In their second trip to Allegiant Stadium this calendar year, the Kansas City Chiefs picked up exactly where they left off.

On Sunday, Andy Reid’s team took down one of their biggest rivals by one 27-20 triumph over the Las Vegas Raiders. Thanks to solid contributions on offense and multiple timely stops on defense, the defending Super Bowl champions have been up to the task and are 7-0 on the season. It was another balanced win for Kansas City, with players on both sides of the ball making an impact.

With that in mind, let’s highlight some of the Chiefs’ biggest winners and losers from Week 8 of the regular season.

When the Chiefs lost Willie Gay Jr. to free agency, some wondered what that might mean for the linebacker group. As it turns out, all it did was allow Leo Chenal to evolve into his most dangerous version in year three. After opening Sunday’s game as a defensive end, he moved around the defensive formation all afternoon and was a factor in the run defense. He also had an impressive pressure on Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew early in the second quarter. One word to describe Chenal is Interferencewhich is exactly what it was once again in Week 8.

After an offseason full of hype surrounding him potentially be the next Chiefs cornerbackJoshua Williams has been anything but in 2024. Sunday was another example of that, with the former fourth-round pick missing a tackle in the first half and committing a pair of costly penalties in the second half. The first was an unnecessary roughness offense on a punt return, and then a defensive holding penalty on third down stretched the same Raiders drive. With Las Vegas making it 17-13 on a field goal on that possession, Williams helped make the game closer than it needed to be and put more pressure on the Kansas City offense to respond.

Former first-round pick George Karlaftis is starting to look more and more like the player who soared to new heights last season. This may have been the best game of the year so far. He broke up a pair of third downs for Vegas, including a pass breakup in one instance and a sack on Minshew in the other. In the second half, he and defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton combined for a sack on a massive fourth-and-goal stand for the defense. Aside from biting hard on a Minshew ball fake, Karlaftis was excellent all afternoon. It’s hard to fault his performance too much.

As good as Jawaan Taylor was at right tackle (more on that in a second), Wanya Morris was so bad at left tackle in Week 8. The second-year man blew up a nasty sack of Tyree Wilson in the first half – scoring on the same play – and committed back-to-back third-quarter holding penalties deep in Chiefs’ own territory. In the final frame, he was called for one more. Simply put, Morris’ play felt eerily similar to what benched second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia in Week 2. Morris may still have a strong grip on the starting job, but he shouldn’t do it after this exit.

Over the years, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have established themselves as one of the greatest duos of all time in the NFL. This season, they haven’t reminded people of that too often. They certainly did so against the Raiders as the two finally connected for a touchdown and Kelce accumulated season-high marks for targets (12), receptions (10) and yards (90). Mahomes threw a pair of touchdowns and looked much more comfortable and confident. Football’s best players and tight ends were much more alike over the weekend, which should be a scary sight for the rest of the league.

On the plus side, fourth-round safety Jaden Hicks set a new career high with nine defensive tackles and also had a tackle on Sunday. On the other hand, though, his special teams performance won’t help him with an increased workload elsewhere. Hicks had a rough third quarter, getting called for illegal blocks on back-to-back punt returns by Kansas City (one field goal, one kickoff). Penalties reduced the Chiefs from their own 15-yard line to their own 8 in both cases. Starting possessions so deep in one’s own territory is never a recipe for success; Hicks will need to clean that up going forward as he looks to build on an otherwise solid debut campaign.

In the days leading up to this game, The bosses said it perfectly that they respected the drive and elite talent that Raiders cornerback Maxx Crosby brings to the table. Taylor apparently was included in that group, as he held Crosby without pressure over 28 games between the two. All but three were one-on-one conformable Next Generation Statisticswhich makes it even more impressive. In a contest that could have been marred by a sack or two from Crosby, he didn’t make Mahomes’ life much more difficult. That’s a big testament to the work on the offensive line, and primarily Taylorhe did.

Read more: ‘Special’ defensive stops praised by Patrick Mahomes after Chiefs win