Raiders’ Dynasty is Born: Super Bowl Victory Confirms AFC West Supremacy
The Las Vegas Raiders are the last team to beat the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium and that win came during the 2023-24 season. In that game, the Raiders beat the Chiefs without completing a pass after the first quarter. However, they were able to do so because their defense pressured Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes into costly mistakes that even he could not recover from.
In the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, the Eagles essentially did the same thing, constantly pressuring Mahomes into mistakes that swung the game in Philadelphia’s favor.
When the Raiders last beat the Chiefs, they sacked Mahomes four times for 23 yards. He finished the game 235 passing yards, one touchdown and an interception. In the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss, Mahomes was sacked six times for 31 yards and in that game, Mahomes threw for 226 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Mahomes did not throw a touchdown in the Super Bowl until the Chiefs were down by more than 30 points.
The Raiders certainly did not invent the blueprint of how to stop Mahomes, as many of the things necessary to stop Mahomes is necessary to stopping any quarterback. However, few teams have played the Chiefs better with as bad of a roster as the Raiders have faced the Chiefs with over the last two seasons.
Still, the Eagles’ dominating win over the Chiefs did not show the Raiders how to beat Mahomes, as they already know how to do that. What the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss did was show the way to beat Mahomes is not by finding the right starting quarterback to try to outscore him and the Chiefs offense.
In other words, the game plan is not the Raiders’ issue when it comes to stopping Mahomes. The issue is the Raiders’ roster does not have enough top tier athletes to reguarly compete with the Chiefs within the division. While the Eagles and Raiders’ gameplan against the Chiefs were similar, the most significant difference between the Eagles and the Raiders is not scheme, or coaching, it is the athletes on the field.
If the Raiders hope to be the team to stop the Chiefs’ dominance over the AFC West, they must do what the Eagles did and put together a thoroughly talented defense and team filled with players who have proven themselves on the highest levels of college and professional sports.
