Reactions to Raiders loss vs. Chiefs: Luke Getsy is a disaster

As crazy as it sounds, Sunday's result was actually perfect for Raiders fans who are already focused on the future.

Nobody is cheering for the Raiders to lose, especially to a hated division rival like the Kansas City Chiefs. But as the air clears from the contest, Raider Nation can feel glad that the team competed with one of the league's best all while not jeopardizing their draft position for next year.

If there's one thing to be learned from the 2023 NFL Draft, it is the fact that teams are unpredictable in when they will pick a quarterback. The further the Raiders fall in the draft, the further they run the risk of not getting a franchise quarterback.

For the rest of the season, the team should be focused on developing younger players and re-establishing their culture all while keeping key players healthy.

Sunday's game was a great example of this in some ways, as multiple young players played well but the team moved up in the draft. The Week 8 contest may not have been a perfect showing in terms of playing the way that head coach Antonio Pierce intends for his squad to play.

As far as the actual play on the field, it still left a lot to be desired. It was a bit of a mixed bag, but there were several key takeaways from Sunday's tilt.

The Raiders cannot run the football

A complete inability to get the ground game going has plagued the Silver and Black all season, but it has never been more obvious than it was during Sunday's loss to the Chiefs.

As a team, Las Vegas ran the ball 21 times for 33 yards. That boils down to 1.6 yards per carry, with the longest rush of the day coming on a seven-yard reverse by Tre Tucker.

Only two players averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry, Tucker and DJ Turner, who only ran the ball a single time on an end-around.

Alexander Mattison has been the team's best running back this season, but that is not saying much. He finished Week 8's contest with 14 carries for 15 yards, which is a pitiful 1.1 yards per carry.

Zamir White has completely disappeared since his return from injury, but even in limited snaps, he has not found any burst. He ran the ball twice for a total of -1 yards.

The team gets absolutely no push from their interior line in the run game, which does not help, but good running backs find a way to break tackles and make something out of nothing. The Raiders do not have a back like this, nor the offensive line to make life easier for them.

Three times in a row the team tried to punch the ball in from the three-yard line, and were unsuccessful on all three occasions. In fact, only one of those plays garnered any positive yardage.

Perhaps the solution is in the building, and first-year offensive line coach James Cregg can figure out a way to get this offensive line room to gel with Mattison and White.

But what is more likely is that the solutions will come from outside the building and some or all of these folks will not have a job with the Raiders next year.

All I know is that not resigning Josh Jacobs seemed like a good idea to some at the time, but those times have passed. The Raiders need a running back, badly.

Luke Getsy lacks creativity too often

Many of Raider Nation's faithful have been calling for Luke Getsy's job for weeks, and on Sunday he may have sealed his own fate.

There's no question that Getsy can script a drive; the Raiders have been incredible on opening drives all year long. But when the rubber meets the road and adjustments have to be made, Getsy is nowhere to be found.

Creativity is an offense's best friend but the Raiders lack that element in their gameplan.

There are glimmers of it though.

On the opening drive, everyone got involved in a variety of ways.

Jakobi Meyers saw the ball early on, as did Brock Bowers. Tre Tucker and DJ Turner both got the ball in their hands on reverses, and the offense stomped down the field for a 12-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that chewed up over seven minutes of clock.

But the offense never looked like that again. Not even close.

The team does not have a player like Derrick Henry that they can force feed or a quarterback that can make off-script throws who can bail them out when things are not going perfectly.

The Raiders have who they have on offense, and it is a solid array of weapons with a diverse skill set. But instead of finding unique or imaginative ways to get them the ball in a position to be successful, the play-calling is bland and ineffective.

Getsy did have these two hilarious gems of creativity, however:

The team started two drives at their opponent's 28 and 3-yard line, and mustered three total points on those possessions.

To make matters worse, it seems that Antonio Pierce is absolving Getsy of blame.

Self-inflicted wounds continue to plague Las Vegas

One of the big reasons that Pierce was given the keys to the franchise as head coach was that he was a coach who focused on the finer details of the game and kept his team disciplined.

The Raiders were the least penalized team in the NFL during his tenure last season, but that has not been the case so far in 2024.

By the numbers, penalties did not necessarily hinder Las Vegas from winning on Sunday, as they only had five accepted penalties for 32 yards.

However, the type of penalties they committed revealed a lot about the current state of this Raiders team.

On the very first offensive play of the game, Kolton Miller had a false start. To come out of the gates and be penalized before the first snap even occurs is an incredible lack of discipline on the part of Miller and the entire team.

Jackson Powers-Johnson had a false start on two straight plays as well.

The team also caught a few breaks, as a hold was negated by an offsetting penalty, and an illegal formation call was declined by Kansas City. A defensive hold by Jack Jones and an offsides by Darnay Holmes were also declined.

In actuality, the Raiders could have been penalized over 10 times for nearly 70 yards, and perhaps more.

Turnovers have plagued Las Vegas all year long as well, and despite taking good care of the ball all game, Gardner Minshew once again coughed it up when it mattered most. The Raiders cannot expect to win any games if they turn it over at the most crucial junctures in the contest.

It's hard to win games in the NFL, but even harder when you beat yourself as well.

Third-down defense did not show up on Sunday

The Raiders' defense has not lived up to expectations this season, but that is in large part due to their long list of key injuries.

The offense has not helped them out at all either, which is part of the reason that the numbers look so bad for this unit.

It seems like for the majority of the season, the defense holds up for the first portion of the game, but eventually, they get too tired and the floodgates open.

All season, however, Patrick Graham's group has been good on third down and has gotten teams off the field. This "bend don't break" mentality has been Graham's M.O. since becoming the Raiders' defensive coordinator.

That did not show up on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense had their way with the Raiders on third down, converting 12 of their 16 attempts.

The defense is not the side of the ball to blame for the loss in Week 8, but they could have helped the team's chances by putting the Chiefs away on possessions instead of letting them drag on with conversion after conversion.

Graham has still done a great job this year with a skeleton crew, but they have to get back to their ways on third down.