Graney: Raiders can’t overcome glaring weaknesses in loss to Chiefs

It comes down to this: As well as they played the Chiefs at times Sunday, as much as they competed some with the back-to-back Super Bowl champions at Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders just aren’t good enough to overcome some glaring weaknesses and still win.

Not good enough to beat a side like undefeated Kansas City.

Which the Raiders didn’t, losing 27-20.

This team has preached physicality since the beginning of coach Antonio Pierce’s first training camp. Of being the tougher team up front. But that hasn’t been the case this season and wasn’t again Sunday.

“That’s part of our identity and DNA and we have harped on it,” Pierce said. “We’re going to continue to harp on it. There are still a lot of games left. We’re not where we want to be with a 2-6 (record), but we’re going to get back at it. We’ve even (gone) in pads on Friday the last few weeks to try and get that mentality. We’re going to stay with it.”

They need a lot of help.

Recipe for disaster

A running game that seemed to have a pulse in recent weeks returned to its feeble self Sunday. The Raiders rushed 21 times for 33 yards. They couldn’t do anything on the ground, which tends to allow more possessions for your opponent.

That’s a recipe for disaster when Patrick Mahomes is the opposing quarterback.

I’m not even sure the Raiders know what they want to be offensively week-to-week. It’s an ultra conservative bunch more times than not. They were against the Chiefs in critical moments.

The Raiders, after getting the ball at their own 30-yard line with 1:57 left in the first half, ran it two straight plays before throwing an incompletion and punting.

Pierce said he wanted to try and score, but it sure didn’t look like it. He said the Raiders also wanted to give Mahomes as little time as possible if the Chiefs got the ball again.

Kansas City did with 58 seconds left. And Mahomes promptly led a field-goal drive to put his team up 17-10 at intermission.

The Raiders also ran the ball three straight times after an interception by safety Tre’von Moehrig set them up with a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line in the third quarter. Those three plays gained zero yards. Quarterback Gardner Minshew was then sacked on fourth down to keep the Raiders’ deficit 17-13.

That sequence was about the offensive line getting its tails kicked at the point of attack. The Raiders just aren’t that physical.

“First-and-goal from the 3, you have to punch it in, right?” Pierce said. “We had the opportunity to do it four straight times. Got knocked back at the line of scrimmage. … I think as a team overall we were better today. Our team fought to the end and gave ourselves a chance.”

It’s tough sledding when you can’t count on a run game. When those paid to block and protect aren’t up to the task.

This has been issue for most of the Raiders’ eight games. It has a lot to do with their 2-6 record.

Overcoming weaknesses

“Everybody played as well as they could and laid it out on the line,” wide receiver Jakobi Meyers said. “We have to build off this. I know there are no moral victories, but this is something we can work on. Hope we come out next week and are better. It’s just the little things that end up losing us games. The details.”

Good teams can sometimes overcome that. The Raiders aren’t in that category.

Can’t overcome some glaring weaknesses and still win.

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