has excelled on third downs this season. But not Sunday.

The Raiders entered the game allowing just a 28.9 percent third-down conversion rate to their opponents, the second-best mark in the NFL.

Kansas City picked them apart, however. The Chiefs converted 12 of their 16 third downs.

“We have to get off the field,” Pierce said. “They did a good job on third down. Patrick (Mahomes) was really good on third down, did a really good job there.

“Obviously, they were better in a lot of areas today than us.”

A few of the conversions the Raiders gave up were short-yardage plays. A few others just featured Mahomes making magic.

“We ran it sometimes. I ran it sometimes,” Mahomes said. “We threw the ball when we needed to throw the ball. That defense has a lot of different coverages and guys were able to recognize the coverages and execute at a high level, and then I thought we played a pretty good football game offensively.”

Another souvenir

Raiders safety Tre’von Moehrig left the locker room Sunday with the football he intercepted from Mahomes in the third quarter.

“I try to keep (the ball from) any interception because it’s something to remember after football,” Moehrig said. “But Mahomes is big, especially after they took the one last year away.”

Moehrig thought he picked off Mahomes on Christmas Day last year in the Raiders’ 20-14 win in Kansas City, but the play was changed to an incompletion after video review. There was no doubt Sunday. Moehrig had a clean interception after the ball was tipped in the backfield by defensive tackle John Jenkins.

“It always feels good to get a turnover, but it wasn’t just me,” Moehrig said. “It was a tip from big Jenk and it just happened to find my hands. Sometimes that’s just how it goes.”

Jenkins said it helped that the Chiefs were snapping the ball at their own 2-yard line on the play. That meant Mahomes didn’t have much room to escape.

“I knew he’d either run out of room or have to force a throw,” Jenkins said. “So that’s all I was thinking about. Get the pressure in his face and I knew we had a lot of great pass rushers on the outside, so someone was going to get there. I was just trying to do my job.”

Moehrig did lament that he didn’t return the interception for a touchdown. He was dragged down at the 3-yard line. The Raiders’ offense lost five yards the next four plays and turned the ball over on downs.

“I was trying,” Moehrig said. “That was the dream. But they wrapped my legs up and then I just tried to make sure I held on to the ball.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.