The Kansas City Chiefs (3-3) have now won three games in a row after beating the Oakland Raiders (4-3) by a score of 28-0 Sunday afternoon in Oakland.
The Chiefs' offense has relied heavily on the pass in these three victories and a lot of the credit can be attributed to Matt Cassel and Dwayne Bowe's 2010-type magic returning this season. Bowe currently sits at 5th in the AFC in receiving yards per game (82.7) and touchdowns (4), and comes in fourth in total receiving yards (496). He has cast little doubt on those who were questioning whether or not his 2010 season was a breakout year for a future star wide receiver, or a here-today, gone-tomorrow flash-in-the-pants receiver that happened to have a lucky season.
Bowe has showed us that he is a bonafide No.1 superstar wide receiver and the Kansas City Chiefs need to lock him up with a new contract extension just like they've recently done for Derrick Johnson, Brandon Flowers, Jamaal Charles and Tamba Hali. The Chiefs have done well at keeping their talent in Kansas City and Dwayne Bowe needs to be the next guy on that list.
The emergence of Steve Breaston over the last three games (13 receptions, 205 yards, 2 TD's) has opened up the doors for this offense as well. Breaston is now showing Chiefs' fans what head coach Todd Haley was looking forward to when they signed him to a five-year $25 million contract in free agency from the Arizona Cardinals this past off-season. The thought of locking up Bowe to go along with Breaston should give Chiefs fans a reason to be excited about this wide receiving core moving forward.
That's not even to mention the rookie first-round pick that just made his debut against the Raiders in Jonathan Baldwin. The 6'4 230lb Baldwin had one catch for 14 yards on Sunday, despite getting five targets. The five targets was third on the team behind Dwayne Bowe (10), and Steve Breaston (9). Baldwins' lone catch was a 3rd down catch that gave the Chiefs a big first down early in the game. Bowe and Breaston both made several fantastic plays for Cassel, who didn't have a great game from a statistical standpoint. Cassel finished the game 15-30 for 161 yards and two interceptions.
The Chiefs need to go ahead and extend the contracts of both Dwayne Bowe and Brandon Carr. They are the two most important players' that are not currently under contract beyond this season and they are critical pieces to their respective sides of the ball. They could both solidify their positions with two key players' (Steve Breaston-WR, Brandon Flowers-CB) for the Chiefs for the next five years.
The Chiefs can use the franchise tag on one of these players if they don't have an extension worked out in time. But I think it's important for the Chiefs to continue to reward the players that are doing things the way the organization wants them to be done, and producing out on the field. Carr and Bowe both fit this mold, so let's get them paid and keep them in Kansas City for the forseeable future.