Multitude of Special Teams mistakes doom Raiders in loss to Chiefs

Levi Damien, Raiders WireMon, October 5, 2026 at 6:17 PM UTC

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Two Sundays ago when Dylan Laube fumbled away a kickoff return, a voice in my head said 'Here we go again'. A voice that had so many times been correct during the Raiders decades of futility. They were able to overcome that mistake to beat the Saints. But this past Sunday against the Chiefs, they weren't so lucky.

This time it was Dareke Young who fumbled away the kick return. And this time it took a game that the Raiders were controlling and snatched it away.

The thing is though, that was just the most glaring special teams mistake for the Raiders in the 30-27 loss Sunday. There were several others which, had perhaps any one of them not happened, the Raiders could very well have won the game.

The first one occurred at the end of the first possession. The Raiders defense stopped the Chiefs for a three-and-out. And on the ensuing punt, Raiders Special Teams Coordinator tried to get a leg up, by having two players immediately run away from the line to go back and offer blocking on the punt return.

Chiefs punter Matt Araiza was clearly told that if the Raiders do this, tuck it and run. They did. And he did, picking up the first down.

To the Raiders defense's credit, they then stopped the Chiefs again, this time with a four-and-out and a turnover on downs. But that's playing with fire giving Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense a fresh set of downs like that.

The Raiders were up 13-10 in the third quarter and went on a drive to lead it out. The drive stalled at the 23 and they kicked a field goal. But there was a penalty on the Chiefs that turned a fourth and seven into a fourth and two. Kubiak opted to take the points off the board and go for it on fourth and two. And they were stopped for a turnover on downs.

Some I spoke with agreed with the decision. I do not. And not just because of the result. I would agree had it been fourth and one. In which they could either go for the tush push play, or force the Chiefs to line up to stop that and run something else. But fourth and two eliminates the tush push as an option, so it is far more tricky. The result bore that out. Remember that decision for later.

Then we jump to the fourth quarter. The Raiders had just pulled to within one point on a field goal to make it a 17-16 game, and stopped the Chiefs for a three-and-out. Malik Benson fielded the punt at the six-yard-line and went the complete wrong way.

He had the gunner coming at him to his left, but instead of just running forward, he ran backward and to the left, right into the tackle, picking up just four yards, causing the Raiders to begin at their own ten-yard-line.

Again, the Raiders were able to dig out of the hole, but only for a long field goal to take a two-point lead.

The field goal was kicked with the Raiders in fourth and two. Again, some were suggesting going for it to try and get a touchdown would have been the right choice instead of making it a two-point lead. But that didn't work out before, with as well as the defense had been playing up to that point, you can't give up the chance at a lead.

What's weird is the inconsistency. You go for it on fourth and two up three, but kick the field goal on fourth and two, down one. And, hey, how much nicer would that field goal have been if it were to give the Raiders a four-point lead (because they hadn't taken the points off the board from the previous attempt)? No matter whether you are in favor of going for it on fourth and two or not, there's something for everyone to not like when you make both decisions.

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Anyway, armed with a one-point lead, the Raiders kick off. And it goes for a touchback, giving the Chiefs great field position at their own 35 with just under five minutes remaining. Three plays later, Mahomes throws a bomb to Tyquan Thornton for a 55-yard catch to the five-yard-line. In first and goal, Kenneth Walker up the gut for the touchdown.

A failed two-point conversion keeps is a five-point game at 23-19. With just over three minutes left, the door was wide open for the Raiders to drive for a go-ahead score. And, with a two-point conversion, take a three-point lead.

Then the kick return fumble slammed it shut.

Kenneth Walker took the first play off the turnover 22 yards to paydirt. And the Chiefs lead suddenly ballooned to eleven.

It was looking bleak, but all was not lost. The Raiders still had three minutes to put on a long drive for a TD and a two-point conversion, a stop, and a drive into field goal range to tie.

The first three parts of that seemingly implausible scenario the Raiders pulled off. Taking just a minute and eight seconds off the clock, the Raiders drove down the field to score a touchdown and converted for two to make it a three-point game. Then the defense stopped the Chiefs with a three-and-out, losing about thirty seconds in the process.

The hardest part done, all that was left was to to drive into scoring range to add a field goal to tie it.

Dylan Laube was back to field the punt. But instead, he opted not to field the kickoff, letting it go over his head. The ball bounced in the air, the Chiefs saved it from the end zone, and downed it at the one-yard-line.

With time as a crucial factor in the comeback bid, the Raiders now had to start a drive out of their own end zone and go 99 yards with just 1:16 to do it.

The Raiders were already down to :28 seconds left on the clock and had only progressed to their own 28-yard-line, having already burnt a down with a spike just to get to that point.

By the time the Raiders were within striking distance of field goal range, there was only enough time for one more play. Just eight yards away from Matt Gay field goal range, and they couldn't use all their available downs to get to it. The final play was second and ten from the KC 49-yard-line and, knowing it was his last shot, Cousins held onto it a tad too long trying to find an open receiver, causing him to be hit as he threw and the ball was intercepted to end it.

That's how close this was. Really, any one of the multiple special teams errors could have changed the outcome of this game. And with several of them happening in the game's most crucial moments, it only seemed to become more and more brutal with each one.

This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Multitude of Special Teams mistakes doom Raiders in loss to Chiefs

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