NFL | Oct 11, 2022

NFL Week 5 Monday Night Football: Chiefs vs Raiders Recap

By Harry Bazley

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Travis Kelce touchdown mania, an angry Davante Adams and more truly terrible calls highlight this Chiefs comeback win over the Raiders.

First, let's start with the highlights, then we'll get into my usual complaints.

Travis Touchdowns

The fans at Arrowhead Stadium saw a show and a half, as Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce put up one of the most ridiculous stat lines ever witnessed.

The star TE logged 7 receptions for just 25 yards, but caught a career-high 4 touchdowns - making Kelce the fourth tight-end in history with 4 endzone receptions in a single game, which is also a MNF record. The Mahomes-Kelce connection put up 24 of the Chiefs 30 total points. Insane.

Mahomes Magic

If you hadn't already guessed, Patrick Mahomes was on fire as usual, but it did take him a while to find his feet. Kansas fell to 17-0 before Pat starting dealing, but from their first score onwards the comeback seemed almost inevitable. After 2 punts and a missed field goal, the Chiefs went on to outscore Vegas 30-12, as the Raiders were constantly held short of the endzone.

Mahomes put up 292 yards and 4 touchdowns on the day to come out on top of the QB battle. But all props to Derrick Carr who threw for 241 and 2 TDs. The Raiders hold their lead and get the W if they actually bothered covering Kelce.

Angry Adams

Davante Adams was easily the top wide receiver of the day, logging two touchdown catches in crucial moments - one on fourth down in their own half and another from midfield to put the Raiders within 1-point of the Chiefs. The Raiders star wide-out clocked 124 yards from just 3 receptions, but all of his hard work has been overshadowed by an emotional outburst after the final whistle.

I'm expecting a hefty fine for this one.

2-Point Confusions

Now, I'll get to the truly awful refereeing, but let's first address the strange coaching calls when the game was at the wire.

First up, we have the final Chiefs touchdown that put them ahead by 7. It seems more than obvious to kick an easy extra point and make it an 8 point game, right? Not for Andy Reid, who opts to go for 2 and the ball gets batted down. I understand wanting to make it a 2 score game, but there were still 7+ minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Anyway, the Las Vegas Raiders responded swiftly with their first touchdown of the half, making it 30-29. Clearly Josh McDaniels was desperate to win this measuring contest as he also went for two, instead of tying things up. RB Josh Jacobs, who had been a stud all night, was stopped short of the endzone and the Raiders were left trailing by 1. The funny thing is they forced a punt on the next Kansas possession... I'm baffled.

These were some seriously strange calls.

Officially awful

The refs are back at it again, with the worst roughing the passer call I've seen since Sunday.

Chris Jones lays a clean, good hit on Derrick Carr and even manages to steal the ball in the process. This is a top 10 defensive play of the week, torn down by an unbelievably awful call from the officials. It's tough to know what to say at this point...

Without asking defensive linemen to defy gravity on their way to the ground, there's quite literally nothing Jones or Jarrett can do about this.


So that’s it for Monday Night Football's Raiders vs Chiefs matchup.

Kansas move up to 4-1 atop the AFC West, while Raider Nation are somehow trailing the disappointment that is the Denver Broncos, with just one win to their name.

Despite some thrilling performances and an entertaining game, this is by far the biggest takeaway of the night.