The Raiders acquired a massive win on Sunday, beating the Chiefs in Kansas City and emerging as the most significant threat to the Chiefs presumed supremacy of the AFC West. After the video game, I asked Raiders safety Jeff Heath (who intercepted Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes) to describe what Las Vegas did to slow down (fairly speaking) the Chiefs offense.
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” I think [the coaching staff] came up with an actually good plan to protect what Kansas City does best,” Heath stated by phone. “At the end of the day its simply a football group complete of guys similar to we are. They can be beat on any day and we knew we were going to have to bring our A video game and we understood it was going to be a battle. They werent going to go down easy. They got fantastic players. They got probably the finest player in the league playing quarterback. Its simply one of those games where youre going to need to play all 4 quarters, theyre going to make plays but you just cant blink youve got to keep believing, keep executing, and see what happens. Do not take a look at the scoreboard.”
” Im not gon na be too particular due to the fact that we might have to use that strategy once again,” he stated with a laugh. “We just need to have awareness for where number 10 is, where number 17 is, where 87 is, how they can utilize those guys. Then at the end of the day it develops into backyard football, male. You just got to cover. You know hes going to extend the play, purchase time, toss the ball all over the location. That was actually the plan.”
When I asked for a specific example of what they did to slow down the Kansas City offense, look at this next description from Heath.
Heath stopped himself after the word “plaster” before pivoting to a more innocuous explanation that didnt include any references to “plastering” the quarterback. Heath likewise stopped himself from sharing too much about the defensive strategy.
“Hes got a remarkable arm, and hes got speed all over the place. Our goal was truly just as soon as he gets out of the pocket we had to plaster, um, we understood it was going to be a lot of long downs. We understood where they like to get some of their quick gamers and how they like to use them so we had to plan for that.”
So what does this win mean to the Raiders?
That next game will be on Sunday Night Football, with Brady and business checking out the Raiders and the only coach who took Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl.
” It was simply a big win,” Heath stated. “A huge divisional win. Weve got our bye today, so its constantly excellent entering into our bye week after a big W. But you understand what, male? Due to the fact that weve still got 11 more video games, it doesnt truly imply a whole lot. Still have a great deal of excellent teams left on our schedule. Weve got to see them again. I think all it suggests is that weve played in these first five games weve played some of the best teams in the NFL. Weve won some, weve lost some. I believe we just understand that we can have fun with anyone and if were on our stuff and we play to the best to our ability, yeah, we can play with anybody, we can beat anyone. Thats truly all it indicates. Ive been in this league long enough to comprehend that we can enjoy this one a little bit longer since we have the bye, however we have a difficult Tampa team next week with the greatest player of all time playing quarterback, so its going to be another difficult video game.
They got most likely the best player in the league playing quarterback. Its simply one of those video games where youre going to have to play all 4 quarters, theyre going to make plays but you just cant blink youve got to keep thinking, keep performing, and see what happens. “Hes got an amazing arm, and hes got speed all over the place. Our goal was really simply when he gets out of the pocket we had to plaster, um, we understood it was going to be a lot of long downs. I believe we just know that we can play with any person and if were on our things and we play to the finest to our capability, yeah, we can play with anybody, we can beat any person.
