Chiefs at Saints - Week 3 - Record: 1-2

My nefarious desire to see the Chiefs finish 0-16 was unceremoniously obliterated today, and the main culprits were:

- Jamaal Charles.

- The offensive line and its second half pass protection.

- Justin Houston.

- A rabidly reinvigorated defense in the second half.

- Ryan Succop.

- Our leaping and lunging receivers. (So dedicated that Dexter McCluster went out after one such grab.)

- (Gulp) Matt Cassel (but only because of his grittiness)

I do want people to read my blog, but after last week's post I thought, "Hmm, I wonder if readers think I really don't want the Chiefs to win. What a puke." Well, yeah, I guess no amount of explanation can effectively convey what it would take for us to satisfy our exceedingly desperate need for a fine drafted and developed quarterback.

But I never, ever root against the Chiefs. And today was a splendid example of why a Chiefs fan should be proud of this team. For even though I'd really really really really really like to be waaaaaaaaaaay in the mix of winning this year's version of the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes, it's a good thing Chiefs players, coaches, and whoever else actually gets out there and does the Chiefs playing aren't reading my blog.

They still want to win.

And today they simply wouldn't be denied.

It was 24-6 late in the third quarter. Even with visions of 0-16 still dancing in my head I couldn't say I wasn't disappointed, for all the obviously typical reasons. Here we were with still no touchdown scored -- typical. While Drew Brees was busy throwing his typical laser strikes, Matt Cassel was throwing his typical ducks -- yet another game we get to be jealous of another team's quarterback. Our vaunted off-season pick-up Peyton Hillis dropped a pass and then vanished forever -- with no word on what happened: injury? And the injuries -- our good-looking new center went down bad, McCluster with the shoulder thing again -- erghh.

All that typical Chiefs pukiness... Until we showed that we just wouldn't be denied.

And ya know? It's not enough to not give up.

Ya know?...

We actually started looking really good.

Was it the Saints just looking bad? I mean yeah, the Saints defense is just not very good. And their receivers were dropping balls -- I think Jimmy Graham had two right in his hands. And they do seem to be aimless out there, suffering from the effects of the whole head-hunting penalty thing.

But you can't deny that we were making clutch plays left and right and just not stopping doing that. For an entire quarter and some change, we looked like a good, healthy, never-say-die team!

The gutsy fourth-and-one call to get a first down when our defense was really playing well anyway. Cassel about to bungle it again in the backfield when he couldn't find a receiver but then resourcefully curling back around and finding Jon Baldwin for that clutch first down on 3rd-and-10. Justin Houston just mowing down Saints linemen to really mess with Brees. And that incredible downed-punt where the Chiefs cover guy Jalil Brown leapt into the end zone to drop the ball on the Saints 4 yard line. You could just hear the wind being taken out of the Superdome crowd at that point.

Yes, we still only got one touchdown -- a thing-of-beauty Chiefs-record 91-yard burst from Charles. And I'm still going to be screaming for Brady Quinn or Ricky Stanzi or anybody for cryin' out loud if Cassel keeps refusing to find his targets.

But wow. We have a fine running back. We have fine wide receivers. We can have an effective offensive line. We have a resiliant pass rush. We have tenacious D-backs. We have a kicker who was right-down-the-middle on every field goal he tried today, a Chiefs record six altogether.

So today, nothing but good things for this thrilling affair. Sure there'll be another game when I can get back to justifiably shredding bad Chiefs things, but today, it's all good.
_