luckadjusted

Week 8 2024 · October 27, 2024

Chiefs at Raiders, Week 8 2024: who deserved to win?

The Chiefs beat the Raiders 27–20, and it was no fluke: replayed with the way both teams actually played, the Chiefs win 9 of 10. The Raiders had the bounces: judgment calls alone were worth 12 points of win probability to the Raiders.

Before kickoff the Chiefs were 75% favorites. The biggest swing (Q3, 3:31 left): the Raiders were stopped on 4th & 3, worth 15 points of win probability to the Chiefs.

Final

Kansas City Chiefs 27
Las Vegas Raiders 20

October 27, 2024 · Allegiant Stadium · Closing line: Chiefs −9

Luck index +7 Chiefs about even · −7 Raiders

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Chiefs win 9, Raiders win 1.

  1. 1 KC 31 LV 3
  2. 2 KC 23 LV 0
  3. 3 KC 27 LV 9
  4. 4 KC 21 LV 7
  5. 5 KC 16 LV 3
  6. 6 KC 10 LV 0
  7. 7 KC 14 LV 7
  8. 8 KC 20 LV 16
  9. 9 KC 20 LV 17
  10. 10 KC 10 LV 16

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

Chiefs win 93% of them, Raiders 7%, counting the 1% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Chiefs by 7.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Chiefs by 17+51.1%
Chiefs by 9–1624.5%
Chiefs by 1–817.1%
Level after regulation1.5%
Raiders by 1–84.4%
Raiders by 9–161.3%
Raiders by 17+0.2%

Where the luck was

What the luck was worth

Every lucky and unlucky play, weighted by the moment it happened: its swing in win probability, added up by kind. A missed kick in a decided game counts for nothing; the same kick at the end of a tie game can be most of a win.

Swings add up across a game, so in one that went back and forth they can pass 100%. On the scoreboard the same luck was worth +1.3 points to the Raiders: the final margin was Chiefs by 7, without the luck Chiefs by 8.3. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each kind is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance and the weather), and what happened.

  • D. Carlson, 54 yds made · 72% expected
  • H. Butker, 42 yds made · 88% expected
  • D. Carlson, 32 yds made · 96% expected
  • H. Butker, 24 yds made · 100% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

Penalties: Chiefs 8 for 55 yards, Raiders 5 for 32 yards

Every accepted flag, in order, and what it did to the helped team’s chance of winning at that moment, including any play it wiped out (points on the scoreboard in grey). A flag in a decided game is worth nothing; one at the turn of a close game can be worth most of a win. Judgment calls count toward luck, pre-snap fouls mostly don’t. How calls are valued

WhenFlagWin probability for
Q1 10:02 False Start on the Raiders, 5 yards · pre-snap +2% KC +0.6 pts
Q2 6:26 Offensive Offside on the Chiefs (Jody Fortson), 5 yards, wiping out the play · pre-snap +7% LV +1.3 pts
Q3 13:39 Illegal Block Above the Waist on the Chiefs (Jaden Hicks), 7 yards +2% LV +0.7 pts
Q3 12:43 Unnecessary Roughness on the Chiefs (Joshua Williams), 15 yards +2% LV +1.3 pts
Q3 11:51 False Start on the Raiders, 5 yards · pre-snap +3% KC +0.7 pts
Q3 10:48 False Start on the Raiders, 5 yards · pre-snap +4% KC +0.8 pts
Q3 10:27 Defensive Holding on the Chiefs (Joshua Williams), 5 yards +2% LV +0.8 pts
Q3 6:40 Illegal Block Above the Waist on the Chiefs (Jaden Hicks), 7 yards +2% LV +0.7 pts
Q3 6:32 Offensive Holding on the Chiefs, 4 yards, wiping out the play +5% LV +1.6 pts
Q3 6:15 Offensive Holding on the Chiefs, 2 yards +1% LV +0.6 pts
Q4 13:52 Offensive Holding on the Chiefs, 10 yards +3% LV +1.0 pts
Q4 10:04 Roughing the Passer on the Raiders (K'Lavon Chaisson), 7 yards +2% KC +0.6 pts
Q4 4:03 Offensive Holding on the Raiders, 10 yards, wiping out the play +5% KC +2.9 pts

Chiefs penalties, every game · Raiders penalties, every game · All teams, 2024

When it happened

Raiders’ chance of winning

As low as 0% and as high as 69%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Raiders were ahead in it, below while the Chiefs were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 11:16 The Chiefs converted 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 42% expected +8% KC KC: Touchdown
2 Q1 1:19 The Chiefs were stopped on 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 42% expected +8% LV KC: Punt
3 Q2 2:00 The Chiefs converted 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 34% expected +8% KC KC: Touchdown
4 Q2 0:41 The Chiefs fumbled and recovered it themselvesFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50 +8% KC KC: Field goal
5 Q3 8:58 The Raiders converted 3rd & 93rd & 4th downs · 25% expected +9% LV LV: Field goal
6 Q3 5:49 The Chiefs threw an interception-worthy pass, and it was pickedInterceptions · 51% expected to stay out of the defense's hands +8% LV KC: Field goal
7 Q3 3:31 The Raiders were stopped on 4th & 33rd & 4th downs · 38% expected +15% KC LV: Turnover
8 Q4 12:44 The Chiefs converted 3rd & 123rd & 4th downs · 26% expected +10% KC KC: Field goal

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • Christian Wilkins (LV DT), out (IR) · 0.6 pts
  • Dylan Parham (LV G), out · 0.4 pts
  • Michael Mayer (LV TE), out (IR) · 0.3 pts
  • Marcus Epps (LV SS), out (IR) · 0.3 pts
  • Rashee Rice (KC WR), out (IR) · 0.7 pts
  • Jaylen Watson (KC CB), out (IR) · 0.5 pts
  • Michael Danna (KC DE), out · 0.5 pts
  • Isiah Pacheco (KC RB), out (IR) · 0.4 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Chiefs 89% · Raiders 11%

Final margin
Chiefs by 7
Luck in points
1.3 for the Raiders
Luck-adjusted margin
Chiefs by 8.3
Replay with same day's form
Chiefs 93% · Raiders 7% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

We tested momentum on 19,000 lucky breaks and found none, so it's off by default. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting; injuries from snap counts and injury reports.

Methodology and validation · All Week 8 2024 games · Chiefs · Raiders

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