Raiders fumble away upset win, lose 40-33 to Chiefs
OAKLAND, Calif. — Jemal Singleton made himself clear.
Early in the second quarter, the Raiders running backs coach was irate — and understandably so. His backs, who lost one fumble in 316 touches during the first 11 games, already lost two. He shouted his expectations on the sideline and thundered at each player, “You got me?”
Running back Jalen Richard was among those present on the sideline bench.
“It was crazy because he had told me right before the game, ‘Something bad is going to happen today, and we’re going to have to play through it,’” Richard said. “I didn’t know it was going to be three fumbles.”
Neither did Singleton.
What otherwise may have been the signature win of the Raiders’ season was undone Sunday by uncharacteristically poor ball security. The team’s top three running backs each lost a fumble in their first 20 touches combined, miscues the Kansas City Chiefs converted into 13 points in a 40-33 defeat.
Turnovers and tight end Travis Kelce stymied the upset.
Dating back to the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, Sunday marked the first time in Raiders franchise history that three different running backs lost at least one fumble on offense during the same game.
Doug Martin committed the first infraction. His occurred near midfield on the Raiders’ second possession. Chiefs defensive end Alvin Bailey punched out the football with his right hand while Martin was falling to the turf.
DeAndre Washington followed, prompting the aforementioned group scolding from Singleton. Defensive tackle Jarvis Jenkins slugged the ball loose with his left hand.
Both turnovers led to a field goal.
Late in the third quarter, the Raiders’ defense forced its first three-and-out. The offense took possession at Kansas City’s 49-yard line. On the first snap, cornerback Kendall Fuller stripped Richard at the conclusion of a 17-yard run.
Singleton was furious after two fumbles.
Three?
“He told me straight up, ‘I see you with that ball with one hand again, I ain’t putting your (explective) back out there,’ ” Richard said. “He told me straight up. … I’ve just got to keep my hands on the ball tighter, two hands in traffic. It’s going to happen like that. I don’t know about three running backs on the same team fumbling in one game; that’s kind of flukish. But things are going to happen.
“We still had a chance to win the game at the end, so that made us feel a little better that we didn’t just get our (tail) whupped because of us.”
Soon after Richard’s fumble, Kelce caught a 28-yard pass to set up a touchdown, expanding the defict to 33-16.
Kelce was a problem all game.
He caught seven first-half passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Before Sunday, the Raiders hadn’t allowed 95 or more yards and multiple scores to a tight end by halftime since Chiefs great Tony Gonzalez (112 yards, two touchdowns) in 2004.
By the end, Kelce stood alone in the record book.
He finished with 12 receptions for 168 yards and two scores. No defense in Raiders history ever yielded more yards to a tight end dating back to at least 1970. The franchise’s previous high came against the Chargers’ Kellen Winslow, who had 13 catches for 144 yards and five touchdowns during a 1981 meeting.
The Raiders (2-10) almost overcame the performance.
Fumbles helped the Chiefs improve to 10-2.
“We’d like to have those fumbles back,” said Martin, who had the position group’s only other lost fumble in Week 8 against the Indianapolis Colts. “As the lead back or top back in the room, I look at those fumbles as I had three. I had three fumbles. As the lead back, I have to set the tone, and the tone was to fumble the ball. So I take responsibility for those other two fumbles (we had).
“But to be close in a game like that shows what this team can do. … We’re disappointed. It shouldn’t have been that close. We should have been on top. The turnovers really hurt us.”
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Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.
