Jaguars at Chiefs - Week 7 - Record: 4-2

I have to open this post straight away with something that I want to say loud and clear is one of the main reasons we are playing so well. For the past four or five years I've been pulling my hair out about this facet of our game, and this year I am so pleased that I get to sing its praises. What a joy it is to say without equivocation that

It is back.

You know what I'm talking about.

The Kansas City Chiefs --

Offensive Line Is Back.

All you had to do was watch that early run by Thomas Jones that set up our first TD. A 70-yard romp that was split open by confident linemen moving people out with steady profeciency. Our running game ground out 236 yards today, again Jones and Charles popping for six and seven yards each carry. So right outta the gate a very high five to (from left to right)...

Branden Albert
Brian Waters
Casey Wiegmann
Ryan Lilja
Barry Richardson

Not only are these guys opening up those nifty holes for our backs, but they are doing a spot-on job of protecting our quarterback. Cassel was 13 for 18 today, which doesn't seem like much but most of those completions were critical in keeping drives alive or even going for touchdowns, and our running game is doing so well that he didn't have to throw a lot.

And how about getting some of those ball control drives. The Chiefs are now hitting on all the cylindars needed to have wholesomely sustained drives -- yes, wholesomely, not a word used too often in this instance but wholesome because those drives allow our defense to rest and keep a rhythm out on the field.

In the first half it looked like the awful second half in the Texans game was just continuing. The Jaguars would get the ball and just ram it down the field on us. But in the second half the offense got good at burning up clock and getting good yardage, allowing the defense to rejuvenate itself. After the Jags made it close in the third, 21-20, we didn't allow them to get another point. We shut down their go-to back, the very talented Maurice Jones-Drew, even before our extended lead took him completely out of the game.

We also didn't allow a couple of questionable pass interference calls from an overofficiating crew rattle us. And hey! Even though it was a gift, Eric Berry got his first NFL pick and put on a show running it back some 30 yards to put the nail in the coffin.

And we can't not say something about another phenomenal game from Dwayne Bowe. His fantasy league owners have got to be loving this guy a lot, especially after he dropped one of their touchdown passes in the Colts game. His first touchdown today was a terrific comeback to an underthrown ball from Cassel, followed by a number of splendid juke moves to get around Jag backs to scamper into the end zone. His second was vintage Bowe, a fantastic leaping grab and toe-touch to stay in-bounds for the score.

A couple of times I wondered what was going on down there with Todd Haley. One time he eschewed the field goal that at the time would've put us up by 11 but instead did his going-for-it-on-4th-down thing again, and this time it failed. He also called a couple of weird timeouts in early in the second half -- if this had been close at the end we'd've had only one.

But to give Haley credit, there are a number of stats that just show we are building into a really solid team, and much of that is because of his deft architecture.

The Chiefs are capitalizing on their turnovers, scoring on just about every one, while keeping the other team from scoring when they get the ball from us. We are also doing great at minimizing the loss plays -- I think I'd heard the Chiefs are one of the top teams in fewest loss yardage plays. Cassel's only been sacked a few times this year, which is again a testament to the awesome job -- oh what a joy it is to say that -- the awesome job our offensive line has been doing.

Every once in a while I'll see or hear some stat that is just so fun to hear, you know, the kind of stat that is indicative of a team playing really well. I can't remember them all, but it is really fun to hear them.

This is a very fun team to be rooting for right now
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