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October 20th, 2011 
Bewsaf
This week, the Raiders will take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Oakland. Kansas City brings with them a 2-3 record and have scored an average of 15.4 points a game and given up 30 points per game.
In this weekly article, Pro Football Spotlight will bring you the upcoming opponent’s rushing and passing tendencies, as well as some additional data and observations. For example: Did you know that the Kansas City Chiefs have targeted Dwayne Bowe 42 times so far this year, which is tied for 1st in the AFC West? (full list of AFC West targets, here)
Every team in the NFL has strengths and weaknesses, tendencies, and go-to guys. They have plays they like to call during tight situations or directions they like to run when in the middle of the football field.
Let’s take a look at the rest of those tendencies…
Rushing Offense
| Left End | Left Tackle | Left Guard | Up the Middle | Right Guard | Right Tackle | Right End | ||||||
| Plays: 24 | Plays: 10 | Plays: 2 | Plays: 56 | Plays: 6 | Plays: 12 | Plays: 27 | ||||||
| NFL Rank: 7 | NFL Rank: 27 | NFL Rank: 32 | NFL Rank: 5 | NFL Rank: 29 | NFL Rank: 26 | NFL Rank: 4 | ||||||
| Avg Gain: 6.71 | Avg Gain: 9.50 | Avg Gain: 4.50 | Avg Gain: 3.77 | Avg Gain: 1.17 | Avg Gain: 3.25 | Avg Gain: 4.00 | ||||||
| NFL Rank: 7 | NFL Rank: 1 | NFL Rank: 12 | NFL Rank: 19 | NFL Rank: 32 | NFL Rank: 28 | NFL Rank: 19 |
Rushing Notes:
- Over the first 5 weeks of the season, the Chiefs have run the ball directly at the center 56 times (5th in the NFL). That is a big tendency.
- Kansas City liked using their speed to get to the edges of the formation when Jamaal Charles was healthy. However, Charles is now out for the season and the Chiefs are starting to adjust. Through 5 weeks of the season, the Chiefs are ranked 4th and 7th in the NFL in the number of attempts toward the right and left ends.
- Kansas City has only run 2 plays directly at their left guard. Check out Raiders vs Chiefs match-up article, here.
- Looking at the chart above, tells us that the Chiefs may not have a dominant run blocker on their interior line. They rarely attack inside the tackles, unless it is directly at the center…which is the weak underbelly of the 3-4 defense.
- The Oakland Raiders are giving up 8.16 yards, per attempt, around the right end (defensive left), which is 31st in the NFL.
- The Raiders are also giving up 7 yards, per attempt, when opponents run the ball toward either guard location.
- With the emergence of Jackie Battle, look for the Chiefs to run more between the tackles, this week. Possibly look for Ryan Lilja to pull a little more and when the Chiefs do run the stretch play with Battle…he ends up cutting it back before reaching the edge. The Chiefs will still try and attack that edge with McCluster, however. So far this season, McCluster has been used as an edge runner and on draws.
Passing Offense
| 2011 Target By Zone Chart |
||||
| DEEP LEFT |
DEEP MIDDLE |
DEEP RIGHT |
||
| Plays: 9 |
Plays: 5 |
Plays: 12 |
||
| Rank: 23 |
Rank: 24 |
Rank: 22 |
||
|
Avg. Gain: 10.5 |
Avg. Gain: 20.6 |
Avg. Gain: 10.42 |
||
| SHORT LEFT |
SHORT MIDDLE |
SHORT RIGHT |
||
| Plays: 35 | Plays: 20 | Plays: 58 |
||
| Rank: 31 |
Rank: 31 |
Rank: 23 |
||
|
Avg. Gain: 5.6 |
Avg. Gain: 5.8 |
Avg. Gain: 5.33 |
||
| TARGET CHART |
||||
Passing Notes:
- The Chiefs have just started to find their stride in the passing game. But in relation to the rest of the league…they aren’t passing the ball very much.
- Kansas City ranks no higher than 23rd in attempts to any of the short zones.
- The Chiefs average around 5 yards, per attempt, when throwing the ball short. That ranks them 25th in the NFL in yards, per attempt toward the short left zone, and 27th in the NFL toward the short middle zone.
- Kansas City ranks in the bottom 3rd in the number of attempts toward deep zones.
- Cassel has a completion percentage of 22% when throwing the ball to the deep left zone and a completion percentage of 33% when throwing to the deep right zone (stats not in chart).
- The Raiders are only allowing a 51% completion rate when opponents attempt to throw the ball toward the short right side of the field (stats not in chart).
- Look for the Chiefs to test the Raiders on the intermediate routes and attack the soft spot short left zone, where the Raiders are allowing 8 yards, per attempt, and have been attacked 75 times so far this year.
- You can check out the Chiefs Defensive preview against the run, here.
article ** Raiders vs Chiefs Preview: Week #7 Match-ups ** article
| No. | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | |||
| RECEIVING | 1. | Bowe, Dwayne | 23 | 420 | 18.3 | 52 | 4 |
| 2. | Breaston, Steve | 14 | 229 | 16.4 | 43 | 2 | |
| 3. | Pope, Leonard | 11 | 77 | 7.0 | 23 | 1 | |
| 4. | Colbert, Keary | 7 | 65 | 9.3 | 19 | 0 | |
| 5. | McCluster, Dexter | 18 | 62 | 3.4 | 10 | 0 | |
| 6. | Battle, Jackie | 4 | 23 | 5.8 | 12 | 0 | |
| 7. | O’Connell, Jake | 2 | 21 | 10.5 | 15 | 0 | |
| 8. | McClain, Le’Ron | 3 | 19 | 6.3 | 12 | 0 | |
| 9. | Charles, Jamaal | 5 | 9 | 1.8 | 9 | 1 | |
| 9. | Jones, Thomas | 3 | 9 | 3.0 | 4 | 0 | |
| 9. | Copper, Terrance | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 9 | 0 | |
| 12. | Urban, Jerheme | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 13. | Cassel, Matt | 1 | -4 | -4.0 | -4 | 0 | |
| Total | 93 | 945 | 10.2 | 52 | 8 |
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