I simply cannot go to bed late at night here without adding this note about tonight's game. I thought I'd do something I'd never done before, just to see. I typed in my search box "Andy Reid 4th & 3." Sure enough I got a twitter-storm of revulsion against Reid's call to punt late in the game tonight.
Completely, wholly justified revulsion.
I rarely look at social media for this kind of thing, I am not much for Twitter. But in cases like this it does instantly provide some kind of idea of what a few people are thinking about regarding something like this. Sure enough, I am just as frustrated with Andy Reid as the rest of the Kingdom. What do you do with someone like that?
He is a genius playmaker. His offense has the best pro football weapons in the universe. Matt Moore is not a great quarterback -- please, no offense, his pro football acumen has served him very well with this offense, kudos to him for that -- but Moore has weapons at his fingertips like he has never seen before. Tyreek Hill alone had the Packers totally on their heels tonight, as a feature of their game plan.
So yeah, I did very prominently think one of the key things I saw tonight in that tweet-storm of exasperation: We all know why Andy Reid has no rings.
Really. He just doesn't have the balls. The Chiefs have had just as good a team as the Patriots for years now, and in that time -- while Reid's been in KC -- Bill Belichick has three rings. It is simple. It is because he knows how to go for the jugular with what he has and he has always done that.
Here's the thing. Maybe Reid'll finally learn from this. Maybe he'll finally finally finally rise up and make a good, solid, bold, courageous decision late in a critical playoff game that actually does get us the dubya in a game decided by a touchdown or less. He absolutely must because, here's the main thing. When you think about it, not only does this one single move cost us this game, not only does it show us that he still hasn't learned -- but probably the worst thing of all is the message it sent to all those amazing players on offense.
I really really really hurt for the Kingdom right now thinking about what Hill, and Watkins, and Kelce, now this phenomenal rookie Hardman, and all the other fine offensive players are thinking -- Damien Williams even, who came in and played lights out football in the 2nd half. What they are thinking right now feeling that their coach can't trust them to do what his already splendid playmaking is helping them make happen.
I don't know. I wasn't going to be too upset that we lost this game as the Packers are pretty good and we're just waiting for Patrick to return. That's cool.
But this -- this is still just really disconcerting, it really is.
It always has been.
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Sunday, October 27, 2019
Packers at Chiefs - Week 8 - Record: 5-3
We actually could have won this game, really, if Andy Reid's decision-making at the end of the game was not what it typically can be to derail our chances. We have an offense that is lights-out, and he decides to put the game's outcome in the hands of a very bendy defense that cannot afford to be bendy at the most crucial time. That a bit later.
First, to be a bit positive, some really good things about our team:
Its playmaking. The Reid way has got defenses scrambling and with our playmakers, these guys showed again tonight they can do great damage. The Packers plan on defense was to essentially play on their heels. A great example of this was the play at the beginning of the 2nd quarter when everyone was moving around in the backfield after the snap, leaving Kelce wide open down the field to catch a lofted pass for a TD.
I also really like Steve Spagnuolo being aggressive with our defense. He blitzed often enough to rattle Rodgers, if you can do it against one of the best QBs ever, you should! We sacked him something like five times tonight. Ragland and Hitchens have picked up the run defense at least a little.
The not-so-good things: We're still not pursuing with assertiveness! It isn't about tackling -- it is about hitting our marks with at least some sense of purpose! The touchdown that ended up winning it for the Packers was just a weave job by their guy all the way to the end zone. Add to that our defensive line still can't get a good enough push when we need it.
You also cannot fumble on the first play after the defense has been on field for eons. McCoy did that and Rodgers got the ball right back, and after a bit of wearing out our defense a bit more, he threw one of the most amazing touchdown passes ever. By the way, Damien Williams came right in, did really well, and LeSean McCoy did not see the field again.
Here was the major ding-dong thing Reid did that is just so aggravating. It was punting the ball away at close to midfield on a 4th-&-3 with about five minutes left in the game. We were down by only a touchdown. Even though the punt was downed inside the 5, when you do that you are giving the ball right back to Aaron Rodgers with a long field to just chew up the clock. And he did just that.
Andy Reid, you really really really really really really really really have to go for it there.
Haven't we said something like that before, oh, about 57 times? When your D-line just can't get that push to stop the run late, take a chance with your dynamite offense. Come on. Errrrrrrrrghh.
We knew this game against a strong Packers team would be tough. Matt Moore is not Aaron Rodgers. What was so nice was that Moore actually did wonderfully. He's taken this offense and done really well.
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First, to be a bit positive, some really good things about our team:
Its playmaking. The Reid way has got defenses scrambling and with our playmakers, these guys showed again tonight they can do great damage. The Packers plan on defense was to essentially play on their heels. A great example of this was the play at the beginning of the 2nd quarter when everyone was moving around in the backfield after the snap, leaving Kelce wide open down the field to catch a lofted pass for a TD.
I also really like Steve Spagnuolo being aggressive with our defense. He blitzed often enough to rattle Rodgers, if you can do it against one of the best QBs ever, you should! We sacked him something like five times tonight. Ragland and Hitchens have picked up the run defense at least a little.
The not-so-good things: We're still not pursuing with assertiveness! It isn't about tackling -- it is about hitting our marks with at least some sense of purpose! The touchdown that ended up winning it for the Packers was just a weave job by their guy all the way to the end zone. Add to that our defensive line still can't get a good enough push when we need it.
You also cannot fumble on the first play after the defense has been on field for eons. McCoy did that and Rodgers got the ball right back, and after a bit of wearing out our defense a bit more, he threw one of the most amazing touchdown passes ever. By the way, Damien Williams came right in, did really well, and LeSean McCoy did not see the field again.
Here was the major ding-dong thing Reid did that is just so aggravating. It was punting the ball away at close to midfield on a 4th-&-3 with about five minutes left in the game. We were down by only a touchdown. Even though the punt was downed inside the 5, when you do that you are giving the ball right back to Aaron Rodgers with a long field to just chew up the clock. And he did just that.
Andy Reid, you really really really really really really really really have to go for it there.
Haven't we said something like that before, oh, about 57 times? When your D-line just can't get that push to stop the run late, take a chance with your dynamite offense. Come on. Errrrrrrrrghh.
We knew this game against a strong Packers team would be tough. Matt Moore is not Aaron Rodgers. What was so nice was that Moore actually did wonderfully. He's taken this offense and done really well.
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Thursday, October 17, 2019
Chiefs at Broncos - Week 7 - Record: 5-2
 |
| Mahomes refusing to get on the cart and walking off the field after his injury |
The announcers were saying that Chiefs personnel appeared to be less worried than you'd think about his knee, that they feel he'll be okay. Still holding breaths though. I'd like to think that if the injury is not so bad they'll still keep him out for a few games just to be on the safe side. We're 5-2 so we have at least a little cushion in that category. If it is more serious, well, let's just ensure that he's good to go for future seasons.
It doesn't mean we can't still do well this season. Tonight we clobbered the Broncos, and the reason was our defense. They were saying on the television that the Chiefs were getting tired of all the discouraging remarks, all justified, really, watching them play against the Texans: "You're not good pursuers. You're not good block shedders. You're not good gap fillers. You're not good tacklers. You're not good pass rushers. You're not good."
They definitely took it personally.
I have to add that it was really good to see Anthony Hitchens back in there. He made a world of difference in our run defense, and of course he got help from all of our front seven who again decided they needed to actually hit somebody out there.
One more thing because it is late. It's all good except for all of our breath-holding we're still doing.
Tyreek Hill.
When Matt Moore went in for Mahomes, he was taking some time to get a feel for being out there, not doing much. For quite a while he wasn't getting Tyreek into the mix. Sure enough when I noticed it, and when the announcers noticed it, well, finally Andy Reid noticed it. We started to see more of him. That sweet deep floating pass from Moore to Hill, oh my. It dropped into Hill's lap and he could just turn on the jets to score the TD.
Still holding my breath though...
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Sunday, October 13, 2019
Texans at Chiefs - Week 6 - Record: 4-2
This is definitely not a Super Bowl team. Sorry but just having Patrick Mahomes and a planetload of receivers will not get it done.
I actually thought our defense would be better than they've played. Know what? This really feels like 2003, you know, awesome offense and not-great defense -- but ya know? It's worse this year. We started out 9-0 that year and I hate to say it, in 2003 our offense was just much more proficient. This year's Chiefs offense is really just Mahomes being ungodly on the football field.
But the key is that Mahomes simply cannot get anything going with an offensive line that is as miserable as this one. At least in 2003 we had a beast offensive line. This one is is garbage. Eric Fisher and Andrew Wylie are injured and their replacements are balsa wood. Our center is not able to do what Mitch Morse did last year, but then Morse was injured all the time so it didn't matter.
This game was a loss from the beginning. Here's what we all witnessed before Tyreek Hill's fantabulous touchdown grab:
1. Personal foul on Anthony Sherman on the kickoff.
2. Mahomes has to scurry around right after the snap, and tries to heave the ball with a defender all over him, smashing into his arm.
3. Swing pass to LeSean McCoy who stumbles down after catching it, little gain.
4. Big play to Darrel Williams who was freed on a pick play that Kelce may have made, at least the announcer insisted he did.
5. Swing pass for no gain, but now they call Kelce for an illegal pick.
6. Motion penalty, five yards back on us.
7. Misdirection pass to Hardman which was the first decent thing, 14 yard gain.
8. Holding call against an O-lineman. (In case you've missed count, that's four penalties against the Chiefs on eight plays of the game so far.)
This game was brutally ugly. Besides the fact that Mahomes doesn't have a good offensive line, his ankle has to be bothering him because his throws were awful. At least four or five times he threw the ball right at a defender -- most times they just dropped the INT.
I also have to add that the officiating had it in for us today. We got tons of defensive holding calls against us, and I'm sorry but I don't believe we were fairly treated. At one point Kelce was mugged at the line and the Texans intercepted Mahomes pass, but they made some ding-dong interpretation of pass interference not-counting for some reason. Interception stays. A couple plays later Bashaud Breeland was called for defensive holding yet he barely touched the guy.
Guh?
This is what happens when you form a super team. They've got to reel you back in. That's what everyone thought about this team, it's a super team! -- and for pretty good reason what with Mahomes et al.
Yeah, sorry, I know I get really melodramatic about these down times, but we just lost two home games in a row for the first time since 2013, and in both games it just looked like everything was against us. Not only the over-officiating, but our woeful line play on both sides of the ball is just killing us.
It is simple. We can stay in games from our exceptional skill-player game -- that's why both these past two games were reasonably close. But today the Texans took a page from the Colts playbook: Just run the ball against the Chiefs because they have no linebackers. Yes Anthony Hitchens is injured, but we were like melted butter out there. We are not pursuing with speed, we are not looking sharp at the point of attack -- and every team knows it. Just run the ball against the Chiefs. What makes this worse is that an opponent's steady running game burns clock and keeps Mahomes off the field.
I've thought a bendy defense may be just okay, but after looking at it the way the Colts and Texans have successfully seen it, I've realized that this defense is a crushingly real liability.
Yep, I've called for this for eons, no reason to stop now: we absolutely need a Ray Lewis guy in the middle of our defense, we really do. Unless Brett Veach can do something incredibly magical for this year, so we can have some confidence that we'll actually be competitive in the playoffs, I'm kind of hoping that notwithstanding that terrific stretch when we actually win games convincingly, we can finish with a record poor enough to get high enough in the draft to pick up that guy, and when he matures in a couple years hope we get a stronger assurance of Super Bowl potential when Mahomes is in his prime.
Next we've got a Thursday night game. At Denver, who over the past few years has lost the last several home games to the Chiefs in horrible ways. They will not be kind to us at all.
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I actually thought our defense would be better than they've played. Know what? This really feels like 2003, you know, awesome offense and not-great defense -- but ya know? It's worse this year. We started out 9-0 that year and I hate to say it, in 2003 our offense was just much more proficient. This year's Chiefs offense is really just Mahomes being ungodly on the football field.
But the key is that Mahomes simply cannot get anything going with an offensive line that is as miserable as this one. At least in 2003 we had a beast offensive line. This one is is garbage. Eric Fisher and Andrew Wylie are injured and their replacements are balsa wood. Our center is not able to do what Mitch Morse did last year, but then Morse was injured all the time so it didn't matter.
This game was a loss from the beginning. Here's what we all witnessed before Tyreek Hill's fantabulous touchdown grab:
1. Personal foul on Anthony Sherman on the kickoff.
2. Mahomes has to scurry around right after the snap, and tries to heave the ball with a defender all over him, smashing into his arm.
3. Swing pass to LeSean McCoy who stumbles down after catching it, little gain.
4. Big play to Darrel Williams who was freed on a pick play that Kelce may have made, at least the announcer insisted he did.
5. Swing pass for no gain, but now they call Kelce for an illegal pick.
6. Motion penalty, five yards back on us.
7. Misdirection pass to Hardman which was the first decent thing, 14 yard gain.
8. Holding call against an O-lineman. (In case you've missed count, that's four penalties against the Chiefs on eight plays of the game so far.)
This game was brutally ugly. Besides the fact that Mahomes doesn't have a good offensive line, his ankle has to be bothering him because his throws were awful. At least four or five times he threw the ball right at a defender -- most times they just dropped the INT.
I also have to add that the officiating had it in for us today. We got tons of defensive holding calls against us, and I'm sorry but I don't believe we were fairly treated. At one point Kelce was mugged at the line and the Texans intercepted Mahomes pass, but they made some ding-dong interpretation of pass interference not-counting for some reason. Interception stays. A couple plays later Bashaud Breeland was called for defensive holding yet he barely touched the guy.
Guh?
This is what happens when you form a super team. They've got to reel you back in. That's what everyone thought about this team, it's a super team! -- and for pretty good reason what with Mahomes et al.
Yeah, sorry, I know I get really melodramatic about these down times, but we just lost two home games in a row for the first time since 2013, and in both games it just looked like everything was against us. Not only the over-officiating, but our woeful line play on both sides of the ball is just killing us.
It is simple. We can stay in games from our exceptional skill-player game -- that's why both these past two games were reasonably close. But today the Texans took a page from the Colts playbook: Just run the ball against the Chiefs because they have no linebackers. Yes Anthony Hitchens is injured, but we were like melted butter out there. We are not pursuing with speed, we are not looking sharp at the point of attack -- and every team knows it. Just run the ball against the Chiefs. What makes this worse is that an opponent's steady running game burns clock and keeps Mahomes off the field.
I've thought a bendy defense may be just okay, but after looking at it the way the Colts and Texans have successfully seen it, I've realized that this defense is a crushingly real liability.
Yep, I've called for this for eons, no reason to stop now: we absolutely need a Ray Lewis guy in the middle of our defense, we really do. Unless Brett Veach can do something incredibly magical for this year, so we can have some confidence that we'll actually be competitive in the playoffs, I'm kind of hoping that notwithstanding that terrific stretch when we actually win games convincingly, we can finish with a record poor enough to get high enough in the draft to pick up that guy, and when he matures in a couple years hope we get a stronger assurance of Super Bowl potential when Mahomes is in his prime.
Next we've got a Thursday night game. At Denver, who over the past few years has lost the last several home games to the Chiefs in horrible ways. They will not be kind to us at all.
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Sunday, October 06, 2019
Colts at Chiefs - Week 5 - Record: 4-1
I'm going to put this post in now because I'm so busy right now I simply won't have time to complete a full blog post later. Yes, I am doing work right now while I'm watching the game. And yes I am taking notes throughout.
Some notes right now as I'm watching this game in the middle of the 3rd quarter is that for one, this Chiefs team is driving me crazy. They get a penalty on almost every other play. At one point the announcer said the Chiefs are beating themselves. No kidding.
They also have no pass rush. This Colts quarterback is just not-that-special, yet he has all day back there. We've also lost Chris Jones to a groin injury -- he's out for the rest of the game. That doesn't help matters. We lost Anthony Hitchens earlier, that doesn't help our run defense, which has also been deplorable. Yes, they were who they thought they were -- a team with massively good offensive linemen who just pushed our tacklers all over the field.
On offense Mahomes was not sharp, missing his marks, just way more often than he does. Our O-line was not stalwart, making Mahomes run around too much. His receivers were dropping passes all night long. And on one play their linebacker rolled over Mahomes and wrecked his leg -- that's nice. I'm watching right now and Mahomes is walking off the field limping again, on a play that has Andrew Wylie on the turf. Down an O-lineman we can't afford to lose.
The only thing that, so far anyway, that has been keeping us in this one is the Colts are making a poor play here or committing a penalty there. We're also benefiting from close officiating calls that are going our way. Kelce almost fumbled the ball away but they ruled he did not have possession -- incomplete pass. Another pass appeared to bounce off Sherman's hands and intercepted, but on one camera angle it did look like it hit the turf -- incomplete pass.
There's a whole quarter left, so yeah. But everything I've written so far should bring great concern to the Kingdom. No pass rush and no run defense is just really disconcerting. I'm not as worried about the receivers -- not everyone has a great day every game... Mahomes et al will get it together.
But I hate to say it the Colts, with a team that has not-much-of-a-passing game and little in the defensive backfield -- I mean look at that, we have 10 points against a young, inexperienced Colts D-backfield -- the Colts looked much more disciplined, much more focused, much more fundamentally oriented to hit their marks. If this Chiefs team is going to the Super Bowl about which everyone is so certain, they've got to get it together.
And so... with about five minutes left we had a 4th-&-1 at midfield, down 16-10 and with a decimated O-line we run it and don't make it. Sure enough, the one who makes the tackle is, yep, just like the Chiefs luck -- Justin Houston. This game is a testament to the fact that if you have a reeeally good offensive line, you have a chance to win an NFL football game. If you don't have O-linemen you may not be able to protect your star quarterback enough to get him untracked in games you have no business losing.
Ugh.
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Some notes right now as I'm watching this game in the middle of the 3rd quarter is that for one, this Chiefs team is driving me crazy. They get a penalty on almost every other play. At one point the announcer said the Chiefs are beating themselves. No kidding.
They also have no pass rush. This Colts quarterback is just not-that-special, yet he has all day back there. We've also lost Chris Jones to a groin injury -- he's out for the rest of the game. That doesn't help matters. We lost Anthony Hitchens earlier, that doesn't help our run defense, which has also been deplorable. Yes, they were who they thought they were -- a team with massively good offensive linemen who just pushed our tacklers all over the field.
On offense Mahomes was not sharp, missing his marks, just way more often than he does. Our O-line was not stalwart, making Mahomes run around too much. His receivers were dropping passes all night long. And on one play their linebacker rolled over Mahomes and wrecked his leg -- that's nice. I'm watching right now and Mahomes is walking off the field limping again, on a play that has Andrew Wylie on the turf. Down an O-lineman we can't afford to lose.
The only thing that, so far anyway, that has been keeping us in this one is the Colts are making a poor play here or committing a penalty there. We're also benefiting from close officiating calls that are going our way. Kelce almost fumbled the ball away but they ruled he did not have possession -- incomplete pass. Another pass appeared to bounce off Sherman's hands and intercepted, but on one camera angle it did look like it hit the turf -- incomplete pass.
There's a whole quarter left, so yeah. But everything I've written so far should bring great concern to the Kingdom. No pass rush and no run defense is just really disconcerting. I'm not as worried about the receivers -- not everyone has a great day every game... Mahomes et al will get it together.
But I hate to say it the Colts, with a team that has not-much-of-a-passing game and little in the defensive backfield -- I mean look at that, we have 10 points against a young, inexperienced Colts D-backfield -- the Colts looked much more disciplined, much more focused, much more fundamentally oriented to hit their marks. If this Chiefs team is going to the Super Bowl about which everyone is so certain, they've got to get it together.
And so... with about five minutes left we had a 4th-&-1 at midfield, down 16-10 and with a decimated O-line we run it and don't make it. Sure enough, the one who makes the tackle is, yep, just like the Chiefs luck -- Justin Houston. This game is a testament to the fact that if you have a reeeally good offensive line, you have a chance to win an NFL football game. If you don't have O-linemen you may not be able to protect your star quarterback enough to get him untracked in games you have no business losing.
Ugh.
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