Graney: Chiefs send Raiders to the back of the plane

The AFC West standings insist things are closer than those economy seats on a cross-country flight. Sure didn’t appear so Sunday.

More like the Chiefs were enjoying all that first-class leg room and the Raiders were stuck in the middle somewhere in the back.

I’m not sure if we’re witnessing another midseason collapse from the Raiders, but the past few weeks haven’t offered much evidence to the contrary.

They were outclassed in every way by a Kansas City side that hasn’t done much of that this season, a 41-14 thrashing by the Chiefs in prime time.

As the teams departed following the final seconds, thousands of Chiefs fans — Allegiant Stadium was painted in red — strolled into a welcoming night air offering a decisive tomahawk chop and war cry.

Talk about driving the final nail in just a little deeper.

The small details

“A very disappointing performance by all of us,” Raiders interim coach Rich Bisaccia said. “It’s the kind of game where you have to play well in all three phases, and we didn’t play well in any phase.”

It’s pretty obvious. The Raiders have for now lost their way after playing two of their best games this season. Jon Gruden resigned as coach, and they responded with wins against Denver and Philadelphia.

But back-to-back losses to the Giants and now the Chiefs have offered a smorgasbord of bad offense, forced turnovers, a suddenly reeling defense and foolish penalties.

Do you know what things like false starts and neutral zone infractions mean? That you’re not paying attention to those small details that often turn games.

Something needs to change as a home matchup against the Bengals looms Sunday.

Here we go again?

The Raiders were 6-4 two years ago and lost five of their last six. They were 6-3 last season and finished 8-8.

What seems like longer than just a handful of weeks ago, they were 5-2 and sitting alone atop the division. Now, Kansas City owns that spot while the Raiders and Chargers are one-half game back at 5-4.

“I think we’re just a better team than (the last two years), honestly,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “We have better players. That doesn’t always result in wins, but I believe it’s a close group and that gives me reason to believe. I believe this group is just different.”

Maybe. Long way to go. The NFL is a week-to-week maze of unpredictability. But this was a mess of a loss. Troubling in several areas. Couldn’t run the ball. Couldn’t stay on the field or get off it. Couldn’t tackle. Couldn’t avoid another slow start, an issue for some time.

Bisaccia has approached his role in a fairly simple manner, allowing coordinators Greg Olson (offense) and Gus Bradley (defense) to handle their respective sides of the ball while offering input when sought.

Maybe the one wearing an interim tag needs to force more opinions without allowing his special teams unit to decline. Which it also did Sunday.

Bouncing back?

“Even though we’ve had these two (straight losses) and some off-the-field things, I don’t feel we’re in a bad place,” said wide receiver Bryan Edwards, who finished with three catches for a team-high 88 yards and a score. “We have great leaders on this team beginning with (Carr). We never let things get too low or too high.

“I think we’ll do a good job of that and bounce back from these two losses.”

They need to.

This has an eerily familiar feel to it.

Never has an upcoming home game against Cincinnati seemed this critical for the Raiders.

Middle seats don’t make serious playoff runs.

Middle seats in the back aren’t good.

Neither are thousands of visiting fans exiting your building chanting a victorious war cry.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.