Sunday, November 29, 2020

Chiefs at Buccaneers - Week 12 - Record: 10-1

I hadn't thought about this but looked it up real quick: We had not defeated a Buccaneers team since Joe Montana did it in his very first game as a Chief, way back on September 5th, 1993. Since then five straight losses to Tampa Bay. We broke that streak today on the amazing touchdown streaks of Tyreek Hill.

Hill was a blur today. He had three touchdowns and nearly 300 yards receiving. As the game went on the Bucs doubled him and Kelce, so Mahomes simply went to Robinson and Watkins more often. If we didn't stall so much it'd have been a blowout. On the other hand if we didn't get those clutch interceptions against Brady we could've just as easily lost this one.

One time close to the end zone Mahomes fumbled the ball away, very uncharacteristic of him. Another time right at the end of the half, and again close to the goal line, we could've had six but settled for a FG when on three straight plays Mahomes just threw the ball into the stands. What was that ugliness?

But you can't shake it. Mahomes was still brilliant. He stayed strong in the pocket and hit his marks when he needed to. He bobbed and weaved through the backfield to run for yardage or just chuck it to someone getting open. His most impressive play was in the 4th quarter with about ten minutes left in the game. He faced a 3rd down and with pressure coming on the right side he just backpedalled left, kept backpedalling, backpedalling as he scans the field -- he is essentially running backwards mind you -- and he then throws a strike 25 yards downfield to Mecole Hardman. 1st down.

I could say more about this game, but I just wanted to add a quick note about Thursday's game. Guh? Thursday's game? Yeah, the one in which Alex Smith made the Cowboys look silly. I was just thinking, really -- I do firmly believe Smith should be in the Hall-of-Fame. The dude not only suffered that horrific football injury two years ago, he not only almost lost the leg, he not only had to endure surgery after surgery after surgery -- he almost lost his life.

And yet now he has won the Washington football team's starting quarterback job, and is playing great. When he was with the 49ers in 2011 he almost led them to the Super Bowl. When he was with the Chiefs he never had a losing season and took the team to the playoffs four times. And this return to football after what happened -- the guy deserves a place in the Hall-of-Fame, he really does.

Oh, and he taught Patrick Mahomes much of what he knows as a quarterback. That should get him more than enough votes.

___

The photo is by Adam Parker at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.

___

No comments: