Trent Brown’s return propels offensive line to big day

Denzelle Good and the rest of the offensive line knew exactly what they had to do when the Raiders got the ball with a 40-32 lead and 3:57 to play at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday.

“Don’t let them get the ball back,” Good said of the Chiefs and the mission at hand.

Two Josh Jacobs runs gave them one first down, then the line got enough push to allow Derek Carr to fall forward on a quarterback sneak to convert on fourth-and-1 just after the two-minute warning on the final meaningful snap of the game.

“That means the world to us,” Good said of having the game put in their hands when coach Jon Gruden elected to go for the first down to seal the win. “We wouldn’t have it any other way. We want the game on our backs at all times. If it comes down to us getting one yard, we believe we can get it and those are the situations we look forward to.”

The two first downs the Raiders picked up on that drive enabled them to run out the clock in victory formation and keep the potent Chiefs offense off the field to ensure there would be no late heroics.

“We always want to finish the game with the quarterback taking a knee,” Good said. “That’s the most perfect way to end a game. I feel like that’s the goal of just about every offensive line.”

The unit got a big boost with the return of right tackle Trent Brown, who had not been on the field since playing just three snaps in the season opener because of a calf injury.

“You see how that plays out,” Jacobs said of the importance of Brown’s return. “He’s just a freak. When he’s healthy, there’s nobody like him. We were hitting on all cylinders. I have the ultimate trust in those guys regardless of who’s in there because of the preparation we put in.”

Brown, the team’s highest-paid player behind Carr, made it through the game Sunday. The Raiders often called plays to run behind him on the right side.

“He’s All-Pro,” Gruden said of his 6-foot-8, 380-pound right tackle. “When you’re a right-handed quarterback, a lot of people say you put your money man on your left side. We have Kolton Miller, who’s playing great football for us, but when you have a guy like Trent playing at a high level on the right side, it makes things a lot easier in the pocket, not that anything is ever easy. But we need him.”

Brown’s return helped spur the offense to 144 rushing yards and allowed the Raiders keep the ball for 35:17. That type of ball control kept the defense to stay fresh and limited the number of possessions for the Chiefs offense. In the second half, the Raiders held the ball for 20:30.

“It’s a huge deal, playing complementary football like that,” defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “The offense pounding the ball with Josh and we had Trent back today, which is a big deal. He played awesome. Just controlling the clock and controlling the game.”

The Raiders allowed just one sack and the guys up front gave Carr enough time to complete 22 of 31 attempts for 346 yards and three touchdowns.

It was his first win in Kansas City and marked the first time in seven trips that he threw for more than 225 yards.

Carr also picked up a key first down on a fourth-down quarterback sneak on the final play of the third quarter, just two plays before the Raiders took the lead for good on a 7-yard touchdown run by Jacobs.

“I haven’t seen the tape yet, but I definitely think we came together as a unit,” said Good, who spent some time at tackle in Brown’s absence, but played the entire game Sunday at left guard. “I feel like when we started stringing some of those drives together in the third and fourth quarter, we were able to build off of that.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.