Defense goes into shutdown mode in the second half

Maxx Crosby wanted to feel elated as Jeff Heath returned a Patrick Mahomes interception 47 yards Sunday to help seal the Raiders’ upset victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

He couldn’t.

“I was so tired I couldn’t move my legs avit that point,” Crosby said in a video teleconference following a 40-32 win at Arrowhead Stadium.

With good reason. The Chiefs have had the NFL’s most explosive offense in the NFL since Mahomes took over at quarterback, and the effort it takes to keep him in check is exhausting for everyone involved.

It’s hard to look at the Chiefs’ game totals — 32 points and 413 yards — and credit the Raiders defense with something extraordinary. Yet considering how effortlessly Kansas City moved the ball in a 24-24 first half, it looked as if Mahomes and Co. were headed for 40-plus.

Instead, out of nowhere, came the following four defensive possessions:

Punt, punt, punt, interception. During that span, the Raiders seized control of the game and Heath’s big play set up a 2-yard TD run by Josh Jacobs that put the game on ice at 40-24. The Chiefs did manage one final touchdown, with Mahomes hitting Travis Kelce for a 7-yard score with 3:57 to play followed by a two-point conversion.

But the Raiders offense, which had as much a hand in slowing down Mahomes as their defense, played keepaway.

It was far from easy. Lamarcus Joyner got hurt on the first play from scrimmage and came back. Cornerback Trayvon Mullen got hurt and came back. Defensive linemen Datone Jones and Chris Smith were promoted from the practice squad and played meaningful snaps with Maliek Collins out with a shoulder injury and Maurice Hurst on the COVID-19 reserve list.

Mahomes was dicing up the Raiders’ defense in the first half with 237 yards passing, hitting Kelce six times for 95 yards and Tyreek Hill three times for 78 yards

In the second half, Kelce had just two catches for 18 yards. In completing 22 of 43 passes for 340 yards, Mahomes’ 51.1 completion rate was the lowest of his career. CARR SAVORSWIN >> For Derek Carr, this one was a long time coming. And he made sure to savor his first win with the Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium, his personal house of horrors for six straight gruesome trips to Kansas City.

“I’ve taken a lot of sad walks up that ramp … but not today. I’m gonna enjoy this one,” Carr said after leading the Raiders to a monumental upset over the defending champion Chiefs.

Carr, relying on a pair of crisp, deep, soul- crushing touchdown passes to speedster Henry Ruggs III and Nelson Agholor, not only did the unthinkable by stopping the Chiefs’ 13-game winning streak, he did it in unfathomable fashion.

He outplayed Mahomes. Let that sink in a for a second.

Carr was the best performing quarterback on the field with the game’s most dynamic quarterback directly across the field from him. Carr went 22 of 31 for his 347 yards and a passer rating of 126.7. It was the fifth time this season he’s gone over the 100.0 mark.