Mojave Desert sands turn to glass

Kansas City Chiefs 35

Las Vegas Raiders 31

Residents of Las Vegas awoke to concerning sights on Monday morning. Blinds were singed, retinas burned and ice creams across the city limits were melted. Cars lost traction, pedestrians slipped on the unforgiving polished flooring and ants spontaneously combusted left, right and centre. Locals of Clark County, although furious, were able to look down at the new shiny desert ground below and see themselves in the reflection, knowing full well, it was their local professional gridiron team that had caused this. Not happy with the result from the previous night, the evidence below their feet remained. The Raiders are able to compete with the best in the business.

A barn burner so radiantly hot it can melt sand, turning a desert city to glass. That is what the offenses of the Chiefs and Raiders accomplished on Sunday Night Football. Both teams mounted slow moving, consistent, down-after-down drives for the entirety of the game. Seemingly both defenses mutually agreed to allow their fantasy teams to accumulate points for the first 25 minutes before they would step onto the field. Well-oiled turnstiles were envious of the sheer number of occupants these two teams allowed past them. It was only fitting that the game-winning touchdown throw was on a play without a decent pass rush that ran long enough for Patrick Mahomes to find a wide open Travis Kelce in the endzone for an uncontested catch.

From the first drive it felt like this contest was going to come down to Patrick Mahomes putting the Chiefs up late and leaving little time for Derek Carr to reply, which is exactly what happened. Not a great game by Mahomes by his own standards, he still looked like he was toying with the Raiders. There was no dropping of 50 yard bombs and blowing them out of the water tonight, just picking them apart, pass by pass, taking what he was given, nothing more, nothing less, making for a slower more agonising death. Able to hang around with Kansas City in this one, Las Vegas doesn't seem like a team in the same class as their Mid-West division rivals, although there might not be a team in the league that is, undefeated or not.

With some of these empty stadiums in the NFL allowing sounds from the field to be heard at home, it is egregious there isn't an alternate broadcast that doesn't mute the player chatter. To hear the horrible things these grown men are saying to each other is an international treasure that is being hidden away, far from the public eye and ear. There is no doubt it is guaranteed to yield some of the greatest sound bites in human history. However entertaining it is to hear Derek Carr reference a myriad of former and current NBA players, along with Sammy Davis at one point, hearing what 24 year old millionaires have to say to opposing 24 year old millionaires is ratings gold mine just waiting to be tapped.

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- Mark Davis avoiding games in solitude with fans is a crime. Raiders games don't hold my attention unless there's constant shots of that man's insane hair choice. The owner of a multi-billion dollar franchise still requires a bowl to be placed on his head before he cuts his own hair. Iconic.