This is precisely why I have to do my damnedest to evasively refuse to pay attention to what is going on in sports. My only guilty pleasure is watching a single Chiefs game 16, sometimes 17 times a year. Tha's it.
But I can't help but witness the insanity that goes on when certain things hit the news or someone who knows I'm a Chiefs fan tells me something about the Chiefs.
So I hear today that Kareem Hunt was videotaped assaulting a girl. I did look around at what people said about it though I did not watch the video myself -- for reasons that will become clear in a moment. The responses ranged from "Don't hit, don't kick, don't be stupid like that" to "It wasn't as bad as what Ray Rice did."
So what is it? On one extreme of the behavior spectrum is softly singing a hymn while picking flower petals, and on the other is overseeing the genocidal elimination of all handicapped children.
Somewhere in between there is what Kareem Hunt did.
So what should happen?
Here's the situation as I've gathered it. On some night in February Hunt and this girl got physical with each other in some hotel hallway and the surveillance camera caught it all. Punches were thrown. The police did get involved, filed a report, all of that standard procedure. Charges were not filed, but the Chiefs were notified. Chiefs brass asked Hunt about it and he said it was no big deal.
Fast forward to today.
TMZ releases a video of precisely what the police registered and Hunt relayed. It goes viral. The Chiefs are then pressed for more information about what they knew and they tell us that Hunt lied. He first goes on some special suspension, then the Chiefs release him.
This makes me sick.
What makes me sick is not what Hunt did. Yes, I guess I must make the disclaimer that I do not approve of what Hunt did. I don't in any way. But this is precisely a huge part of the problem here. One of the reasons I did not watch the video is it is not up to me to decide what happens with Hunt. When did the court of public opinion become judge, jury, and executioner? Okay, don't answer that, it's been that way for millennia.
It's just with cameras and microphones everywhere and rabid social media mavens covering the planet, you'd better watch what you do and say. 1984 never looked so good.
So yeah, with that disclaimer in mind -- What-Hunt-did-was-indeed-a-very-bad-thing -- what, tell me, is the purpose of TMZ? I can't think of a more puke organization than this one or more reprehensible individuals as those watch it and enjoy it. If what Kareem Hunt did falls on the behavior scale of a legitimately prosecutorial offense, then law enforcement would have and should have done its job -- back in February. Since they didn't charge him or arrest him or do anything that demonstrated this incident was something to be fully addressed for justice to be adequately carried out, why is anything happening now eight months after the fact?!
TMZ is that august organization that snatches up any and all video audio anything it can splash before the slavering public to humiliate people. Sure there are boorish ding-dong celebrities out there, but even they should be afforded the dignity TMZ cares nothing about. Sorry but TMZ and anyone who wants to do what they do should themselves be prosecuted, if anything censured for their moronic activity. For those who don't get it, I said censured not censored, although why must I clarify that as if "FREEDOM OF SPEECH" means its okay to ruin people's lives with camera footage.
But Kareem Hunt did a bad thing! I hear screeching across the airwaves. Yes, he did, but did he really lie about it? Maybe to him it was just a scuffle and that's it. Just between them. He's good, she's good -- maybe that's what Hunt genuinely felt about the incident. I'm not justifying the action in any way, and Hunt should have known better. But could he have been sincere in how he initially responded?
No, the real disappointment was Clark Hunt being a ding-dong just a couple hours ago by flat-out releasing Hunt because he doesn't have the balls to stand up to the TMZ court of fools and the idiot politically correct mob that helps make the wimpy NFL brass so loathsome.
Now there may be things I don't know about this whole incident. Maybe Hunt did something else that was particularly worthy of prosecution. But if this was it? This conduct on the video that the police and district attorneys and any other law enforcement personnel felt unworthy of any procedural action. Kareem Hunt had his due process. Did law enforcement blow it? Maybe, you could make a case for that. But I'm sorry, as it is this is not only a miscarriage of common decency but, yeah...
YET ANOTHER INSIPIDLY ASININE THING TO HAPPEN TO THE CHIEFS.
I wrote a whole blog series about Hunt, just all the stuff revolving around the Lamar/Clark Hunt world that have just wrecked the Chiefs and their success on the football field. Go ahead, if you haven't read the horror story, go ahead, read it. I'm actually quite fair and balanced I think, and still very respectful to the Hunts in it all, considering.
But this? I'm telling you, this steams me, as it should every Chiefs fan.
Clark Hunt, what are you doing.
Yes, Clark Hunt is just as much at fault. He could have looked at the police report. He could have talked to the DA. He could have known everything about what happened. He could have got corroborating reports about the incident and been thoroughly on top of it all from the outset.
He's releasing Kareem Hunt now because he was lied to then? Why didn't you confirm, Clark? If this was going to eventuate into the thing it is tonight, why Clark did you not make sure it wouldn't come to this way back in February?
This is exactly the kind of inane leadership issue with the Chiefs that has driven Chiefs fans crazy for eons. We are some of the most faithful, devoted fans on the planet, and Clark handles the whole affair with an ineptitude that is likely to go down as one of the worst in sports management.
Okay, so what do we have. I know it's hard to do this after witnessing this debacle, and knowing what we've got for an owner, but still, we can ruminate on it. It's what we do.
So anyway, we do have Spencer Ware, so at least there's that. I'd love to see Darrel Williams in there, see what he's got to be honest with you. We'll definitely see a lot more of Damien Williams, and while neither of the Williamses is likely to suddenly be showstoppers, we can hope. And let's hope our fine core QB-WR-TE package can continue to shine.
Now will we make it to the Super Bowl? As I said before, I'm looking to 2020, 2021.
It's looking more like that's the more realistic possibility now that we've lost one of the premier backs in the league.
But if we keep getting the kind of pathetic leadership from Clark like we just saw here, anything in the Chiefs future is going to hurt a lot more than we thought.
___
Friday, November 30, 2018
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Chiefs Mid-Season Report - Can This Team Win the Super Bowl?
This past Sunday, the day before that thrilling Chiefs-Rams game, Alex Smith badly broke his leg in his game playing for the Redskins. Every Chiefs fan definitely felt it and many prayed for him. Good thing -- for even though Alex could not get us through the playoffs as we'd have liked, he was a terrific quarterback for us. He had guts, character, and a lot of fine quarterbacking qualities. For every one of the five years he had the helm of our offense, the Chiefs had a winning season.
Here's the thing, this devastating event occurred 33 years to the day after Joe Theismann suffered his notoriously gruesome injury against the Giants on Monday Night Football.
I mention this because some may say it is superstitious when I merely think about the idea that things happen because of unseen spiritual forces. As you know I am a follower of Christ, and I know that I don't know why or how most things happen. I confess I still do think about them. I don't think there was anything to what happened to Alex Smith other than he got crunched by defensive linemen, and I mostly think the NFL should still do more to prevent those kinds of things.
But I still think about the whys and hows of things happening.
And I do so quite a bit regarding whether or not the Chiefs have a shot at a World Championship. I wrote a whole blog series this past winter about what I was thinking after our latest playoff debacle.
The question is quite prominent this year for obvious reasons.
Does this Chiefs team have a real shot at a Super Bowl this year?
One of those superstitious memes infecting all sports fans' psyches is the "cover jinx." This week Patrick Mahomes appeared on both the Sports Illustrated cover and ESPN magazine cover. Does this mean the Chiefs are doomed? I, for one, have never bought into any of that. Back in the winter of 1982 Joe Montana was on every magazine cover (including SI's) and the 49ers still won the Super Bowl. Through the years SI cover figures have been more successful than not.
No, Patrick Mahomes is the real deal. It is all the other stuff I see and think about that derails the Chiefs after Regular Season Game No. 16. And it is that about which I am most concerned.
See, here's my take, for right now. I'm not buying the "this-Chiefs-team-is-different" sales pitch until I see them do things in the postseason that show it, when they can actually take an opponent and demoralize them, even if it means dramatically winning in the last minute simply because we had more got-it.
As you know, the complete opposite has been happening to the Chiefs for eons. It is a bit agonizing: The Chiefs have lost seven straight playoff games decided by a touchdown or less. The Tom Bradys and Ben Roethlisbergers and even Jim Harbaughs and Marcus Mariotas have always had more got-it than the Chiefs and inexplicably defeated much better Chiefs teams. Why? As I've said I've thought and thought and thought about it. Far too interminably than I'd like to admit.
Do I think we don't have a chance then? Of course not. I've always considered, well, maybe this Chiefs squad will be the one that turns it around. Maybe whatever forces affect pro football events will finally favor us.
Thing is, I'm tempering my expectations. On the most basic level it is really hard to win in the NFL (unless you're the Patriots). So many other teams are really good. In fact just look at the AFC right now. I don't pay much attention to it, but I saw the Ravens are using their new quarterback Lamar Jackson to run all over the field and win games for them. The Steelers are just not faltering, with Big Ben and Antonio Brown just lighting it up as always. The Patriots are still formidable. The Colts have Andrew Luck playing great football -- oh wouldn't you like to have to face them again in the playoffs. Houston is playing great, and San Diego is the team in our own division who is playing tremendously good football. Tennessee is playing well, Denver could even present trouble.
But we have Patrick Mahomes! Um, don't forget, Peyton Manning for all his great years in Indianapolis won only one Super Bowl for them, in 2006. Brett Favre for all his greatness with Green Bay won only one for them! In 1996. Drew Brees is still out there, playing great, showing he's one of the best ever -- he's got only one, in 2009.
Here's what I figure. If we have Patrick Mahomes for the next 10 to 15 years, and we can get a Super Bowl win at any time during that period, I'll be happy. Sure I'd like ten of them, and I don't see why we couldn't get quite a few. But then, there's that stuff. Just that annoying stuff that happens that has made the whole postseason experience so miserable. Yes, I hope like crazy that changes, yes... and please, expecting at least one Super Bowl win with all we're up against? I think that's pretty good. And besides, if we get more, then it's gravy. Yes it would be glorious to have a run like the Patriots have had, just the being that good where that can actually happen.
Ah, the joy...
So really, I'm shooting for more like 2020, 2021, in that range. That'd be great. And please know, I'm not dismissing this year at all, and I'm projecting for other years not because our defense is not the best. I actually think our defense is better than people think. (It's our lack of discipline and committing penalties that is my greatest concern!) But our defense? We have young defensive players like Breeland Speaks and Dorian O'Daniel showing what they can do. We still have a fine pass rush in Justin Houston and Dee Ford. Our cover guys can do decently and when Eric Berry comes back our D-backfield will get a big boost.
No, it is very possible for us to win this year, it is, and the main reason is our offense. With all due respect to Kareem Hunt, Spencer Ware, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, and the rest of our terrific weapons on offense, I wanted to just write with some historical perspective on how phenomenally good our new quarterback has been.
How much more can be said about Patrick Mahomes? I mean, really, do you find yourself wanting to look at or watch or read the latest punditry about him? Thing is, after they've gushed about his latest exploits, then what? What else can be said? We all know about how he was groomed to do the amazing athletic feats he does by playing shortstop, by hanging out with his dad on the field where the Mets played, all that delightful stuff.
We're also treated to how ingeniously Andy Reid has arranged the offense to make the best use of his talents. That SI piece was more about Reid than Mahomes, and one of the more interesting things Reid has said recently is that the college game is five years ahead of the NFL -- it's been more innovative for some time. You can easily see how Reid is leading the way getting some of that splendidly cutting-edge stuff into the Chiefs game.
And Mahomes is delivering.
Here's the history when it comes to the Chiefs, and naturally some of why we are so wonderfully entranced by all this.
We all know Mahomes has 37 touchdown passes so far, through 11 games. I've already mentioned, just looking at the stats, there are only 21 QB seasons of 38 or more, whole entire seasons. Remember back in 1984 when Dan Marino shattered the record with 48? Mahomes is only 11 away from that, with five more games to go. The record, by the way, is 55 (Manning in 2013), and another of those nifty factoids we all love is that Mahomes is promised ketchup for life if he gets to 57. Woo-hoo!
In 12 starts he has 10 wins. For comparison:
The only other drafted and developed Chiefs quarterbacks to have wins in our history are:
Todd Blackledge. He had 13 wins total from 1983 to 1987. This encompasses 24 starts. Yeah, remember he didn't start too often. Just about every time John Mackovic told him "Okay it's time" he'd suck so Bill Kenney would go back in. But look at that, 13 wins. That's pathetic, but why go into it, we know all about it and we've forgiven him, let's face it, a lot because we can appreciate Mahomes so much now. Oh, and Blackledge had 26 touchdown passes for the entire time. Yeah.
Steve Fuller. He also had 13 wins, from 1979 to 1982. This was in 31 starts. I should add that Bill Walsh was scouting Fuller at Clemson when he liked Dwight Clark more watching him catch Fuller's passes. The guy who ended up being quarterback for the 49ers was of course Joe Montana. Do you know what Montana's highest touchdown pass season was? 31. Yeah, you read that right. 31, in 1987.
Mike Livingston. He actually played for quite sometime, and you've got to give the guy major kudos for leading the Chiefs to six wins when Len Dawson was injured during their 1969 Super Bowl year. But after that? Not great. He had a total of 25 wins in his 69 starts after that Super Bowl, on into the woeful mid-to-late 70s.
The amazing Mahomes phenomenon is something that I see as kind of make-up for the brutally long years the Chiefs have slogged along without a D&D quarterback, taking nothing from the Montanas and Greens and Smiths. Remember, the Chiefs went from September 1987 all the way to December 2017 without a single win from a D&D quarterback.
Since then we've had 10 of them.
And yes, they are all attributed to Mahomes as well as his cohort of fine backs and receivers, his strong offensive line (aren't you glad our quarterback is getting some time to do things back there?), and the wildly fun collegiate-style play-calling of Andy Reid.
Is this enough to win a Super Bowl?
Absolutely.
Sometime, yes.
And yes here's to it happening this year.
___
(The fine artistic rendering of Mahomes is by ESPN's Sergio Ingravalle.)
___
Here's the thing, this devastating event occurred 33 years to the day after Joe Theismann suffered his notoriously gruesome injury against the Giants on Monday Night Football.
I mention this because some may say it is superstitious when I merely think about the idea that things happen because of unseen spiritual forces. As you know I am a follower of Christ, and I know that I don't know why or how most things happen. I confess I still do think about them. I don't think there was anything to what happened to Alex Smith other than he got crunched by defensive linemen, and I mostly think the NFL should still do more to prevent those kinds of things.
But I still think about the whys and hows of things happening.
And I do so quite a bit regarding whether or not the Chiefs have a shot at a World Championship. I wrote a whole blog series this past winter about what I was thinking after our latest playoff debacle.
The question is quite prominent this year for obvious reasons.
Does this Chiefs team have a real shot at a Super Bowl this year?
No, Patrick Mahomes is the real deal. It is all the other stuff I see and think about that derails the Chiefs after Regular Season Game No. 16. And it is that about which I am most concerned.
See, here's my take, for right now. I'm not buying the "this-Chiefs-team-is-different" sales pitch until I see them do things in the postseason that show it, when they can actually take an opponent and demoralize them, even if it means dramatically winning in the last minute simply because we had more got-it.
As you know, the complete opposite has been happening to the Chiefs for eons. It is a bit agonizing: The Chiefs have lost seven straight playoff games decided by a touchdown or less. The Tom Bradys and Ben Roethlisbergers and even Jim Harbaughs and Marcus Mariotas have always had more got-it than the Chiefs and inexplicably defeated much better Chiefs teams. Why? As I've said I've thought and thought and thought about it. Far too interminably than I'd like to admit.
Do I think we don't have a chance then? Of course not. I've always considered, well, maybe this Chiefs squad will be the one that turns it around. Maybe whatever forces affect pro football events will finally favor us.
Thing is, I'm tempering my expectations. On the most basic level it is really hard to win in the NFL (unless you're the Patriots). So many other teams are really good. In fact just look at the AFC right now. I don't pay much attention to it, but I saw the Ravens are using their new quarterback Lamar Jackson to run all over the field and win games for them. The Steelers are just not faltering, with Big Ben and Antonio Brown just lighting it up as always. The Patriots are still formidable. The Colts have Andrew Luck playing great football -- oh wouldn't you like to have to face them again in the playoffs. Houston is playing great, and San Diego is the team in our own division who is playing tremendously good football. Tennessee is playing well, Denver could even present trouble.
But we have Patrick Mahomes! Um, don't forget, Peyton Manning for all his great years in Indianapolis won only one Super Bowl for them, in 2006. Brett Favre for all his greatness with Green Bay won only one for them! In 1996. Drew Brees is still out there, playing great, showing he's one of the best ever -- he's got only one, in 2009.
Here's what I figure. If we have Patrick Mahomes for the next 10 to 15 years, and we can get a Super Bowl win at any time during that period, I'll be happy. Sure I'd like ten of them, and I don't see why we couldn't get quite a few. But then, there's that stuff. Just that annoying stuff that happens that has made the whole postseason experience so miserable. Yes, I hope like crazy that changes, yes... and please, expecting at least one Super Bowl win with all we're up against? I think that's pretty good. And besides, if we get more, then it's gravy. Yes it would be glorious to have a run like the Patriots have had, just the being that good where that can actually happen.
Ah, the joy...
So really, I'm shooting for more like 2020, 2021, in that range. That'd be great. And please know, I'm not dismissing this year at all, and I'm projecting for other years not because our defense is not the best. I actually think our defense is better than people think. (It's our lack of discipline and committing penalties that is my greatest concern!) But our defense? We have young defensive players like Breeland Speaks and Dorian O'Daniel showing what they can do. We still have a fine pass rush in Justin Houston and Dee Ford. Our cover guys can do decently and when Eric Berry comes back our D-backfield will get a big boost.
No, it is very possible for us to win this year, it is, and the main reason is our offense. With all due respect to Kareem Hunt, Spencer Ware, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, and the rest of our terrific weapons on offense, I wanted to just write with some historical perspective on how phenomenally good our new quarterback has been.
How much more can be said about Patrick Mahomes? I mean, really, do you find yourself wanting to look at or watch or read the latest punditry about him? Thing is, after they've gushed about his latest exploits, then what? What else can be said? We all know about how he was groomed to do the amazing athletic feats he does by playing shortstop, by hanging out with his dad on the field where the Mets played, all that delightful stuff.
We're also treated to how ingeniously Andy Reid has arranged the offense to make the best use of his talents. That SI piece was more about Reid than Mahomes, and one of the more interesting things Reid has said recently is that the college game is five years ahead of the NFL -- it's been more innovative for some time. You can easily see how Reid is leading the way getting some of that splendidly cutting-edge stuff into the Chiefs game.
And Mahomes is delivering.
Here's the history when it comes to the Chiefs, and naturally some of why we are so wonderfully entranced by all this.
We all know Mahomes has 37 touchdown passes so far, through 11 games. I've already mentioned, just looking at the stats, there are only 21 QB seasons of 38 or more, whole entire seasons. Remember back in 1984 when Dan Marino shattered the record with 48? Mahomes is only 11 away from that, with five more games to go. The record, by the way, is 55 (Manning in 2013), and another of those nifty factoids we all love is that Mahomes is promised ketchup for life if he gets to 57. Woo-hoo!
In 12 starts he has 10 wins. For comparison:
The only other drafted and developed Chiefs quarterbacks to have wins in our history are:
Todd Blackledge. He had 13 wins total from 1983 to 1987. This encompasses 24 starts. Yeah, remember he didn't start too often. Just about every time John Mackovic told him "Okay it's time" he'd suck so Bill Kenney would go back in. But look at that, 13 wins. That's pathetic, but why go into it, we know all about it and we've forgiven him, let's face it, a lot because we can appreciate Mahomes so much now. Oh, and Blackledge had 26 touchdown passes for the entire time. Yeah.
Steve Fuller. He also had 13 wins, from 1979 to 1982. This was in 31 starts. I should add that Bill Walsh was scouting Fuller at Clemson when he liked Dwight Clark more watching him catch Fuller's passes. The guy who ended up being quarterback for the 49ers was of course Joe Montana. Do you know what Montana's highest touchdown pass season was? 31. Yeah, you read that right. 31, in 1987.
Mike Livingston. He actually played for quite sometime, and you've got to give the guy major kudos for leading the Chiefs to six wins when Len Dawson was injured during their 1969 Super Bowl year. But after that? Not great. He had a total of 25 wins in his 69 starts after that Super Bowl, on into the woeful mid-to-late 70s.
The amazing Mahomes phenomenon is something that I see as kind of make-up for the brutally long years the Chiefs have slogged along without a D&D quarterback, taking nothing from the Montanas and Greens and Smiths. Remember, the Chiefs went from September 1987 all the way to December 2017 without a single win from a D&D quarterback.
Since then we've had 10 of them.
And yes, they are all attributed to Mahomes as well as his cohort of fine backs and receivers, his strong offensive line (aren't you glad our quarterback is getting some time to do things back there?), and the wildly fun collegiate-style play-calling of Andy Reid.
Is this enough to win a Super Bowl?
Absolutely.
Sometime, yes.
And yes here's to it happening this year.
___
(The fine artistic rendering of Mahomes is by ESPN's Sergio Ingravalle.)
___
Monday, November 19, 2018
Chiefs at Rams - Week 11 - Record: 9-2
Brief notes about this game: It was supposed to be in Mexico City, but the field there was so trashed that they had to move it to Los Angeles. I'm glad they did that, for a number of reasons.
What was with the uniforms? The Chiefs looked stylish in their all-whites, but the Rams were donning their all-yellows. No wonder the Chiefs don't have an all-gold look with a red trim, they'd look like bleeding bananas. Oh, and how about this. We're in our road whites at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the site of Super Bowl I, the Kansas City Chiefs being a proud participant.
And of course this is the showcase game of the year. 9-1 versus 9-1. They'd mentioned all kinds of ways this game was the biggest matchup of the year this late in the season in NFL history and all that. What was kind of goofy is at one point in the middle of the 2nd quarter they showed a graphic: Total yards so far for each team: LA 191. KC 191. And the 9-1 records. Weird. It was also 23-23 at the half, with both kickers missing an extra point.
Right out of the gate there was crap call on Eric Murray -- he was doing nothing inordinate to a "defenseless receiver." He addressed him cleanly as receiver Robert Woods dropped the ball. A touchdown pass followed. This is the kind of officiating silliness the Chiefs have to deal with, it feels so interminable. After the call the announcers said nothing, no remarks about how easily the call should have been made. And there was a penalty right after that on Demetrius Harris nullifying a big gain, but they didn't show a replay or share a thing about it. Jordan Lucas had a block-in-the-back penalty called against him later on a punt return that was barely a touch on the back of the defender. In the 3rd quarter on Goff's TD run the right tackle moved well before the ball was snapped. No call. Errgh.
Yes, we ourselves just can't stop committing legitimate penalties. We had ten, yes ten penalties in the first quarter of this game. We could do much better -- sounds like a broken record. But it just drives me crazy that so much of the aggravation comes with the interpretation type calls in the hands of the officiating. Sometimes they may not even be paying attention, as one PI call was made after the pass was clearly tipped at the line. Andy Reid went screaming about the tip by making what looked like a time-out motion -- and of course they charged him a time-out and never gave it back. He won the challenge, yet was still charged a time-out, something we could have really used as we had a two-minute drill going at the end of the 1st half. This is just ding-dong officiating. Yes we need to get our asses in gear and not commit penalties, but how ding-dong is this officiating.
What is so ironic is that they said before the game that they put the first-team officials in there, even replacing officials regularly assigned to this team to make them even better, something they only do in playoff games -- unprecedented they said.
This is not even to mention the ridiculous taunting call against Tyreek Hill during his touchdown on a mile-long Mahomes pass. Please. Now I personally don't think players should do that. I don't like most of the idiotic dances they do -- I think they're all foolish. But please. What Hill did with the peace sign scoring that long touchdown? Gimme a break. This is just on the NFL and another mark against the league for not doing more about it all.
Patrick Mahomes had his 32nd TD pass of the season to Hill, his 33rd to Hunt, his 34th to Conley, his 35th to Kelce, his bomb to a wide open Hill his 36th, and that nice crossing pattern to Conley for his 37th... Six altogether. There are only 21 QB seasons in NFL history of more than 36. Whole seasons. Mahomes still has five more games ahead of him for this season. Something I really like seeing a lot of, something that you just didn't see nearly as much as you are this year: Mahomes is getting that time to throw, his receivers are getting out there in a lot of space.
Mahomes got thoroughly schooled tonight with those strip sacks and D-TD's -- I like it. I want that to happen. I want him to know how to be better by avoiding those kinds of things, having them happen, then learning from them. That second TD by Samson Ebukam was just a fluke thing anyway. Those things happen.
Give them credit, the Rams may not have the best defense in the world, but their defensive line without question is one of the best, and it did make a huge difference tonight. It was so intimidating that late in the game on one particular play Mahomes just gave up. He stepped back to pass, felt the pocket collapse, and just tucked in. He's always tried to find a way out, but on this play he just gave it up. He'll learn.
Oh, and still he converted a 4th-&-2 just a couple plays later, leading to our go-ahead score late. That's cool, but from those last two drives when we had a chance to tie the game, he'll learn how to adjust to that fierce pass rush, and know he doesn't have to go for broke on any given play -- the two last picks were on deep throws.
This was a barnburner for sure, the highest scoring Monday Night Football game ever. It was like a basketball game, the score, really. Final: 54-51 Rams, first time ever both teams scored 50+ in a game. It was the third highest score, both teams combined, in NFL history.
This is just a single game against a non-conference opponent. While it had all the pageantry and accolades and all the rest of it, it was just one game. In fact it was a great game for us, because we can learn so much from it, and Mahomes can grow more from it.
Not saying much more about this, because I'm hoping to have a mid-season report of sorts coming up. It's the right time, we've got a bye week, I've got a little time off for Thanksgiving, let's really look at this Chiefs team in the context of history. That's next...
___
What was with the uniforms? The Chiefs looked stylish in their all-whites, but the Rams were donning their all-yellows. No wonder the Chiefs don't have an all-gold look with a red trim, they'd look like bleeding bananas. Oh, and how about this. We're in our road whites at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the site of Super Bowl I, the Kansas City Chiefs being a proud participant.
And of course this is the showcase game of the year. 9-1 versus 9-1. They'd mentioned all kinds of ways this game was the biggest matchup of the year this late in the season in NFL history and all that. What was kind of goofy is at one point in the middle of the 2nd quarter they showed a graphic: Total yards so far for each team: LA 191. KC 191. And the 9-1 records. Weird. It was also 23-23 at the half, with both kickers missing an extra point.
Right out of the gate there was crap call on Eric Murray -- he was doing nothing inordinate to a "defenseless receiver." He addressed him cleanly as receiver Robert Woods dropped the ball. A touchdown pass followed. This is the kind of officiating silliness the Chiefs have to deal with, it feels so interminable. After the call the announcers said nothing, no remarks about how easily the call should have been made. And there was a penalty right after that on Demetrius Harris nullifying a big gain, but they didn't show a replay or share a thing about it. Jordan Lucas had a block-in-the-back penalty called against him later on a punt return that was barely a touch on the back of the defender. In the 3rd quarter on Goff's TD run the right tackle moved well before the ball was snapped. No call. Errgh.
Yes, we ourselves just can't stop committing legitimate penalties. We had ten, yes ten penalties in the first quarter of this game. We could do much better -- sounds like a broken record. But it just drives me crazy that so much of the aggravation comes with the interpretation type calls in the hands of the officiating. Sometimes they may not even be paying attention, as one PI call was made after the pass was clearly tipped at the line. Andy Reid went screaming about the tip by making what looked like a time-out motion -- and of course they charged him a time-out and never gave it back. He won the challenge, yet was still charged a time-out, something we could have really used as we had a two-minute drill going at the end of the 1st half. This is just ding-dong officiating. Yes we need to get our asses in gear and not commit penalties, but how ding-dong is this officiating.
What is so ironic is that they said before the game that they put the first-team officials in there, even replacing officials regularly assigned to this team to make them even better, something they only do in playoff games -- unprecedented they said.
This is not even to mention the ridiculous taunting call against Tyreek Hill during his touchdown on a mile-long Mahomes pass. Please. Now I personally don't think players should do that. I don't like most of the idiotic dances they do -- I think they're all foolish. But please. What Hill did with the peace sign scoring that long touchdown? Gimme a break. This is just on the NFL and another mark against the league for not doing more about it all.
Patrick Mahomes had his 32nd TD pass of the season to Hill, his 33rd to Hunt, his 34th to Conley, his 35th to Kelce, his bomb to a wide open Hill his 36th, and that nice crossing pattern to Conley for his 37th... Six altogether. There are only 21 QB seasons in NFL history of more than 36. Whole seasons. Mahomes still has five more games ahead of him for this season. Something I really like seeing a lot of, something that you just didn't see nearly as much as you are this year: Mahomes is getting that time to throw, his receivers are getting out there in a lot of space.
Mahomes got thoroughly schooled tonight with those strip sacks and D-TD's -- I like it. I want that to happen. I want him to know how to be better by avoiding those kinds of things, having them happen, then learning from them. That second TD by Samson Ebukam was just a fluke thing anyway. Those things happen.
Give them credit, the Rams may not have the best defense in the world, but their defensive line without question is one of the best, and it did make a huge difference tonight. It was so intimidating that late in the game on one particular play Mahomes just gave up. He stepped back to pass, felt the pocket collapse, and just tucked in. He's always tried to find a way out, but on this play he just gave it up. He'll learn.
Oh, and still he converted a 4th-&-2 just a couple plays later, leading to our go-ahead score late. That's cool, but from those last two drives when we had a chance to tie the game, he'll learn how to adjust to that fierce pass rush, and know he doesn't have to go for broke on any given play -- the two last picks were on deep throws.
This was a barnburner for sure, the highest scoring Monday Night Football game ever. It was like a basketball game, the score, really. Final: 54-51 Rams, first time ever both teams scored 50+ in a game. It was the third highest score, both teams combined, in NFL history.
This is just a single game against a non-conference opponent. While it had all the pageantry and accolades and all the rest of it, it was just one game. In fact it was a great game for us, because we can learn so much from it, and Mahomes can grow more from it.
Not saying much more about this, because I'm hoping to have a mid-season report of sorts coming up. It's the right time, we've got a bye week, I've got a little time off for Thanksgiving, let's really look at this Chiefs team in the context of history. That's next...
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Sunday, November 11, 2018
Cardinals at Chiefs - Week 10 - Record: 9-1
Thing is, our pass rush was tremendous today. Dee Ford. Allen Bailey. Breeland Speaks. Chris Jones. Justin Houston got back into things in a big way today. Even Ron Parker had a blitz sack today. These guys were all over their QB today keeping the Cardinals from getting anything really going.
It got a bit touchy when they got a nice drive for a TD to open the 2nd half, tightening the score 20-14. But after a nifty Houston interception of a screen pass just after the 4th quarter began, Spencer Ware scored the dagger touchdown on a short run to make the final score 26-14.
No worries about Hill though. He not only scored the two touchdowns Mahomes threw, but he caught seven total passes for 117 yards. He was terrific -- one of those TDs a deep fly pattern that split the defenders, just the kind of connection we like to see between Mahomes and Hill.
So we won a game we were expected to win, that's cool. Our next game is that long-awaited Monday night extravaganza against the Los Angeles Rams in Mexico City!
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Sunday, November 04, 2018
Chiefs at Browns - Week 9 - Record: 8-1
What's kind of funny is that just yesterday Oklahoma and Texas Tech played their annual game, just the day before Mahomes and Mayfield went at it as pros for the first time. This time it was Mahomes who came out on the winning side today enjoying a bit more non-ludicrous score of 37-21.
The subject of his current football occupation, this here Kansas City Chiefs, is still being racked by penalties. At one point we had the Browns at 3rd-&-goal from the 23 and Anthony Hitchens got some personal foul call giving them a 1st down that led to a touchdown. Please. Come on guys. Again, everyone is raving about our talent and our offense and all that -- it is fun. But we know too well that this is just not a disciplined team when it comes to avoiding penalties.
But really, let's face it, nothing is different than what we've expected all along. If we can keep them at 30, we should be good.
Of course, that's because of our offense which was humming beautifully again today. Mahomes had another 300+ day, they say this is one short of the record of consecutive 300+ passing yardage days. Kareem Hunt was phenomenal again, 160 total yards, just scorching up the field with his patented combination of speed and power, running and receiving -- the whole package.
The first touchdown of the second half was just noteworthy for Mahomes accuracy. He fired it into the end zone between two defenders just high enough so Travis Kelce could snatch it. If Mahomes misfires, he's got help: the notable play was the one-handed juggling catch Spencer Ware made to get something like 20 on the catch-&-run.
The Chiefs also got a blocked punt from Damien Williams -- that is something we haven't mentioned much, maybe we just take it so much for granted: our special teams! I have seen a few remarks from around the punditsphere about the quality of our special teams. Yeah our offense is good and our defense not-as-much, but our special teams play helps make the Chiefs a genuinely fine pro football team. And how funny is that, we're hardly even using Dustin Colquitt.
I must say at the end of this one, that last week I was a bit lazy regarding how many straight games we've won over Denver. I have to just specify that we have won seven straight, our last loss that horrible game when we went up 24-17 then Jamaal Charles fumbled and Peyton Manning led them to late TD to start that 5-game losing streak in 2015. Thing is later that year we soundly defeated the Broncos during an 11-game winning streak that made 2015 one of the most memorable Chiefs seasons ever.
As it is on this season, we're now 8-1. I do want to post more about my thoughts, put up something of a mid-season take, but that'll have to come during Thanksgiving break -- the week we play that game-of-the-year against the Rams. Right now I just have so much to do, work, family, ministry... but yeah, a lot of amazing Chiefs things happening this season -- amazing to say the least.
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