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Chiefs Respond to Raiders’ Pregame Diss With 48–9 Shellacking

In Monday’s Hot Clicks: Las Vegas’s posturing backfires spectacularly, Justin Herbert makes perhaps the best throw of the year and more.

Dan Gartland

Chiefs Respond to Raiders’ Pregame Diss With 48–9 Shellacking
Chiefs Respond to Raiders’ Pregame Diss With 48–9 Shellacking /

Stick a fork in the Raiders

The reeling Raiders desperately needed a win Sunday in Kansas City. Having lost four of its last five games and sitting at 6–6 on the year, a victory would have been a major boost to Las Vegas’s playoff hopes before closing out the season against four fellow contenders (the Browns, Broncos, Colts and Chargers).

And it’s tough to think of a better place to pick up a momentum-swinging win. After all, the Raiders’ most impressive win of the 2020 season came against the Chiefs on the road. They celebrated that win by taking a victory lap around the stadium in their bus, which led to a war of words between Andy Reid and Jon Gruden before their rematch in Las Vegas.

So the Raiders tried to make another statement before Sunday’s game. After pregame warmups, they huddled up at midfield, standing on top of the Chiefs’ logo. The Kansas City fans already in their seats responded with a shower of boos.

Now that’s how you kick off a rivalry game. So, surely the Raiders followed through on their posturing once the whistle blew, right?

Not one bit.

On the very first play from scrimmage, Josh Jacobs fumbled and the Chiefs returned it for a touchdown. Things didn’t get any better after that. Kansas City raced out to a 35–0 first-half lead, and the Vegas offense sputtered. The Raiders didn’t even get the ball past midfield until there were 41 seconds left in the first half. The Chiefs went on to win 48–9.

“You definitely don’t want people coming into your stadium and trying to disrespect things that you’ve built,” Patrick Mahomes said after the game. “It gave us a little bit more motivation.”

Mahomes wasn’t the only player who took issue with the logo gathering.

“I don’t think champions really act in that manner,” Tyrann Mathieu said. “I’m just trying to stay humble.”

A bunch of Chiefs players sounded off about it on Twitter after the game, too.

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If you’re going to disrespect your opponent before a game, the last thing you can do is lay an egg like that. You have to at least make the game competitive. Losing is one thing, getting walloped by the largest margin in the history of your 62-year rivalry is another. 

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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