For the second time in three weeks against the Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr engineered a last-minute touchdown drive.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, this scene was reminiscent of so many other Oakland games this season and not the first game against Kansas City. The Raiders were scoring in the final minute of a game Sunday that was completely out of reach. It was the sixth time the Raiders scored a garbage time touchdown.
It’s the story of their season -- production when it doesn’t count. The result was Oakland is headed back home Sunday evening knowing it failed to do what it set out to do in Week 15. The Raiders failed to find any consistency in their 31-13 loss at Kansas City. Oakland couldn’t build on a victory for the second time this season.
The Raiders followed up their win over Kansas City with a ridiculous 52-0 loss at St. Louis. Now, they produced this stinker (Kansas City ran away from Oakland in the third quarter). The 2-12 Raiders have been outscored by a combined 83-13 in games following victories. Oakland is now 0-7 on the road this season.
Interim coach Tony Sparano, who almost certainly will not be retained, has been very vocal about how competitive his team has been in the past couple of months. There have been times where the Raiders have shown improvement. But when it was time to truly make strides and show they are ready to finish the season strong, this team has been unable to answer the call.
The reason? It’s not difficult to figure. The Raiders are just aren’t a very good team. They play hard. They don’t quit. But they just don’t have enough overall talent to compile victories on a regular basis. They have ridden emotion to victory a couple of times this season and I could see Oakland -- in what potentially may be the team’s final game in Oakland with a potential move to Los Angeles looming -- finding a way to beat Buffalo in Week 16. But the bottom line is the Raiders are not good enough to compete on a regular basis.
The Chiefs, who are average at best, handled Oakland in every phase of the game Sunday. Kansas City, which was flat and lackluster in its Thursday night loss in Oakland last month, was determined to overpower Oakland on Sunday. They exploited Oakland's defense in the passing game, they harassed Carr on defense and they scored on a punt return against the 26th ranked coverage unit in the NFL.
As important as it was for the entire Raiders team to show up, it was vital for Carr to show consistency. He was terrific against the 49ers last week. He was clutch on third down and threw three touchdown passes. Carr, who struggled for several weeks in the middle of the season, wasn’t overly effective Sunday.
Carr launched 56 passes, completing 27 for 222 yards. Much of his yardage came at the end of each half. Oakland could not build any momentum on offense. Of course, the loss was not all on Carr. It was a team loss.
Change is coming in Oakland and this flat performance was another example of why it is needed.
