Lions at Chiefs - Week 6 - Record: 3-3

Writing this a bit before the game here. It's about 5:00 PST where I am, just folding this little preview into the game post.

The main and really only preview note:

How much will the Scorecasting officiating and the propelled narrative that goes with it keep the Chiefs from winning. 

That's it. I've belabored the point to death, but, yeah, as usual, it doesn't really seem to take. People all over blap about that Chiefs thing or that Lions thing but the only thing that matters is whether or not the officials are going to hose the Chiefs making it really hard for them to win.

Yes, I know, the Lions are a fine football team. Yes, I know the Chiefs may do dumb things again to make it a bit harder for them to win. But it is simple.

If the Chiefs play like they always can play, like they've plainly shown they can play on a regular basis, they will win, period.

If the officials get in the way or the Scorecasting proven narrative keeps the Chiefs on their heels, it will be very difficult or even a loss.

Let's watch, shall we?... 

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Okay, 1st half take:

The Lions O-line is absolutely demolishing us. Our front seven us get plowed under. Their running backs are having their way with us, but so far we've gotten bailed out by an illegal motion call against the Lions negated a touchdown and a failed 4th down conversion.

We've done a little better against their passing game, but we just aren't getting to their QB enough, we're just not. We did a couple times forcing incompletions and stalling their momentum, but Goff has had  too much time too often to make clutch completions.

After our first touchdown, guess what. Harrison missed the PAT. Derrrp. I've been giving him the benefit of the doubt when people have said, "I think now we should be concerned." "Nah," I've thought, "He'll come around." Is it time to join them and truly wonder about him?

And could doubts about him seep into decision-making? We had the ball at the Lions 20 and went for it on 4th down, and failed. Could have had the field goal.

And then there was that failed play. Worthy really needed to flatten his route and he'd have kept the defender from batting away Patrick's pass. Know what? This is where we need Rashee there. Fortunately he's slated to be back next week. As far as Worthy goes he got our first TD, so he's coming along.

So yeah, even though their offensive line is having their way with us, it is 13-10 us. 

Oh, and yeah, what about the officiating? It has been a very clean game so far, both teams making decent, solid-play, open-field plays, offenses and defenses, that there isn't anything really close that requires an official's interpretation of things, those things that can be so detrimental to the Chiefs efforts.

And they just showed a stat as the 2nd half starts: Lions, some high number of tons of offensive yards in the first half, as well as a high for not being rushed on pass attempts.

Eeegh.

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Okay, quick 3rd quarter report. We got a really nice TD from Hollywood to make it 20-10, that's where it stands now.

We absolutely need to get Brashard Smith in the mix more. Why we don't is, um, well, kind-of known because Andy Reid just refuses to do more to get good rookies in there even when they clearly show they can play. Maybe many times he's right, and wants to keep from taking a chance on rookies making rookie mistakes. But so far every play Smith has had he's been terrific, but they've been so few.

On that TD drive Travis made a tricky catch that may have been questionable, but the Chiefs ran a super-quick play to prevent a challenge. The television official said he thought it was a catch anyway, so that was a close one -- close with that official's interpretative call that would've needed to be made.

And just a note about our left tackle replacing Josh Simmons who is out tonight. Jaylen Moore is doing really well against their excellent DE Aiden Hutchinson. Patrick is actually having a little bit of time to do things back there.

Okay, here's the 4th...

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How about that. A nice, clean, hard-fought game -- for both teams -- with no officiating or narrative issues. They were on fire in the first half, but the Lions just looked more gassed in the second half. We had a comfortable lead for most of the game, so I believe the Lions just couldn't lean on that really good running game, and Spags made his adjustments.

Our O-line played really well, and our running game was productive in the second half. Isiah, Kareem, even Brashard got the job done.

They also said the Lions had serious injury issues with their secondary, so that was likely a factor that helped our fine offensive effort tonight. Hopefully we can keep up the good work there when an opponent's defense is at full strength.

Next week the Raiders rivalry continues!

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The photo is from the Jacob Rice at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Jaguars - What is Really Going On

I clipped an image from an old NFL Films highlight show. I actually like watching them sometimes on the YouTube because they remind me of my childhood enjoyment of pro football. This one is of Jim Marsalis doing a terrific job of defending Haven Moses forcing an incompletion against the Broncos in Week 12 of the 1972 season. Buuuut... Guess what...

Pass interference.

The screenshot you are seeing right here shows absolutely the most contact you will ever see on this play. The highlight reel's narrator, Pat Summerall by the way, even said the PI call was based on the official's feeling Marselis leaned on Moses a bit too much, sneered quite tongue-in-cheek. The Broncos went on to score a touchdown that made the game far too close. The Chiefs did end up winning 24-21, much with the help of two pick-sixes.

The point should not be hard to grasp. Excccept that it is apparent it is for most people who continue to schlurp up the idiotic narrative that is dumped into their craniums, namely that everything is on the up-and-up and the Chiefs have just as fair a chance as anyone out there.

(By the way, in posting the Jim Marsalis play I'm not in any way saying the Chiefs have always been hosed by the officiating, it is just an example of what it is like on a regular basis for the Chiefs today, for obvious reasons I've shared so many times before and continue to emphasize here...)

As I shared in my blog post on this nightmare loss, even though I did not watch a thing just a little while after the Jaguars second touchdown, I did later see that many people remarked that the Chiefs did a number of numbskull things especially towards the end of game. One of those was the pass interference by Chamarri Conner in the end zone, a play that if non-called as it should have been would have resulted in a Chiefs game-sealing interception by Bryan Cook.

I did watch the replay of the play after I saw just about anyone who remarked about it feel that it was the right call by the officials.

It wasn't. The ball simply banged off Conner's outstretched arm in front of the receiver. That's it. Because he didn't turn his head around means nothing. Did Conner move the receiver enough with his outstretched arm to impede his ability to catch the ball? Maybe, but let's be honest, it wasn't much.

In fact, it looked exactly like that play the Broncos defender made on that Eagles receiver at the end of their game earlier in the day, one that was actually more egregious than Conner's supposed infraction, and reminder it was the one that had everyone screaming should have been a PI call not-made costing the Eagles the game.

So, here's the progression, just so we're all clear: 

1. The Eagles lose a game when a Broncos defender does a bit worse to an Eagles receiver keeping him from catching the ball, a non-call that keeps the Eagles from winning the game.

2. A couple hours later the officials in the Chiefs-Jaguars game get word from the NFLer world that the Eagles were robbed and everyone is in a hyperkinetic frenzy about it.

3. A couple hours after that the Chiefs defender does much less to a Jaguars receiver yet they still call the PI on us, costing the Chiefs the game.

4. No one says jack about it except that the Chiefs are just a stupid team doing stupid things and that's why they lost.

Now, yes, I did add a bit of conjecture there for Item No. 2 there, but you know?

It's still true. 

However it happened, in whatever implicit or perhaps even explicit way, the Scorecasting factor kicked in. It did. It is simple.

The NFLers and their powerful marketing toadies do not want the Chiefs to win.

I want the Chiefs to win every single Super Bowl from now until the sun burns out eight trillion years from now. But I know the reality. That would be devastating to NFL ratings and $$$. The problem the NFLers have is the Chiefs are a stunningly good team. They are truly an unprecedentedly good team.

Back to the stupidity, especially with this particular thing screeched all the time: "The calls went the Chiefs way too!" For this particular affair they might add, "What about that non-call on Jaden Hicks leading to the Chiefs interception when the Jags were up 21-14?" Well, I looked at that replay too, and sorry, not a PI call. The officials did a good thing there, amazing, they actually refrained from calling a PI that wasn't there. Hicks was merely moving to defend his receiver and the Jags receiver ran into him. If anything it should have been a pick play on the Jags receiver! Maybe it was called, I don't know, I only saw the brief replay of the play itself. The Jags should just have their guys run cleaner routes so the quarterback doesn't throw that pass ending up in the hands of an opponent.

So yes, please stop. Please stop being stupid. Stop obsessively believing the narrative that the Chiefs get all the calls. No, the reality is the Chiefs are the ones regularly hosed by the rotten calls and non-calls, one after the other after the other (we could talk about a half-a-dozen more obvious ones!) and there is a reason for that.

What about what Chris Jones did, giving up in the middle of the end-of-game game-changing Jags play and not going after their QB when he slipped and fell, yet got right back up and scored the game-winning touchdown? Yes, I agree, Jones should have followed through on the play. He shouldn't have checked out. After this I know he'll know to be sure to play hard for the duration next time. That's all good. But you know?

That play came right after the idiotic call against Conner. And it came right after all the other idiotic officiating calls that went against the Chiefs leaving them in that ridiculous predicament. Call after non-call after call after non-call that wrecked the Chiefs chances. Sorry but the Chiefs should have won this one easily, 38-14, at least. However many stupid things they did should not have cost them at all, because it never should have come down to that. 

But as much as Jones shouldn't have given up on that play, I get it. I get it, Chris Jones! I get why you feel the way you do. The Chiefs players will later talk all about how they need to be better and step it up and practice harder and be more disciplined and do this and do that themselves and yadda yadda yadda what they're supposed to say so they don't get in trouble and bite the hand that feeds them -- they will never call out the officiating -- but you know? They know. They know what they must overcome. And in a very real sense, it can get painfully exasperating.

Chris Jones was hopelessly exasperated out there because of the massive idiocy that weighs against him, his team, and their chances. Is his debilitating dejection an excuse? By all means no, and again he admits that himself. But it does say something critically important that people are simply not seeing.

I also took a sec to peek at some of the comments to the first story about this game at the fine Chiefs blog, Arrowhead Pride. Alas, here's what I saw, among about 100 comments.

Over and over and over again Chiefs fans ripping on this team as if it isn't a good team, it's not a playoff team, it isn't this that we'd like from them or it isn't that thing they should be. On and on and on the stupidity flowed. Yes the Chiefs did some stupid things that were just plain magnified more than they should have been, so it is easy to blap loudly about them. But (a) they are uncharacteristic and can happen to any team in any given game, and (b) those things should not have hurt them at all if it weren't for the patented Scorecasting-proven officiating iniquities.

No, the Chiefs are an exceptionally good team. With Brett Veach and Patrick Mahomes, and yes a little bit of Andy Reid, this team should dominate every single game. Absolutely dominate. But that is bad for business, so the NFLers must throw a wrench in it. We are blessed to enjoy the exploits of a phenomenally talented team that is getting shafted by the NFLers as well as the fans who believe the narrative and squeal so deafeningly that there is no favoring by refs, or if there is, it favors the Chiefs. 

No, there is favoring by the officiating, it is made to be that way, it does heavily favor the Chiefs opponents, by far, and yes, it does very much affect the Chiefs' ability to play the game they would be playing otherwise and in turn does negatively impact the final outcomes of their contests.

Yet I am seeing people see that reality in very few places. It was encouraging to see among those Arrowhead Pride comments actually a few, maybe one in twenty, of thoughtfully observant people who do see it! Bless them. May not mean anything, I get that, sadly, but bless them all the same.

When I see more people seeing the reality and maybe shifting the narrative a bit more to force those under the influence of the Scorecasting verities to make things fair, even if that means the teams that should be winning on their own merits and not on the manufactured advantages are allowed to win (what a concept!) even if those teams are not the Chiefs, then I'll be happy.

Hoping to interact with them. Smart, thoughtful, observant, principled, truthful people. They are good to interact with. It'd be nice if more Chiefs fans got it, but it'd be just as great to do it with anyone who sincerely like seeing and talking about truthful things.

But yeah, us Jeremiahs and Cassandras can be very lonely, that has always been our punishment for seeing things the way they are in real actual reality. For future Chiefs games I'm sure I'll stick around to enjoy their entireties because I'll always like my Chiefs, no matter what they're up against. Maybe, just maybe Patrick et al are as profoundly good as I think they are, as I am firmly insisting they are here in this blog effort -- really, that's one reason I'm still in on all this, to see that they overcome all the crap.

Sometimes though, it is really hard, I have to say, it is really, really hard when you know what's really going on.

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Chiefs at Jaguars - Week 5 - Record: 2-3

Just pounding out some thoughts before our prime-time affair tonight against the Jags. I just noticed that, wow, the Chiefs have beaten them eight straight times including that playoff game a couple years ago. Before that, however, they beat us almost every game before that, so we're now about even.

During or after I'll punch out a few things related to the game, but first.

1. This thing with the Super Bowl halftime show this season. I've shared this idea before, but it doesn't seem to take. The NFLers could easily show their support for the BIPOC community like they've always want to by having a spectacular halftime show featuring one of those amazing HBCU marching bands, even with other dazzling things in the mix that make it special for everyone. Pretty much everyone would like it, I think, doesn't matter what class or influence or race you are.

But they refuse to do that.

Instead they select and even worse musical hip-hop rap oriented entertainer than the wretched ones they've had before. This time it is someone I'd never heard of before, "Bad Bunny," yet it has been somewhat ear-splitting listening to what has been said and written about this selection. So I checked it out myself, just to see if this performer's music is as objectionable as some are saying it is.

It is. Worse. Way worse.

Again, I've known not-a-single-thing about this guy or his music. Nothing. So I checked out a site with a list of his best songs. At the top is "Yo Perreo Sola," or in English, "I Twerk Alone." Just the title alone is beyond reprehensible. But hey, if he is as popular as it seems it must be perfectly fine for hundreds of millions of young people to imbibe.

The lyrics contain the worst obscenities -- nothing new there -- as well as references to loose females fully objectified and illicit drug & alcohol use -- yeah, more of the same.

Among other things about which the guy has brazenly boasted about, along the lines of if you don't like it then take a hike, he recently said for you to understand what he'll be singing in his halftime show, you'd better learn Spanish. Extraordinarily hateful and racist, but, well, he's a BIPOC himself with a story so he should be free to express himself artistically.

Except that it isn't just that. He's getting paid a very nice chunk of cash to blap his sewage to a huge audience of millions, most of them impressionable young people.

I could go on about the utter hellscape that this is all about, and how much our young people are diving headlong into this thing that is absolutely destroying their souls, but I'd just sound like an old cantankerous white heteronormative man, easily dismissed as ignorant and bigoted.

Doesn't make the thing itself less evil.

Nice going NFLers.

2. The other thing was what I saw in a news headline about an NFL game yesterday, this one between the Broncos and Eagles. I screenshotted the thing so you can see it, and sorry, but it blew me away. "NFL fans upset about missed call that cost the Eagles the game"? That they went into a "frenzy"? Guh?

Well, I watched the replay, and really it was just rough handsiness on both parties with the Broncos guy maybe being a little more aggressive. Everyone screeched it was pass interference, but well, with the rules the way they are -- allowing lots of tussling before the ball gets there and full interpretation of those kinds of things allowed for the officials on the field -- it wasn't. It just wasn't.

Oh but we all must cry a river of tears for the poor, poor jobbed Eagles.

Please. Please please please.

For one thing the Eagles guy, a very good receiver in his own right, could fight through it and make the catch. Sorry, he could. That is part of it -- I'm so sick of watching these guys power up and go out there as fully stacked, exceptionally skilled, massively bulked millionaire 240-pound behemoths not fight through any kind of pushing and shoving that doesn't really impede his ability to get the ball and just make the play. Instead they flop and whine and moan and throw up their arms and all the rest of that silliness.

And then get the frenzied media narrative on your side.

Remember no one said anything about the call against Trent McDuffie in the Super Bowl last year when he was called for a helmet-to-helmet, I believe it was against the same Eagles receiver, when it wasn't, by miles. That call changed the complexion of the game right out-of-the-gate, as if the NFLers wanted to make sure it wasn't even a close contest because if it was close the Chiefs were going to win it -- they almost always do.

Where were the cries of injustice? Where was the frenzied response not just from Chiefs fans but -- look at the headline -- all NFL fans? Where was that on a call that was much worse than this game's non-call? I'll tell you why it was nowhere to be seen.

Because it was the Chiefs.

They are the current manifestation of the evil empire in the pro football world like the Patriots once were. Thing is the Patriots got all the lucky calls, they were just charmed, as well as favored by the NFLers because they're a genuine large-market media-darling team. The Chiefs have had to work their behinds off to overcome the obstacles against them, and one of the most important part of that -- really in all of NFL history -- is being blessed to have the best quarterback ever to suit up. That's what it has taken, really.

Oh, and the solution to the handsy stuff on pass attempts open to wide officiating interpretation? I've shared this before but it doesn't seem to take -- but, well, I don't have many readers, but I'll still make the firm and perfectly meaningful suggestion:

Make it so there is no tussling at all, no deliberate hands at all on either side before the ball arrives.

It is that simple. Unless your hands are up clearly and obviously going for the airborne football, if you extend to even touch the other guy, then it is pass interference. Could it get to the point where there are twenty PI calls a game? Fine. Make the point. Who cares if they get the message, back off on the touching of any kind, and we have a lot of high-scoring games with lots of pass completions to now more freely open receivers? Have a much more wide open game?

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By the way, right now into this game, and sure enough the Chiefs just got a 1st quarter touchdown (their first of the year, hard to believe), and they initially called a pick on JuJu that wasn't. He just went into his super-short route, but he did it in front of a defender and lifted his shoulder a bit. They picked up the flag likely because the officials determined it was just close enough to that one-yard allowance for a route-running receiver to make it not a pick. 

So they called off the foul, very legitimate touchdown Chiefs, and of course, the announcers and the television referee screamed about the injustice. The Chiefs got another gimme call! They got an illegal touchdown! They get all the calls!

Crap. Not only did JuJu legitimately do it within that yard, barely, but he was just running his route. A few steps and turn to get a reception. That was it. So the Jaguars defender runs into him. Whose fault is that?

Point is it just continues the narrative. The Chiefs are cheaters getting all the calls unfairly, and yes that does impact how the game is called on the field, it does. Already in this game every - single - little - thing the Chiefs do is scrutinized that much more. Already the most egregious example so far is a call against us for illegal formation that was no different than 90% of the formations every team has trying to get their guys lined up in the right places so they aren't leaving someone uncovered or covered on the line and all that. When they made that call I couldn't believe. It was totally ticky-tack and only a call they will make against the Chiefs because the narrative is so pronounced.

It stinks.

But then, just means we must play that much harder to overcome that crap, and you know? Maybe, just maybe it all just helps with our success, really, just because we have to do that much more to overcome it.

Annnnnnd there's another one. Our D is playing lights out, we've got the Jags on their heels, and sure enough, a PI call against Jaylen Watson that was completely, fully, wickedly not a PI. Their guy slipped, the ball wouldn't have been caught, Watson was half-way falling down himself and barely touched the receiver. It would've been 4th-&-long, but instead, new set of downs, annnnnnnnnnnnd the Jags go on to score a touchdown. 

Huh. I am so looking forward to seeing and hearing the enraged frenzy of all the NFL fans out there about that call. Let's see -- let's listen... (all hands folding ears forward...) Listening... listening...

Yeah. Non-existent. 

Let's just see this through. Let's see, will this be a critical score that affects the outcome? Right now it is halftime with the score 14-7 us. That's good.

Let's see if that holds up.

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Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, now we're starting the second half and -- yeah, I confess I am getting really tired of this. I almost hate talking about it as much, but what difference does it make. Maybe by some miracle there'd be a critical mass of people...

Just wanting what's right.

Right now it is just therapy. Therapy from the keyboard. At least there's that.

Anyway, sure enough........ (for the eleventeen-thousandth time)... Chiefs have the ball, get to a 3rd-&-2, and Patrick throws a strike to Hollywood. 

You know...

The Jags guy totally slams into him way before the ball gets there. Hollywood can't make the catch annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd................

No call. 

Surprised? 

We punt, they get it back, our defense suddenly realizes they have to play lightfooted, allowing the Jags to march right on down the field and score a touchdown. Now 14-14 thanks to the officiating and the narrative.

Maybe I just need a break from this. It is horrific.

Thank goodness we've still got Patrick.

Let's just see........................

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Okay I'm back and all I know is the final score. I watched nothing else of this nightmare. I do not know how we scored our other touchdowns. I did not see the silly interception that was taken for a pick-six by the Jags.

I saw nothing else but the final score. Sure enough we lost by three points, when we should have run away with this.

Even through just the first half and a small part of the second half I'd seen very few horrific games such as this one. Just pure agony. Why endure this. For all the reasons I detailed above. It'd be nice if even if just a peep from somebody about what happened, don't need a frenzy just a peep is all, it might be a little okay.

But I'm done talking about it. It's there, it's what it is, I'll still cheer on my Chiefs whether or not I care to behold the NFLer-empowered ugliness at any given time, and it is good that the Chiefs themselves still went out to play their hearts out and work like nothing else to overcome it all.

They won't give up -- not implying I gave up, I still wanted them to win the whole time. I just can't stand the injustice is all, I just can't. Call it a character flaw, go ahead, but I can't. Yes there are a million other things unjust that are waaay more evil and lethal, but I can't stand those things either, so there.

So out of that it is very good to know our Chiefs played Kingdom quality football for the duration. Here's to hoping they'll get even better to oversome the wretchedness for sure next time.

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Ravens at Chiefs - Week 4 - Record: 2-2

Finally we can shut up all those Chiefs-hating whiners who seemed to feel that because the Chiefs had so many single score victories last year that they weren't worthy.

Today we put up 37 and held the Ravens to 13 before they got a gimme TD in the last minute with our 2nd-stringers in there.

I'd heard the Ravens were a bit banged up to begin the game, and they suffered a few more injuries during this one including their QB Lamar Jackson enduring his hamstring going on him late in the game.

We got decent production from our running game and the standard fine play from Patrick particularly when we got into the red zone. TD passes to four different receivers -- JuJu, Isiah, Tyquan, and Hollywood -- that last one on 4th down -- were very nice. And JuJu is our go-to guy for possession catches. He's not as fast and shifty as he once was, but he runs the cleanest routes and Patrick finds him.

The best was getting Xavier Worthy back in there, he had a number of catches as well as some nice runs on those jet sweep things.

And what can you say about our defense. Even with their injuries the Ravens still had key weapons on offense, yet we really slammed the door on those guys. Spags has for a while now been acknowledged as the best DC in the game, and today it showed. It'd be nice if we could just rush four most times, but he blitzes from everywhere and nowhere keeping the offense guessing and scrambling and bumbling about. When he was in there, Lamar never seemed to get anything close to a rhythm.

As far as special teams go, Harrison missed another long FG, but I still just don't see any concerns there. He'll work things out. And our kick return guy, Nikko Remigio, is a stud. He had another nice long bouncing-off-guys kick return today. Our SPC Dave Toub, also recognized as one of the best, has our guys dialed in as usual.

Next week we're on prime-time again -- awright! Monday night against the so-far very good Jaguars.

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The posted image is from Bri Ali at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.

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

Sometimes when these prime time games are on, and yes it is quite a blessing to have so many prime time affairs -- just more of this wonderful time of having a pretty good team worthy of being so showcased, of course -- I'm going to pound out a bit of this now. 

The 4th quarter has just started and we're up 16-6. Our offense played pretty crappily in the 1st half but our defense has done well enough to keep the Giants at six points so far.

Mahomes has been nothing short of amazing, yet again, making plays over and over and over again. One play, insanely enough, was when he tossed a goofy backwards pass that bounced around until a Giants guy picked it up, yet just before he headed off for the end zone Mahomes came from nowhere and snatched it right back. 

Saved a touchdown.

Otherwise we were also getting hammered by the officiating. Any surprise? I've taken a few notes so far and there are five questionable instances of officiating that went against us. To be fair there were two calls that favored the Chiefs when they shouldn't have, but the ones that obviously should or shouldn't have been called that favored the opponent are far more. I could list them, but I'm tired. It's been done before. Ugh, just tired of it.

Several other calls are extraordinarily ticky-tack -- against the Chiefs. Just now Trent McDuffie was called for pass interference -- a horrible call because he barely touched the receiver coming off the line. Right after that the receiver caught the ball, got up to run, then fumbled the ball to us. 

Nope.

Another officiating call that goes against us when it shouldn't have been made. The NFLers really do not want us winning.

So yeah, over and over and over again the officiating afflicts our chances. Some of them in major ways. Again, not going to get into it. Not going to neglect to call it out because, yeah, it'd be nice if others would mention it. A critical mass of mentioners even, that'd be nice. It was actually nice how many did call out the favors given the Eagles last week.

And yeah, the Giants did get points, a field goal, from what they did after the shouldn't-have-been-made call on McDuffie. It is now 16-9.

Mahomes gets the ball again, and while Hollywood, JuJu, Tyquan, Travis, and Noah have been balling out there, we do so need Rashee and Worthy back out there. Travis had come back to doing okay, Noah Gray has made some nice plays, and Tyquan has our touchdown making a solid grab of a Mahomes bullet in the back of the end zone. 

Also, again, while Isiah and Kareem have done okay, we do need that more-solid go-to RB. We need to at least get Brashard Smith more involved! We'll see where we go, how this game goes... 

Until it's done...

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Nkay it's done. We win 22-9, thanks to a very nice Patrick bomb and phenomenal Tyquan catch right at the goal line after which Kareem punched it in.

Aside from all the usual aggravating officiating stuff, our defense was fine, Mahomes was fine, our backs and receivers were just fine, and the Giants generally did not play well. Nice to see the Andy Reid game plan especially in the second half was solid. It was a win we needed because we've got the Ravens next week.

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The posted image is from the official Chiefs site, taken by Steve Sanders. Thank you.

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Eagles at Chiefs - Week 2 - Record: 0-2

This post could just as easily be titled "The Exasperating Kelce," or even the "The Exasperating NFLers," or yes, yet again, "The Exasperating Reid Part MCXXIII."

Let's look at each one, briefly, and we'll start with our head coach.

1. "The Exasperating Reid Part MCXXIII." From the little I've seen and heard most people are screaming about his decision to go for it on 4th-&-1 from about our own 30-something. I don't fault the decision at all. I don't even fault Kareem Hunt because he'd come through wonderfully on those kinds of short yardage situations at other times in the game. What I do fault Reid on is going to this well once too many times, and when we didn't make it this one time, it was costly. Yes, have Kareem blast through for a key 1st down often enough, but there are times you need to do much better at either (a) disguising the look, or (b) just running some kind of novel play action run-pass option which they've done several times before to fine success.

That is just one of those typical Andy Reid specials that make you pull out your hair. 

2. "The Exasperating Kelce." The critical play of the game was by far the Kelce drop right at the goal line after a splendid 14-play drive that put us in position to take over the game. Our defense was playing very well and our offense was humming well enough to sustain clock chewing drives late -- that was the game-winner right there. 

Thing is Kelce has shown a penance for dropping those kinds of passes, and this one was crushing. The ball flipped right up into the defender's easy grasp whereupon he ran for miles. A bit later the Eagles got down to the goal line where they just "tush-pushed" it in for the score.

14-point swing.

I can't help but think about that one play from another ugly Chiefs-Eagles game, also at Arrowhead, this one in 1972. Their QB who never amounted to much threw a long pass right into the hands of our defender, I don't even remember who it was, sorry. In his attempt to corral it he dropped it right onto his foot whereupon the ball popped right up into the hands of an Eagles receiver who ran it in for the touchdown. We lost 21-20. The Eagles that year won only one other game the whole season.

Oh, and yeah, two games so far, two critically bad Kelce things. The first one was Kelce slamming into Xavier Worthy on the third play of the first game, damaging his shoulder and keeping him out of this game and maybe others. I wonder how many people are going to blame the newly-engaged-to-Taylor-Swift factor for this? I dunno, I don't give that much relevance -- it does seem Travis is committed to working hard and playing well and winning more football games. There is a lot more football to come.

3. "The Exasperating NFLers." If you want to read a bad word into that epithet about the people who run the NFL, especially all the powerful elements who really want things to be a certain way so they can make as much money as they can, then yeah, you can. And please, again, I think making as much money as you can is great...

But not when you deceitfully work to destroy the competitive integrity of the game.

And the NFLers are doing that.

I've spoken at length about the Scorecasting factor, simply that officiating can be influenced to make calls or not make calls that influence the outcomes of games. If that is true -- not even to mention the more direct influences -- then competitive duplicity is a reality in these things. I've said a hundred times before in response to the standard bleat "Well why don't you just stop watching?" -- while I enjoy cheering on my Chiefs no matter what, yes, indeed, I do pay no attention to any of it outside of Chiefs games for that reason.

As it was I can't believe how many gambling commercials there were and alcohol commercials there were and even insurance commercials there were -- yes, insurance may be fine but still implies that if people aren't behaving recklessly, they are terribly fearful others will. That's nice. NFL games are smothered with these kinds of advertisements and yeah, it can be distressing that so much of this money is going into the pockets of all these valiant football warriors I like to root for.

Getting back to the Scorecasting factor, one terrific example of the challenges we have as Chiefs fans is what happened with the Eagles "tush push." There was at least one obvious example of their linemen slamming into the Chiefs linemen well before the ball was snapped. I don't know if it was just because everything happens so fast in a great big pile of 350-pound behemoths that the refs just didn't catch it, but that's just giving them the benefit of the doubt. This without even mentioning Drue Tranquill's recovery of a Jalen Hurts fumble in one of those, but, well, it's just a great big pile of huge bodies so who knows? Advantage not-the-Chiefs.

This has so much to do with the veritable Scorecasting reality in that the NFLers absolutely do not want to see the Chiefs anywhere near a Super Bowl again, and it does manifest itself quite clearly on the field. I'm not going to go into all the evidences and reasons and how much the officiating does indeed go regularly against the Chiefs. I've pounded on this keyboard enough about that. At least some people did say something about those tush-push injustices. Always good to call them out.

But this team showed yesterday that it is far too good to be worried about except to the extent we are impeded as we are. This is one of the reasons the Chiefs are so likeable -- they work hard and they work smart and they win in spite of what they are so painfully up against.

Our defense balled out yesterday, we have some fine young players especially on that side of the ball who appear to be committed to always improving. From just that one opening game to today that improvement showed. Our special teams always excels, no worries there -- yes Harrison Butker did miss a super-long field goal attempt yesterday, but are you really worried about him?

We have Patrick Mahomes. He keeps showing why he is the GOAT. It isn't lost on anyone watching just how amazing he continues to be out there. We have a fine offensive line, and when we get Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy back we should be good there. 

The concerns about our running game, however, are legit -- we absolutely need a go-to running back. Isiah Pacheco is a hard-working, tough runner, but his vision is just not-that-great. He cannot be the answer. It is funny, this graphic about Mahomes plucked from a social media post. Dang. 

So yeah, I do think it might be worth it to give up a high draft pick to get a back from another team who is really pretty good but underutilized. I do think if we don't move on that we could be in trouble.

I do sometimes think about what it would be like to have the following Chiefs team, sort of a retro dream team scenario...

What if Mahomes could have our 1960s linebackers over there on our defense?

What if we could stick our 1980s secondary back there?

What if we could have our 1990s pash rushers up front (::cough cough:: Derrick Thomas ::cough cough::)?

What if we could have our 2000s offensive line in front of him (::cough cough:: and Priest Holmes ::cough cough::)?

I just delightfully ponder a season of 57-0 wins every single game.

Ahhh...

But then, that's the paradox of this whole thing. I'd love to see 100 straight Super Bowl titles with every game of every undefeated season featuring similar scores. But yeah, no one would watch. And the NFLers would get no money.

Annnd, you see something wrong with that?...

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Eagles at Chiefs - Week 2 - Preview

Remember the 2017 season? It was very weird. We started great, winning our first five games including that opener when we torched the Patriots at their place.

Then we went on a really bad losing streak, dropping 6 of 7 -- yeah, really, six games of seven we lost. We simply could not get a good win particularly in that stretch where all the New York teams (Giants, Bills, Jets) just had our number. It was gruesome.

Then we closed out the season winning out next four to salvage the thing, including a final-game debut of Patrick Mahomes beating the Broncos on New Years Eve.

But then to close it out there was that once-again mind-boggling heart-shredding playoff loss, this time to the Marcus Mariota passing-to-himself Titans.

In the middle of that worst part of the season I'd blogged despairingly about "The Exasperating Reid," citing a number of things he was doing that simply wasn't doing us any good, and yes, I do confess, I waffled wildly about whether or not he should replace Alex Smith with Patrick Mahomes. In hindsight, certainly thinking about the way our season ended anyway, it may have been best to keep Mahomes on the bench just learning the whole time -- it may have been valuable for his growth to get us to the plateau the Chiefs have occupied ever since.

I bring it up because The Exasperating Reid still does show up every once in a while. He was there very much in the first half of last season's Super Bowl when I do firmly believe our wickedly vanilla play-calling was the thing that did us in the most. Not our offensive line woes, not the slanted officiating, not that the Eagles played very well anyway -- all of those were factors. 

But the key factor? 

Andy Reid.

The exasperating part is just that we can never really complain too much about any of this because there are so many extraordinarily good things he has done and still does do for this team. We are who we are and we are where we are -- now already one of the greatest dynasties in NFL history -- because of those good things.

That 2017 season? I remember when we were 6-6 and on life support. Then we went off, and made the playoffs yet again. Andy Reid had a lot to do with that. We've won three Super Bowls since then, all critically close, and Andy Reid leading the way with fine play-calling and inspirational composure was significant to say the least.

In the opening game loss to the Chargers on Friday I could say there was a bit of The Exasperating Reid going on there. He could have run the ball more for one thing. But I also wonder about our pass blocking and WR route running. There were just too many times Patrick had to scramble around back there. And there were too many of his misfires on his passes.

I say this because I watched the last part of the Bills-Ravens game Sunday night, and the Bills QB Josh Allen was firing lasers to his receivers even in good coverage. He was also able to do that because of his great pass protection. Umm, the Chiefs have I think the best center, best right guard, and best rookie left tackle in the league -- that's what they say anyway. Our new left guard was serviceable and our right tackle is as well, when he isn't getting penalties. Sooo, what's up with that? 

Why isn't Patrick having all day back there and firing lasers to his receivers much more regularly? Why do we have to watch him scramble and squirm and squeak and slither out of trouble all the time? It's wonderful to watch him do his magic when he does have to do that, it's great, but why does he have to do that it seems like all the time?

Granted the Chargers played terrifically on defense, I got that. More kudos to them. And the Ravens did force Josh Allen to scramble a bit sometimes in their game, too.

But still. Is that The Exasperated Reid, or The Exasperated Mahomes? Is Patrick still a bit too gun shy? Yeah he did try to go deep a few more times than before, but I've been thinking. Why? Who cares about getting back to throwing the deep ball? Who's saying that crap? We should just be running the ball well and making sharp clean passes to our receivers wherever they are. Granted we didn't do horribly with that on Friday -- Hollywood, JuJu, Tyquan, and Travis actually did okay.

I also watched the end of the Monday night game, when the Vikings put on a clinic driving the ball down the field to score a game clinching touchdown. I thought, now that's a well-oiled, well-coached machine. I mean every play their brand new starting quarterback ran was laid out for him to have the best success -- and everyone executed. 

The Chiefs on Friday night? It just looked like too many times we were not oiled, and not coached very well. Andy Reid even admitted it! The team starting off poorly really cost them Friday night. I remember when he did confess back in February that, yes, his team was not adequately prepared for the Eagles.

What's funny is, getting back to that 2017 season when we opened with a delightful pounding of the Patriots, do you remember the second game of that season? It was a victory at home against the eventual Super Bowl champions, who coincidentally defeated the Patriots. That team we beat was

The Eagles.

So yeah we have the Eagles at home this weekend in the Super Bowl rematch nationally broadcast afternoon game. Will we be prepared this time? Will The Exasperated Reid pleasantly surprise us with a game plan that gets the best of a very good team?

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I'm blogging about this game early in the week because on Sunday I'll be watching most of the game, but we'll be heading to a family event as the game is winding down and that event will go into the evening, so I won't be blogging right afterwards. Very likely it'll be the next day, so just a heads-up. But I just felt like putting down some thoughts now I'd had a couple days after our opener this year, for your Chiefs Game Today enjoyment in the mean time.

Thank you for your readership.

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