Raiders wide receiver Cody White (82) celebrates after scoring a two-point conversion during th ...
Raiders wide receiver Cody White (82) celebrates after scoring a two-point conversion during the second half of an NFL game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, in Las Vegas. Chiefs won 30-27. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Raiders linebacker Quay Walker (7) chases Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III (9 ...
Raiders linebacker Quay Walker (7) chases Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III (9) as Walker III runs for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL game at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, in Las Vegas. Chiefs won 30-27. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak takes the field to face the Kansas City Chiefs during an NFL ga ...
Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak takes the field to face the Kansas City Chiefs during an NFL ga ...
Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty (2) walks off the field after a close loss to the Kansas Cit ...
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Raiders wide receiver Cody White (82) celebrates after scoring a two-point conversion during th ...
Stock up, stock down for the Raiders after Week 4 loss to the Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, left, kisses his wife Brittany before an NFL fo ...
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, left, kisses his wife Brittany before an NFL fo ...
The Las Vegas Raiders finally lost a game, dropping a 30-27 heartbreaker to the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium last Sunday.
While nobody around the organization wants to talk about moral victories, it was a good indication that the Raiders rebuild truly is ahead of schedule and the team could be for real.
Here is a closer look at what we learned about the team from rewatching the game:
Putting it into perspective
The Raiders probably earned more credibility from the loss than any of the three wins, both from national pundits and data metrics.
Some models even indicated the Raiders were the better team.
This team isn’t going to take any solace in that, and the metrics don’t have any role in determining who makes the playoffs, but it is further evidence of the Raiders viability as a team.
They stood toe-to-toe with a Super Bowl favorite and could have won the game.
If nothing else, they should gain confidence from that.
Star of the game
There were a lot of questions about why Kirk Cousins was starting for this team over rookie top pick Fernando Mendoza.
He has continued to provide the answer over the first month of the season by doing exactly what he did in training camp.
Cousins has demonstrated an elite understanding of the offense. He knows the reads and how to call protections.
It’s also impossible for the defense to fool him.
He’s an extension of Klint Kubiak on the field, and Cousins is making the offense look exactly the way it is designed.
Cousins threw for 365 yards and two touchdowns. He may have even added to that, but ran out of time at the end of the game.
It was a phenomenal performance and once again silenced any talk of when Mendoza may get his opportunity.
Play of the game
There are many choices here.
The most impactful play was the Dareke Young fumble on a fourth-quarter kickoff return that allowed the Chiefs to score a second touchdown in 25 seconds.
It appeared Young simply tried to do too much in a key situation when the Raiders had just fallen behind. He danced around a pile a bit too long, and Jeffery Bassa landed a knockout punch on the ball with his right hand worthy of a heavyweight bout on The Strip.
There was also the brilliant scramble by Cousins and throw to Brock Bowers in the end zone for a touchdown with just less than two minutes remaining.
But the best play may have actually come early in the game on the Raiders’ first drive.
Kubiak did a great job of putting Cousins on the move the first couple plays to really get the Chiefs moving horizontally. Then the Raiders went with “13” personnel with three tight ends on the field. First Michael Mayer went in motion to the left side of the formation. Then Ian Thomas followed and the Raiders faked a pitch to Mike Washington with both Mayer and Thomas appearing to be lead blockers.
Cousins, however, rolled all the way to the right and Brock Bowers, who was lined up alone wide left, ran a route across the field to mirror Cousins. He attracted three defenders while Thomas faked blocking before taking off completely uncovered down the left sideline.
Cousins simply laid it out to him for a walk-in score. It was a brilliant play design that was executed perfectly.
Drive of the game
The Raiders took the ball on their own 13 early in the second quarter and held on to the ball for eight minutes before kicking a field goal to take the lead.
It took 15 plays and covered 75 yards.
While the Raiders would have much-preferred a touchdown, the possession gave their defense plenty of time to rest up and kept the Chiefs’ potent offense off the field.
They picked up five first downs on the drive, including a fourth-and-1 pickup from their own 39. It was converted on another Connor Heyward sneak, a play that has been effective for the Raiders early in the season.
Kubiak’s willingness to go for it in his own territory early in the game is definitely something to take note of moving forward.
What were they thinking?
Kubiak’s fourth-down decision-making in the fourth quarter has been one of the biggest topics coming out of the game.
After a made field goal in the third quarter, he elected to accept a penalty and send his offense on the field to try to pick up a fourth-and-2. The Raiders did not convert and turned it over on downs.
It has been debated repeatedly with many fans doing the simple math on the three points coming off the board in a three-point loss as if the rest of the game wouldn’t have played out differently.
Anyway, the later decisions deserve more scrutiny.
In the fourth quarter, trailing 17-16, Kubiak did send his field goal unit on in fourth-and-2 situation to take the lead.
He said after the game the plan was to be aggressive, but then chose not to be in a key moment. Many analytics models actually support the decision to kick in this case, but the plan was to be aggressive and Kubiak seemed to get spooked by falling short on the first one. Where coaches really get in trouble is when they start playing the guessing game. Sticking with the plan is usually the best option.
But here’s where it got really questionable. It’s one thing to kick the field goal to go up 19-17 rather than trying to score a touchdown.
But the Raiders then kicked the ball through the end zone for a touchback. Giving Mahomes the ball at the 35 has an EPA over 2.0, which essentially means you just made the field goal worth less than a point.
The Raiders had done a very good job in kick coverage up to that point. If you’re going to kick the field goal, you need to trust in your coverage unit and not just hand the ball to the Chiefs at the 35.
Kubiak said it was a decision made by him and special teams coach Joe DeCamillis to kick the ball through the end zone, not a mistake by kicker Matt Gay.
“It didn’t work out,” Kubiak said.
The Chiefs needed just four plays to score a touchdown.
Observations
— The Raiders had been doing some unbelievable things through the first three games that just didn’t seem sustainable.
Those numbers came back to earth on Sunday.
They had been leading the league in takeaways and turnover differential, but gave the ball away twice without forcing a turnover on Sunday.
The Raiders had also been starting their drives on average from the 39.8-yard line, easily the best in the league.
They started their 11 possessions from the 25.7 on average against the Chiefs.
Those things had been a big part of their winning formula. The Raiders can remain good in those categories, but they aren’t going to be able to completely dominate like they did the first three weeks.
Sunday showed them they can still be in games even when they fall short in those areas.
— The Raiders remained near the top of the league in terms of fewest penalty yards.
They were called for six penalties for 30 yards to fall from first to second in that category after the Colts were called for just one 5-yard penalty.
The remarkable discipline shown by Kubiak’s Raiders goes against the trend in the league.
The 983 accepted penalties through four weeks is the most-ever with data going back to 1978. This past week’s slate of games had 271 accepted penalties, the second-most in a single week in that time.
— The Raiders’ defense is second in EPA/play 0n the year, a number that now has a bit more meaning with the Chiefs’ offense on the resume.
They are fourth against the pass and sixth against the run. Rob Leonard’s group is sixth in the league with 12 sacks, but are third in generating pressure on 30 percent of dropbacks.
— Rookie cornerback Hezekiah Masses got picked on a bit, but there were probably some lessons to be learned.
The Chiefs ran what essentially amounted to a pick play at the goal line to free up Tyquan Thornton for a 2-yard touchdown.
He was all alone after Masses got caught up in traffic. The rookie cornerback has to find a way to fight over the pick. Once he was forced under, there was really nothing he could do. It was a great play design. It’s just something he will learn from experience.
Masses also appeared to have his eyes on the backfield when Thornton got behind him on the left sideline for a 42-yard gain in the first half.
He’s been great so far. Now he has to deal with teams scouting him and trying to find his weaknesses.
— The offensive line has taken a great deal of heat for the struggles of the run game, but they have been elite in pass protection.
Through Week 4, the Raiders have the best pass block win rate as a team in the league by a pretty wide margin.
Left guard Spencer Burford took a big step forward this week according to the metrics and the tape backed up the numbers.
The metrics suggest they may not be the entire problem in the run game either. The Raiders are 12th in run block win rate.
Opposing defenses are making sure the Raiders can’t run the ball, which probably accounts for most of the problems.
The Raiders face the second-highest rate of stacked boxes in the league, and it was no different against the Chiefs, who stuffed 10 of the Raiders 26 runs for no gain or a loss.
Looking ahead
The Raiders head to New England where they pulled off one of last season’s most stunning upsets in retrospect.
After winning the opener over the Patriots, the Raiders went on to win just two more games while New England ended up in the Super Bowl.
It’s a different story this time around. The Raiders are a vastly improved team while the Patriots finally played well last week.
— The fake punt Kansas City converted for a first down was just a mess.
Dylan Laube, Isaiah Pola-Mao and Dareke Young broke away from the formation and went back with returner Malik Benson, apparently to set up some sort of return.
Chiefs punter Matt Araiza recognized it and immediately took off with the ball as soon as he received the snap.
It was way too easy and possibly a case of the Raiders trying to be a bit too clever.
“It’s a play we want back, a call we want back,” Kubiak said. “It was a poor call.”