The Raiders have spent three weeks answering one test after another, and each time the defense has found a way to pass. Now comes the biggest one yet.
Las Vegas heads into Sunday’s matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium with both teams among the NFL’s five remaining unbeaten squads. That alone gives the game a different feel than the usual AFC West meeting. But the real question is whether the Raiders’ new turnover-hunting defense can keep doing what it has done through the first stretch of the season.
Against the New Orleans Saints, that unit took over at the exact moment the game seemed ready to slip away. Las Vegas fell behind by double digits for the first time this year, a spot that usually ends badly.
Instead, the fourth quarter turned into a takeover. All four Saints possessions in the period ended with turnovers.
Malcolm Koonce’s strip sack of Saints quarterback Tyler Shough set up the go-ahead touchdown to Cody White. Then Hezekiah Masses, making just his third interception in two starts, helped create the next score when Kirk Cousins connected with Brock Bowers. Later, Jeremy Chinn and Nakobe Dean forced two more fumbles, and the Raiders finished off the comeback.
Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak praised Masses after the game.
“I would say, number one, is that he’s a competitor,” Kubiak said. “Very competitive young man.
Sees the game very well. He’s got two starts under his belt and getting ready to play a very good offense.
He’s going to get their best.”
That defense has been built around one simple idea: attack the ball. Through three weeks, Las Vegas leads the league with nine total takeaways and five fumbles forced, and it is tied with four other teams for the league lead with four interceptions.
“We’re just trying to be ball-aware,” said cornerback Eric Stokes. “Just try to stay on top of that.
Just know for a fact that pretty much any given ball is my ball. It ain’t no 50/50 ball, and even if the running back got it, the first person in hit him, the second person punch it.”
The Chiefs will be a far sterner challenge. Kansas City enters with the NFL’s second-most productive offense at 416.3 yards per game, behind only the Los Angeles Rams, and the ball has not been living on the ground much. In two games, the Chiefs have turned it over only twice, both times on interceptions.
Patrick Mahomes has still been moving the offense at a high level, sitting in the top five with 812 passing yards and seven touchdowns.
“I think he’s certainly fun to watch and sets a great standard for quarterback play across our league,” Cousins said of Mahomes.
“If they were to put up a lot of points, then you got to keep up. You also know that, if you were to get ahead, that no lead is safe.
You’re just aware of how capable they are at any moment to score points and make it hard on you as a team, so a lot of respect there and they’ve proven it and earned that over many years. It’ll be a great challenge for us on Sunday.”
Kansas City’s ground game has also become a major part of the story, led by Kenneth Walker III. The former Seattle Seahawks running back, who put up a 1,000-yard season under Kubiak in 2025, is now leading the league with 360 rushing yards through three games. He is on pace for more than 2,000 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, a pace that would be far beyond his career bests, even if that finish is unlikely.
“Kenneth is a tremendous back,” Kubiak said. “He’s playing as good as anybody in the league right now, and we have to stop him. He’s a really good player.”
For Las Vegas, the new names on defense have changed the look of the unit. Sunday will show whether that approach can stand up to one of the league’s most established powers.
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