In the latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast, we reflect on that loss to the Miami Dolphins and look ahead to this weekend's tilt with the Kansas City Chiefs.
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation, Las Vegas
00:06 Raiders Insider Podcast, joined by my very good friend and my colleague, the great Matt
00:11 Hladik from thespun.com.
00:13 Matt, the Raiders, I predicted them to be 5 and 6 at this point.
00:18 They're right where I predicted them to be.
00:21 They go into Miami.
00:23 I'm trying to say it.
00:25 You've known me a long time and sometimes my Midwestern, normal speaking, doesn't always
00:32 fly with other people with accents, but I'm trying to say it right.
00:35 Miami.
00:36 They went into Miami against the number one offense, held them to 20 points.
00:42 I mean, they're scoring like a Josh McDaniels offense.
00:47 Too soon.
00:48 Anyways, the Raiders offense, they played it extremely, they came out aggressive.
00:57 Vic Fangio made some incredible adjustments and with them having a bye week and him being
01:02 one of the best defensive coordinators, they did their best.
01:05 It was a scrappy performance.
01:07 I was super impressed.
01:09 I know there are no moral victories, but if you're the Raiders, you've got to feel really
01:13 good about yourself and where you are, your thoughts.
01:15 I think going down there against a team, the Dolphins are leading the AFC East.
01:22 They're expected to be a factor in the AFC.
01:25 I'm not sure they can win it, but they're a team that should be a playoff team this
01:29 year again.
01:30 For the Raiders to go down there, rookie quarterback, making just a third or fourth career start,
01:37 depending on how you want to define it.
01:39 I shouldn't say a young defense, but a defense that has been carrying the load, but isn't
01:47 an established star leading unit outside of really Max Crosby.
01:52 That's why we call them the misfits.
01:55 Yeah, it's true.
01:57 It's an apt term, I think.
02:00 They were able to go down there and really keep everybody in check for the most part,
02:04 except for Tyree Kell, who is one of the best receivers in football, maybe one of the fastest
02:09 players to ever play the game.
02:11 No shame in him scoring there.
02:13 Listen, Aiden O'Connell, people will see the three interceptions, but a couple of them,
02:18 just great plays by James Ramsey, who is an all pro caliber player and has obviously done
02:24 his homework and was prepared for how to bait a guy like Aiden O'Connell, who's still young
02:34 and growing.
02:35 The Miami defense is improving.
02:36 Beginning of the year, it was not a great unit, but it seems to be getting a little
02:41 bit better.
02:42 I think that it's understandable the Raiders struggled a little bit there.
02:46 Seven point game on the road, I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all.
02:51 I think that it continues to show a little bit of growth.
02:54 I think you'll see if they have some more growth coming forward this week.
02:59 I am very impressed with Antonio Pierce, just incredibly.
03:04 Rookie coach, rookie offensive coordinator, rookie quarterback.
03:10 He's gotten this team to respond to him, to follow him.
03:14 He understood with the adjustments that Vic Fangio made, all right, it's going to be gritty,
03:19 it's going to be ugly.
03:20 We're going to go for the win in an ugly way.
03:23 We're going to back off a little bit on some of the attacking, just with the defense we're
03:28 going against and Jalen.
03:30 I think he has done a tremendous job.
03:35 In my question and answer article this week, a person says that they think if the Raiders
03:43 win against the Chiefs this weekend, that Mark Davis should bring in an actual Cuban
03:48 cigar roller and have the guy roll a bunch of big fat Cuban cigars in the locker room.
03:53 I said he should just come in and say I'm removing the interim tag off Antonio Pierce.
03:58 Your thoughts on how, and I know you're a Giants guy, but still, your thoughts on Pierce.
04:02 I think he's been tremendous.
04:05 Well I think that Antonio Pierce would probably prefer the interim tag being removed to the
04:11 Cuban cigars, even though I don't think he'd be opposed to that either.
04:16 You know, again, you say rookie head coach, not just a rookie head coach, interim rookie
04:20 head coach, interim rookie OC.
04:23 A rookie quarterback who hasn't started all year, just started to become the QB1 out there.
04:29 So it's very much a work in progress and he's handled it really well so far.
04:34 You know, he has two wins and a one score road loss to a team that's going to be probably
04:41 hosting a playoff game when all is said and done.
04:46 You know, I think that, again, we talked about this, that neither of us were really expecting
04:51 them to win one of these two games against Miami and the Chiefs.
04:55 And then we thought they had some potentially winnable games in the five games down the
05:00 stretch.
05:01 But, you know, if they're able to pull off an upset this weekend, and listen, I think
05:06 that the Chiefs are going to be coming in with a big time edge after they pretty much,
05:13 not to take anything away from the Eagles because the Eagles are going to the Super
05:16 Bowl, in my opinion, but I think the Chiefs really kind of, they had their hand in losing
05:22 that game on Monday night.
05:25 You know, they were winning, they were in control, a couple of drops, a bad Travis Kelce
05:29 fumble, and things really flipped.
05:31 So I think the Chiefs are going to be coming in motivated, they're going to come in with
05:34 an edge, looking to prove themselves and kind of reestablish dominance.
05:40 So I think how he kind of handles that, we'll be telling.
05:43 But this is a close game.
05:45 And again, like you said, there's no medals for trying in the NFL, there's no moral victories,
05:49 nothing like that.
05:50 But this is a game in the fourth quarter where the Raiders are within striking distance,
05:55 and they're going blow for blow with the Chiefs.
05:58 I think it's another notch in Antonio Pierce's belt and something else on his resume for
06:04 his case to be the permanent head coach out in Vegas.
06:07 Yeah, I'm going to tell you a couple things.
06:09 First of all, if the Chiefs play like they played last night, and there's any kind of
06:19 a home crowd for the Raiders, and they play like they did in Miami, Raiders win this.
06:28 And I'm going to tell you that so many drops, so many self-inflicted wounds by the Chiefs,
06:37 and that's been the case all year.
06:38 So it's not like we're saying, "Gee, out of their 10 games, only one was like last night."
06:43 No, they've had multiple games like that.
06:46 That's how they've lost.
06:47 That's how they've looted games.
06:50 And the Raiders' D is playing at a very high level.
06:52 I think the offense for the Dolphins is better than the Chiefs, although I think the Chiefs
06:58 is very good, much better.
06:59 I think it's Patrick Holmes, best quarterback in the NFL.
07:03 But I'm just telling you, there are some things there.
07:06 I'm still leaning towards the Chiefs winning this, just because I think it's going to be
07:10 an overwhelming home crowd because of people who sold their tickets before Josh McDaniels
07:15 was fired.
07:17 But it's going to be fascinating to me, and I love where the Raiders are.
07:20 All right, I want to turn attention a little bit, because I think it's viable, and I think
07:25 it's super important to discuss.
07:30 I had a ticket broker get ahold of me who wanted to know if I had any inside information
07:37 if Taylor Swift was going to be at the game this weekend.
07:41 And I thought that was the dumbest thing.
07:43 I've had people ask me, "What do I think about, are people injured?"
07:46 And I don't address any of that.
07:49 If it's something I'm not reporting, I don't discuss it.
07:52 And I said to him, "Why are you asking me that?"
07:56 He goes, "Oh, that'll send tickets in the secondary market even higher from people who
08:02 aren't fans but want to be in the same building with her."
08:07 It is phenomenal to me how this young lady has brought a whole new audience to the National
08:14 Football League.
08:15 Like it or not, this is good for the NFL, and hilarious for the ticket market.
08:20 It is, and we've touched on it before about how the phenomenon of people just wanting
08:28 to be in the building to see if they can just get a glimpse of her, or to say they were
08:35 at the same game as her, or anything like that.
08:38 I saw that phenomenon up close out here with a lot of people when the Chiefs played on
08:45 Sunday Night Football in September against the Jets.
08:50 Because I've written and we've written at this fund so extensively about Travis Kelsey
08:56 and Taylor Swift, I'm trying to think.
08:58 I think she's still on tour in South America, so I don't know if she'll be at the game this
09:04 weekend or not.
09:06 That's why she wasn't there in Kansas City for the Monday night game, I know that.
09:11 Oh, I had a niece tell me, "Uncle Hondo, she couldn't go because she had to postpone a
09:18 concert because it was too hot in Rio de Janeiro."
09:21 She's going to be there this weekend.
09:26 My nieces, who are sweet little girls that know nothing about football, are now all,
09:33 "You're going to be in the same building with Travis."
09:40 In this long and storied history of the Chiefs/Raiders rivalry dating back to the days of the AFL,
09:48 of all the big moments and all the iconic players and plays and coaches that have been
09:55 involved, wouldn't it be something if we had another benchmark in that rivalry on Sunday
10:03 as the game that Taylor Swift was at?
10:07 Wow.
10:08 All right, let's get right to it.
10:10 What is your prediction for this weekend?
10:13 I too think it's going to be a pretty close game.
10:16 I think the Chiefs win.
10:18 I think that they've responded well to their three losses so far this year.
10:24 They have weaknesses.
10:25 I think that this is legitimately, the passing game of the Chiefs outside of Travis Kelce
10:30 legitimately worries me going into a playoff environment against other elite teams because
10:36 their receiving core is not good.
10:39 Their receiving core is actually one of the weaker ones in the league, in my opinion,
10:43 down near the bottom with some teams that are downright bad.
10:48 But the Chiefs are able to win games because they have Patrick Mahomes, they have Kelce,
10:51 they have solid running backs, they have Andy Reid.
10:55 And this actually might be the best defense that the Chiefs have had since, you know,
11:00 in this little mini, I don't know if it's necessarily like dynasty, but this mini run
11:06 of expanded contention that the Chiefs have had with Reid and Mahomes.
11:11 I think the Chiefs win.
11:12 I have 24-16.
11:14 I think that it's a one score game.
11:17 I think that the Raiders will make things tough on the Chiefs.
11:21 I think they'll be able to get some pressure on Mahomes.
11:25 The fact that they don't have a real perimeter receiving threat definitely helps Las Vegas.
11:33 They can kind of focus some more of their attention on Travis Kelce.
11:37 And listen, I saw the last time, well, I shouldn't say the last time because he was with the
11:43 Raiders last year too when they played Kansas City twice.
11:47 But I saw with Patrick Graham a couple of years ago when he was with the Giants, I saw
11:52 him on the road in Kansas City hold with an undermanned defense, kind of hold the Chiefs
12:00 pretty much in check and keep it to be a three-point game at the end.
12:04 So I think Patrick Graham will be able to kind of keep the Raiders offense within striking
12:09 distance.
12:10 I just think the Chiefs defense will be too tough on the Raiders offense.
12:16 And the Raiders offense, while it has shown some positive signs of growth under Pierce
12:20 and Bo Hardegre, it's still not, I think, good enough to outscore the Chiefs.
12:26 So I have 24-16 Kansas City.
12:28 All right, last question for me, and I think this one is super important.
12:33 With, you've got to be on a good team to win awards, but is Patrick Graham right now the
12:38 most valuable coordinator in all the National Football League?
12:45 He certainly has an argument.
12:47 I mean, when you look at what he's been able to do, and again, it's always tough whether
12:53 it's an, whether you're an offensive coordinator and a defensive struggling or vice versa.
12:58 But I think it's even tougher when you're the defensive coordinator and your unit is
13:03 playing well and the offense is just, can't put points on the board, can't get the end
13:09 zone, keeping your guys focused, keeping your guys playing hard.
13:13 I feel like that's what he was able to do earlier in the year when the Raiders really
13:18 couldn't get points on the board.
13:20 Obviously a two-game win streak, the offense played better.
13:26 Last week was another little bit of a slugfest, but I think the fact that his guys have been
13:30 up ready to play every week, there's never been a question about the effort on defense.
13:35 There's never been a question about the intensity or did they, I hate saying the term quit with
13:43 football, but did they kind of slack off a little bit or did they kind of just break?
13:50 Because sometimes you've seen defenses break where they're just like, we have no shot here
13:54 because of the offense.
13:55 That hasn't happened all year.
13:57 I think Patrick Graham's probably one of, if he's not the most important assistant coach
14:03 or most important coordinator in the league, I think he's definitely without question,
14:08 one of the most underrated because I've seen him now get the most out of defenses for a
14:14 few years on some teams that weren't great.
14:16 And his defenses are always consistently competitive.
14:19 Last, do you remember they used to have in baseball, the Mendoza line, which was for
14:25 batting averages?
14:26 200.
14:27 I am calling 20 points in the NFL now, the Josh McDaniels line, because he couldn't get
14:33 over 20 points.
14:34 Think about it.
14:35 I think it's fair.
14:36 The McDaniels line, it has a nice, nice, easy flow to it.
14:41 Like Mendoza, McDaniels, it's the same amount of syllables.
14:44 I think it's perfect.
14:46 They held the best offense in the national football league to the McDaniels line.
14:51 They did.
14:52 And if you, and here's the thing, the way the NFL is now, if you get to 20 points, you
14:59 should have a shot in most games because it feels like it's becoming a little bit more
15:04 of a defensive battle.
15:05 Offenses aren't as explosive as they have been for the most part in recent years.
15:10 So the McDaniels line is good.
15:11 I like that.
15:12 I like it too.
15:13 All right, buddy.
15:14 We'll see you again soon.
15:15 I'm Matt Holadek from the spun.com dear friend.
15:18 Remember you can check them out at the spun.com.
15:20 It's it's one of the best sites.
15:22 It's in my favorites.
15:23 I read it every single day.
15:24 Love and appreciate him from sports illustrated fan nation, Las Vegas Raiders insider podcast,
15:29 part of the fans for sports network.
15:31 I'm Hondo Carpenter.
15:32 Thanks for joining us, everybody.
15:33 Have a great day and happy Thanksgiving.