The Kansas City Chiefs (7-3) take their 5 straight wins to O.co Coliseum to face off against their fierce division rivals, the Oakland Raiders (0-10) in the Week 11 Thursday Night Football. Oakland comes into the game losers of 16 straight dating back to last year, but have been competitive in most of their games this season. The Chiefs, on the other hand, hope to take sole possession of first place in the AFC West (for a few days at least).
One of the bright spots for the Raiders has been their offensive line work in pass blocking. With a league-low six sacks allowed, the Raiders boast the seventh best Pass Blocking Efficiency in the NFL at 82.3. Leading the way for the line is left tackle Donald Penn, who has easily had the best season of any offensive player for Oakland. With a 96.7 PBE, Penn is tied for seventh in the NFL allowing just one sack and 18 total pressures on 411 snaps. He also boasts the sixth best PFF grade in Pass Blocking at +12.5. The only weakness in Penn's game has been his run blocking.
With 30 sacks on the year, the Chiefs have the third most in the NFL to go along with their top-rated pass defense (201.6 yards per game) and second in points allowed (17.1 points per game). With a team pass rush grade of +25.1 that ranks sixth in the league, the Chiefs are led by outside linebackers Justin Houston and Tamba Hali. Houston and Hali will often flip sides, but Houston primarily rushes from the LOLB spot while Hali lines up at ROLB. Houston has been playing at an elite level for the past two seasons (+34.6 in 2013, +24.6 in 2014) while Hali is just a notch below (+26.3 in 2013, +8.1 in 2014). With a Pass Rushing Productivity that tops the league at 14.9, Houston has 13 sacks, six hits and 50 total pressures on 274 pass rushing snaps. Hali has a respectable 8.0 PRP with five sacks, four hits and 29 total pressures on 289 pass rushing snaps. Donald Penn and the Raiders offensive line will have their hands full with the two vaunted pass rushers from Kansas City.
Lets take a look at some other players to watch this weekend:
Kansas City Chiefs
Alex Smith – The risk-averse quarterback truly epitomizes the term. Only 4.5% of his attempts are deep (over 20 yards in the air) and his 867 yards in the air is lowest in the league among full time starters who haven’t missed significant time this season.
Jamaal Charles – Second in the NFL to teammate Knile Davis in Breakaway Percentage among running backs with at least 100 carries at 37.3. With 10 of his 132 attempts rushing for over 15 yards, Charles has 260 yards on said runs.
Phillip Gaines – Although the rookie slot cornerback has only see 195 snaps this year, he boasts a ridiculous 0.61 Yards Per Cover Snap which is fourth-best at this time.
Oakland Raiders
James Jones – When working from the slot, Jones has 21 catches and no drops. Larry Fitzgerald has the same and only Greg Jennings has more slot catches without a drop (23).
David Carr – Has had 11 passes batted at the line of scrimmage, tied with three other QBs for the most, including Alex Smith.
Miles Burris – While Khalil Mack has been a force this year, Burris has been the opposite, grading at -33.3 in 725 snaps. His 6.4 combined Tackling Efficiency is 35th of 39 inside linebackers where he has 12 total missed tackles.
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