Texans at Chiefs - Week 16 - Record: 14-1

Quick take as, again, family is over and all that.

First, the gruesome injury to the Texans receiver. I just wonder if there is some way they can make sure receivers know how not to run into their teammates diving for plays, or something. Seriously. Just like how they train tacklers to not do certain things in tackling -- for the health and safety of both runner and tacklers -- can't they do something about how to have receivers run routes or know where they need to go to prevent this kind of thing from happening. I know these kinds of things are freak things, and that is the reality of professional football. But is there something -- I'm always great with anything that helps protect the players.

Second, put away all that plap about the refs favoring the Chiefs. The Texans' first touchdown featured an obvious hold on their guy, yet in the Chiefs series just before they called a total phantom hold on Trey Smith. Their tight end caught the ball wide open at the goal line, and right after that a shower of boos rained down from the Arrowhead crowd. Huh. 

Turns out they knew: the replay showed the tight end fully shoving the defender out of the way to spring himself open to make the catch. Guh.

Third, Xavier Worthy was on fire. Having Marquis Brown in there and DeAndre Hopkins making more of his amazing short connection catches has really opened up this offense. And just a nod to Andy Reid making it all happen -- his play calling for this game was a million times better than that of the last two games. The times he got Samaje Perine in the mix for huge gains was sweet. It was also good to see him go with Kareem Hunt after Isiah Pacheco just wasn't getting as untracked as he should have. 

Patrick seemed to be fine on the bad ankle, he even had some fine runs including one long scramble bonanza for a touchdown.

On to Pittsburgh for Christmas Day!

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The photo is from Evan Sanders at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Texans at Chiefs - Quasi-Preview and Special Note

Tomorrow the Texans visit Arrowhead for the first of the last three games of the regular season, all brutal challenges for our 13-1 team. My special note is that family will be in for the holiday week, and because it will be pretty packed, that may preclude writing much about these next two games, the second on Wednesday, Christmas Day. 

It is indeed looking like Patrick Mahomes will play on his sprained ankle -- I mean for all his wonderful play one amazingly fine thing about the guy is his ferocious competitiveness. He has so much of it -- we cannot be more thrilled to keep enjoying watching this guy do what he does in the way he does it.

But yeah, brutal schedule stretch coming up here. After the Texans it is the Steelers and Broncos.

I should be able to make some really quick notes after each game, but here while I have a bit more time I wanted to make mention of an extraordinarily disappointing thing that has been going on with all of the American football world.

It isn't the money, really, because the money is merely a reflection of the authentic value of a given individual. That's actually a very fine thing.

It is certainly, however, the love of money, the root of all evil.

I've been paying attention to some of the television ads showing up in our games. Remember when the ads for football were almost exclusively beer, automobiles, shaving cream, and spark plugs?

Well, there are still a few beer and auto ads, but it seems like most of the other ads are for pharmaceutical products or insurance.

Uggh.

I am a stalwart Chiefs fan, and it is a joy to experience this golden age of Veach-Reid-Mahomes-led Chiefs football. We all feel that way. Even at that time later when they are not as dominant, I will still be a devout fan. Have been that way for the last, oh, fifty or so years.

But I can't help but shake my head and feel it when these evils are supporting our football entertainment.

There should be a law against pharmaceutical ads. In fact some have even suggested it. They are spiffy and splashy targeted to people who have no business deciding about these specific kinds of things, so why are they being shown to them? It isn't that they shouldn't be deciding things for their health, but that's exactly the point. Big Pharma works to make it so people are sick so they may continue to have customers. So much could be argued about how much these ads should not be shown, much more put into the substance of our athletes' paychecks. It is much more of a grievous evil than people think.

Then there is the insurance racket. These companies make billions from the task of keeping people frightened of anything and everything, and they feature hip, happy, fun vignettes to get people believing these racketeers have their best interests in mind. I've sometimes thought: huh, what can they put in these commercials to sell their crap, what can they say? The most honest one is the guy who wrecks everything, I think he calls himself "Mayhem." But still, "Here are all the crappy things out there you need to pay us to protect yourself from!" It is just wickedly exploitive.

Of course there are still the auto commercials, except that even those are hawking electric vehicles and doing so because they are subsidized by government to do more to hawk them. Few seem to grasp not only how inefficient electric automobiles are, but also how destructive. It seems most car commercials now feature the latest in fully electric technology that ironically require things that are indeed horribly labor exploitive and tremendously hazardous to the environment.

Then there are still the beer commercials, for a product that is still an illicit drug and one that should also be strictly prohibited. Yes, I've shared before: I am a Prohibition-favoring, temperance movement-cheering teetotaler, but that doesn't change the reality of how dangerous drinking alcohol is. It should say something when they have to put at the bottom of every ad, "Do this or that responsibly," "Don't drink and drive," "Be careful with your wretchedly ugly habit here, okay, just please don't be an asshole after drinking though we know how much we contribute to that," of course so they can try to absolve themselves of any and all liability.

Speaking of those kinds of disclaimers and warnings, there is also the massive prevalence of gambling site ads. I've already gone to the mat about the horrors of those, and yes, every single one of those operations should be shut down -- not just removed from their associations with sports leagues but made against the law. If you want to do all that from your basement far away from any of the sports entities, like it used to be, then I guess you can do that. But now?...

The added note about this is what it is doing to college football. 

It is killing it.

Right now you've got two evils that on the face of it could be decent, but they've been so abused that they are right now tearing the sport apart. You know what they are:

NIL and The Portal.

Not going to go into the details of these twin bastards, there is so much of it, except to say that to have college sports the way it should be, the rule should be this:

Go to school and stay there. Once you sign up, stay there, but on a team, and support your school and your team for four years. Go to class during the day and practice in the afternoon. For football play no more than 10 games a year and then a bowl game if you're good enough.

Find joy in that and be thankful you're getting an education paid for already.

And if you are one of the 0.0000000000000001% of the college players who are good enough to play in the NFL, then enjoy your stay there for, what, on average, two or three years, make some money, and then go to work at the job you learned to do in college just like everyone else.

And for all the teams in the NCAA or whatever governing entity there is there, stay in your regional conferences. Stay there and continue to foster the splendid rivalries you've established there. Enjoy it. Have fun. Revel in the blessing you have by it. Treasure the education you are getting.

This is not hard.

But, well,

The love of money.

This evil has kept wiser heads from prevailing, and it is extraordinarily sorrowful. Trying too hard to make everyone happy, you know, with all the monnnney... they are destroying their sport. Huh, I seem to remember a story about the Golden Goose.

All of this has seeped into the NFL, as well, just be virtue of how they are making their money and their attitude towards it. It's making its way into all of high-level organized sports, highlighted by all the gruesome "woke" stuff that still permeates everything. It does seem like they are dialing all that back a bit, but until they've all completely disavowed any and all "LGBTQ" kinds of things and anything like it, it will still be infected with the money rot and alienate even more fans than they already have.

Alas.

Our Chiefs.

It will get to a point when, should this keep up, my attention to even the Chiefs will wane, especially if and when they are not doing so well. Right now it doesn't seem as if the NFL is suffering much, I mean at least there is a critical mass of fans who really get off on hating the Chiefs for their wild success. That's actually a really cool thing about this Chiefs golden age. You know it.

But yeah, where is all this going...

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The image was clipped from a recent Sporting News item. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Browns - Week 14 - Record: 13-1

Yet again I can't not blog right now here at the beginning of the 2nd period. And yet again I ask the question.

What the ::mnnnph:: is wrong with our offense?

Yes, it could be a good Browns defense, give credit and all the rest of it.

But dang.

We are just getting nothing. We've had five series so far, and we've got a touchdown but that was the series that started deep in Browns territory after a muffed punt recovery. Otherwise we've punted four times, with an effective three-&-out every time -- I think we did get one 1st down on the first play in one of those. 

All I'm watching is what I was so aghast watching in the Chargers game last week. We're running the ball well enough, but when it comes time to pass -- here all set up for us with something of a good running attack -- Mahomes is just throwing the ball wherever.

Really.

Really -- what is up with that? Our receivers? Our tackles? Mahomes just not being so good before he must perform that patented magic show late in the game? Guh? Right now it is raining so that may be some of it.

Funny, the Browns do have Myles Garrett, if you don't remember, he was the guy who was the first pick of that 2017 draft that delivered us Patrick Mahomes at No. 10. He is still very good.

And as we watch this game right now, the Chiefs are deciding to do what we've all been screaming them to do: RUN - THE - FOOTBALL. Worthy just had a nice sweep run. Hunt and Pacheco are taking care of business. And sure enough, Patrick: back to pass... nothing, nothing, nothing, refusing now to just throw the ball nowhere - and he sprints through the line to get a 1st down.

We just got our first 3rd down conversion here with six minutes left in the half for a team that has been excellent at converting 3rd down. Whaddya gotta do with this team.

Annnd... Touchdown. Finally. Running the ball does wonders.

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Now I've zipped down to the end of the game. We finally closed this one out. 

There at the beginning of the 4th quarter holding a 21-7 lead it was clear Mahomes had to pass the ball out of the fine play of our running game. If he didn't, they just key on our running game. That was really what started to happen. Our running game started getting stuffed, and Mahomes was still failing to get the ball to our receivers. Yep, it started to look like the beginning of this game. Lots of three-&-outs or just getting slogged down simply because Patrick could not make those connections.

In fact, at the beginning of that 4th quarter he was 15-32 for 128. Horrible. I mean that is just pathetic for a team like this. Again... what - is - up - with - that.

Patrick's last play of the game in the middle of the 4th was a futile jump pass, and it resulted in an injury to his foot. He did get absolutely plastered on that play, it was ugly. But I was thinking, huh, that amazing jump pass completion he made to Xavier late in the Chargers game last week, probably the most important play of that game, it was truly a Mahomes magic play.

But did that in some way give him the incentive to try that kind of stuff more often? Is this wise? After all he's now out and we must all wonder about the extent of his injury.

And just plain why is he feeling like he must be Superman back there? What is the deal with him just stepping back, calmly scanning the field, and firing it right into the hands of our very capable receivers? Why aren't we doing that? 

Carson Wentz came in, and with just under four minutes left of game time and needing just a single first down to really salt this one away, made two straight completions, to Hopkins then Worthy, to get that key 1st down with just under four minutes left. I'm not saying for two seconds we should think about putting Carson in if Mahomes is good to go, but dang. really, can I say it?...

We've got this regular season. It is ours. We may even get the No. 1 seed, that'd be very nice. But here's the thing...

I know...  Scandalous. Sacrilege. Heresy...

How about giving Mahomes a rest next week. Let his foot heal if indeed it is only something like that -- just hoping it isn't anything worse. Let a very capable and very healthy and rested Carson Wentz practice to the hilt this week and play the entire game next week. 

As it is we got tremendous help from a mostly stagnant Browns offense along with a whopping six takeaways and five sacks from our defense.

But yeah, here we are 14 games into the season and we've just got to stay healthy and be ready for the playoffs. Chamarri Connor looked like he got clocked pretty good. Other key players are nursing injuries. Even a previously injured Harrison Butker missed a gimme field goal today.

And this was the first of three games over the course of eleven days, the next two against two of the best teams in the conference, the Texans and Steelers. This is brutal. Again, the key question...

How about just resting Patrick Saturday? No matter what? Give him a nice recovery rest, to refresh, to renew, to restore, to recapture his game?

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Annnd then there's this. Just saw this a bit after posting here. I can't neglect to share it because it comes from a guy pretty well-versed in all this.

I have shared it before, but here it is well-considered from someone else. How many others? Who else is really looking at this and wondering... feeling exasperated... Really...

Who else considers the problem is not our tackles, or receivers, or the other team just suddenly having a world-class defense, or anything but... ahem...

Is there even a remotely possible chance I will have the overwhelmingly compelling desire to write another "The Exasperating Reid" post? How can that be when, really: Scoreboard, baby. He wins, baby. He's gotten the Chiefs three Super Bowls in the last five years, baby.

What to do with that?...

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The photo of JuJu scoring our 1st TD of the game is from Mikayla Schlosser at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Chargers at Chiefs - Week 14 - Record: 12-1

Okay, since it is a late it is time to start this blog post. And even though it is merely the closing minutes of the 3rd quarter, this game is yet again way too aggravating.

This Chiefs team is a good team. It is. Its offense is incredibly potent.

But it looks like a limp noodle. 

The comparison: The Chargers are looking sharp, running the ball well with imaginatively arranged running plays. Herbert is looking sharp, stepping back, taking his time, and throwing strikes.

Meanwhile...

It all started when Mahomes threw a wide-open right-in-his-hands short pass to some guy I've never seen before who was playing tight end. He drops it. You've had to have been playing football for at least some time being a receiver of some sort where your only job during the week is to practice catching passes. Here is your only moment, you're in the NFL, and you drop the ball.

The whole thing with our offense isn't just on this poor guy in one play. It is all of them. It is what I mentioned in my takes from the last game: unimaginative play-calling by Andy Reid and our coaching staff taking advantage of the skill we've got on the field. Our tackles are still not playing great, but Mahomes has plenty of time to step back and fire the ball down the field. 

Our first four drives got us bupkis. This team should have been up 28-0. After that time we were only up 6-0. Our last possession of the 1st half was a nifty Mahomes-to-Hopkins laser pass, catch, and dive into the end zone. I can't deny that the Chargers do have one of the top defenses in the NFL, so credit must be given there. At the half it was 13-0. 

Then the Chargers went off. I realized in the middle of this they don't even have their really good RB JK Dobbins or their really good WR Ladd McConkey. And they still torched us for two touchdowns. 

And then on offense to start the 4th quarter? We matriculated well only because of Isiah Pacheco. Then Trey Smith got a cheesy helmet-butting personal foul call to set us back and we had to settle for a field goal. Truly truly truly exasperating, this team. When Isiah's not pounding the rock, Mahomes is throwing the ball everywhere but into receivers' hands. 

This should not be happening.

I'm finding myself screaming at our fine QB like I screamed at Alex Smith any instance just before he got sacked. Remember those times? "Throw - the - ball. Throwtheballdownthefield!" This whole game so far: Herbert throwing the ball right to his receivers, Mahomes looking totally flummoxed. Sorry. Again...

This is not just our offensive tackle play.

So here we are with 4 minutes left and the Chargers have the 17-16 lead. It's nice to see if the Mahomes magic show will be a spectacular one yet again, but yet again, why does it come down to this?

Why, Andy Reid?

Why when this offense should have us up at least 35-17?

Yep, start with two dinky incompletions. That's great, just great. But on 3rd down Mahomes did a magic trick, scrambling and connecting with Xavier Worthy. 3 minutes and we now have the ball in FG range. 

I have to give credit to our coaching staff and Mahomes for this. The television guys just broke down that last running play, here a bit before the 2-minute warning, pointing out that they took care of business to get Isiah untracked to chew clock, get 1st downs.

Mahomes then pulled another rabbit from his hat, avoiding a sure tackle and hitting Kelce for another of those clutch 1st downs.

Now I don't get this. We have the ball at about the 15, and certainly can run the clock down to 0:01, but we're just kneeling until we try the game-winning FG. Why don't we try to score a touchdown? Why not just at least run the ball to try?

For one, this is just so disrespectful. Sorry, but I'd be ticked off if I were the Chargers. Yes, I do know it is much safer to just kneel a couple of times, but the thing is our field goal attempt may not go. While Matthew Wright has actually been very good so far, there is never any guarantee we make it.

Well, turns out our relief kicker banged his attempt off the left upright -- the ball getting through anyway. I'm watching this as the ball sails wide left going, yep, I knew it -- what in the world are these guys thinking out there.

But just like that game in I believe 2016 against the Broncos, that OT win when Cairo Santos did exactly the same thing and the announcer at the time, Mike Tirico, the same one for this game, bellowed "Off the upright, and in!" -- we could breath again.

We did end up winning. Still...

There is one thing to say about this hair-raising affair.

Errrrrrghckghckrrrghck.

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The photo is from Andrew Mather at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.

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Raiders at Chiefs - Week 13 - Record: 11-1 - Monday Take

One more take, here on a Monday. Please check out my Sunday Take, it has much more on the current state of our Kansas City Chiefs.

But yeah, I just really wanted to add a couple of quick things, all of it related to the penalties situation with the Chiefs and NFL football as a whole.

First of all I caught this in one of my social media feeds:

So there you go. A reasonable explanation from the NFL front office that the officials did not miss that last call. Again, it isn't just that it rescued the Chiefs, but it is an instance when your thoroughly messing up shouldn't bail you out. 

And then this brief note here real quick after watching some of this NFL football not-the-Chiefs and seeing some of the social media posts put up about the day's action.

I am even more certain of the value of the things I shared in my Panthers game post, and that is here for you to link to it. For review:

1. Get more officiating from "New York." Meaning get officials with monitors to make calls from the 360-degree vision we all have watching on TV, helping out the refs on the field whose vision is just so limited. 

2. Insist on hands off eligible receivers (and defenders for that matter) from the time the play starts. Maybe it's okay within that five-yards, but I'm even thinking even starting the rule from scrimmage: No jostling, slapping, pushing, bumping, or any touching at all. None. Yes, that means no more "You can manhandle them up to five yards out." See if the receiver can run good routes and the QB can connect. See if the D-backs can make good plays on the ball. And any defensive breakaway violations puts the ball at the opponent's one, 1st-&-goal.

3. Any player, offense or defense, who is flagged for this twice is ejected from the game. Well, okay, maybe give them three times, but have some limit. 

Again, much help from the booth with officials looking at monitors makes this viable.

The main point: Let the players make plays. Stop, please stop with the incessantly thrown flags or having us behold silly plays that deserve flags but don't get them because the on-field refs just can't see them well enough. Send that message loud and clear so the players know they've got to make plays and not commit penalties.

Let's enjoy a mostly penalty-free game again.

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Raiders at Chiefs - Week 13 - Record: 11-1 - Sunday Take

We aren't playing today because we played in a rare Friday-after-Thanksgiving game.

Since then a couple things came to mind I can share as I do some lazy Sunday game-watching.

First, the Chiefs got very lucky on the very last Raiders play that should have been a nothing-burger just before they bang through the game-winning field goal. As I watched that play unfold, the one in which they bungled the snap and lost the ball to the Chiefs yet were flagged for illegal procedure, I did think what I'm sure pundits mentioned afterwards -- a thought I have not seen shared because I don't want to look. 

I just don't want to see any more about how lucky the Chiefs are or how much their wins are rigged in their favor. I'm sick of that.

Anyway, I did think what I think a lot of others thought.

How come the play wasn't blown dead before the Chiefs benefitted from a fumble recovery to seal their win? If it was illegal procedure, then isn't it the case the Raiders would've been penalized the five yards and then just kicked the GW from there? I wondered.

I will add that I was very very very pleased the play was ruled the way it was. And one simple reason I do think it was justified, is that why should the Raiders mess up so horribly, get a penalty and then benefit from their mess-up by being given a chance to win the game? I actually thought, huh, maybe the rule is if you do indeed eff things up like the Raiders did -- penalty, mess-up, fumble -- you simply don't get the benefit of your messing up providing you the opportunity to win.

If it had happened to the Chiefs, I'd be horrifically disappointed, and I'd probably whine a bit about the rule inconsistency, but still, I'd be resigned to our fate for that exact reason.

We effed up. Why should we get a chance to win by benefitting from it? We got ours.

In the meantime, that whole episode doesn't do us good, because again, we get everyone blapping loudly about how we don't deserve to be 11-1.

That leads to the second thing I thought about. And that is simply

This team is actually really good.

I may be wrong. This team may, in reality, at its core, be much worse than we think. It may indeed be much more reflective of a team that should be more like 6-5 if it didn't have all the breaks it's had. Or maybe we just need to accept we're playing other NFL teams that can be pretty danged good themselves, no shame in that.

On the other hand, if you really look at all those games there is no reason to assume those breaks got us to 11-1. For a particular example of an instance, that Ravens' Isaiah Likely toe-on-the-endline almost-TD reception at the end of regulation would've only tied that 1st game of the season given the went for a one-point PAT. Generally speaking, how many other times did we win simply because Mahomes & Co. were that good and because of that they could turn a close one into a win. 

And that's the main thing. I just think the team's exceptional quality of talent is making the Chiefs. To wit:

Mahomes. Nuff said.

Our receiving crew has Travis Kelce and a coming-of-age Noah Gray, but it has added DeAndre Hopkins who has been nothing short of phenomenal. JuJu has been playing well, Xavier even better, and just wait until we get Hollywood in there. And everyone seems to forget very reliable Justin Watson, who, if you by chance should remember, was the only Chiefs touchdown-getter in the game Friday.

Our running game got a big boost with Isiah returning but it was doing well enough with Kareem saving things a few weeks ago. Samaje Perine has also been extraordinarily serviceable.

Our O-line consists of what is widely considered the best interior line group in the NFL: Joe, Creed, and Trey. If they do their jobs, Isiah and Kareem should be fine.

That leaves our tackles. 

I'm not going to say Wanya is this or Jawaan is that, except that we all know they aren't playing the best football. But here's the thing. Here's my question...

The Chiefs are THAT bad barely winning games JUST because of our TACKLES? REALLY?

Yes we all know they aren't playing well. But please. With all those other bona fide pro-bowlers -- every single one of those people I mentioned such -- the Chiefs are a bad team just getting lucky?

Oh my.

So what's the solution? What's really going on?

The whole looking to DJ Humphries slotted in at left tackle may seem like a brilliant season-saving move, but I'm not so sanguine. We've seen this movie before, remember our Super Bowl against the Buccaneers? We had a patch-work O-line that really hurt us, but remember, Patrick played lights out. We lost that game much because our receivers were dropping all kinds of passes, and, this is the key, we didn't have a real game plan to cover for those deficiencies.

And you know what that means.

Andy Reid.

I'm sorry, but so far we definitely should have won more of those games by more than one score. This team is too good to have this many close games. But if you look at these games, you'll see that we're messing up just too many times -- we're just not making the plays we should to put many more hammers down.

Is a good amount of that the fault of our poor tackle play? Sure. But then, with everyone else we have in there, that's the only thing that is to blame? We're bad because we have bad tackles when we have an offense full of pro-bowlers?

Please.

Sorry, but again, and I hate to say it, but that is on Andy Reid. It isn't just that we mess up too much, but our mess-ups are the result of some head-shaking unimaginative play-calling or plays run that had no business being run at those times. How many times do you see that? Be honest. It's a lot. It's happened before, we cringe watching the Chiefs run a play it seems the other team knows is going to be run.

Where is the fun, wild, daring Andy Reid that we've been blessed to enjoy over the past several years? Where is the misdirection, the fake-outs, even the goofy plays he's plucked from the 1947 Rose Bowl team? Have you noticed? They're totally missing from this year's team. 

I believe people hate this year's version of the Chiefs not so much because they believe them so wickedly lucky or feed their theories of bribed officials, but because they are just so boring. Yes, D-Hop has been making some stunning catches and Travis and his after-catch laterals are amazing, but other than that, what are we doing that's special -- that's getting us to show we mean business out there not only making our fans proud but impressing detractors?

I'm not saying at all we have to try to win with gimmicks. Not at all. In fact that's the point. We have some of the best players in the NFL who can do the winning for us. It's just they must be given better opportunities for their play to shine, our poor tackle play notwithstanding. 

Here's a great example: what happened to getting Mecole or Xavier doing jet sweeps? Even if it is a "jet sweep option" at least you're freezing the defense. Sorry but we've been seeing none of that lately. Why?

I've heard some say Andy's waiting for the right moment to spring all that on us. He may, and if he wins another Super Bowl doing that -- well, great. But I also think, why wait? Why not just give us your best now -- and strategically make the other team's players overthink, wonder, play on their heels?

Andy, how about being dominant right now with this amazing offense you have, and yes, make adjustments for tackles who may not be playing that great? 

We play the Chargers on prime-time next Sunday night. They're a solid team, with an excellent quarterback and strong defense, and are now coached by a dude who'll take no prisoners.

If our coaching staff isn't about working to kick ass instead of futzing around and thinking our tackle problems can just take the heat, look out. This could be an embarrassment.

One more thing. I haven't said a thing about our defense, but I think we have more issues there than just losing Jaylen Watson -- something that has seemed to devastate our D-backfield. Our run defense seems to be much softer than it was last year, and our pass rush is average at best.

What is weird is (back to the offense for a sec) I'm watching the Rams-Saints game and they just showed a graphic: after catching a TD pass for the Saints, Marques Valdez-Scantling had his fourth in four games.

Whudddd?

Are - you - kidding - me?

He never played like that for the Chiefs. While he did have some fine games, especially the AFC Title game against the Bengals two years ago, it seems he is way better than we ever thought he was. In fact, I'm watching DeMarcus Robinson play lights out for the Rams... annnd... 

Can you see where I'm going with this?

Even with the Chiefs I'd always been high on D-Rob, but, well, he just never got untracked. Why? MVS also, why couldn't he show us what he had?

Was it these guys, or was it...

Uggghh...

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The posted photo is from Tyler McFarland at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

Raiders at Chiefs - Week 13 - Record: 11-1

Okay I really can't wait to ferociously blap about this game. Yes, I know there've been a dozen times it seems in recent years when the Chiefs go down early to the Raiders and come back to win comfortably.

But as I feel the need to type this out here about half-way through the 2nd quarter, since I've got a lazy Friday to enjoy Chiefs football while the wife is out shopping with other family, I can't help but be again extraordinarily perplexed.

So far what we've all witnessed was a Chiefs offense that is playing about as impotently as it can. With the exception of Travis Kelce, everyone has been caw-caw. Mahomes is missing open receivers. Our receivers are not getting open and when the ball is put in range of catching they either give up on it or just drop it. Our running game is non-existent, even with the vaunted Isiah Pacheco back in there.

The Raiders' offense, on the other hand, is far less able than the Chiefs' offense, but they're making plays. They're running around like the proverbial Chinese fire-drill dudes but they're still matriculating. They're just making the fine plays they need to make, particularly by their receiver Jacoby Myers. Just now their 2nd-string QB was running for his life and flung the ball wildly whereupon their strong new TE swept under the ball to make the grab. And their running game they've been saying is the worst in the NFL? They've been chewing up yards like they're the best. Whudd?...

On defense we're just not making the plays. Now I see Nick Bolton not make an interception he should have made -- but hey, their really good kicker didn't make the long FG. ::Whew::

But why a bunch of ::Whew::s. How is this looking kinda like that nightmare last year on Christmas, that tremendously silly loss to Raiders at Arrowhead when the team just farted around the whole game against a woefully inferior team and lost. Remember after the middle of the 2nd quarter in that game, their QB, the same one playing in this game, completed zero passes.

It is kinda looking the same this time.

Let's see. It is now almost the end of the 1st half and we do have the ball at midfield... annnd...

Bam. There you go, a good, nice, Mahomes-slip-away-from-the-rush long completion to Noah Gray. The question now is, will we finish. Will this actually pretty decent team get the touchdown here. Will Andy Reid dial up some plays that get the job done?... Um...

Well, okay, but it seemed much more of the patented Kelce no-look catch-&-lateral to Perine to get that 1st down. Super neat. And then FINALLY, the floating pass to Watson at the side of the end zone who makes a terrific hold-on-to-the-ball catch. And the replay: just that Mahomes got clobbered from his left forcing him to make that pass across his body as he went down.

Wow. That's truly part of the amazingness of this dude, that he can kinda suck for a few plays but if he has one chance to make a truly spectacular, very necessary, quite astonishing big-time play, he does.

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Okay, that was it with my 1st-half venting. Now the game is over. We won.

But uggh.

There was one thing that was very pronounced about this game.

It was far too painful to have to endure. Not just at the very the end but the whole thing.

We had two chances to put this away late in the game. With six minutes left we had the ball, up 19-17, three-&-out. With two minutes left we had it again at midfield after a very fortunate missed Raiders long FG attempt, again three-&-out. But really, it should have never come down to that. Really, there are so many things wrong with the Chiefs, and actually right with the way the Raiders played today.

That last-second mess-up-snap fumble recovery to save our asses when they were in easy FG range not withstanding. 

The Raiders, a clearly far inferior team, just played better. They played with the intention of making the plays they needed to make. They are, after all, an NFL team. Their new tight end is the next Travis Kelce, and he played lights out for them.

The Chiefs showed the whole country that they cannot win a game with the offensive tackle play they have and without the defensive backfield play they need. 

The Raiders also won the game in the trenches just like they did last year. The TV guys kept saying over and over and over again the Raiders were the worst rushing team in the league. Except they outran us 2-to-1. Derrp. Add to this our pass rush is just not the best. Chris Jones and George Karlaftis had some decent stops, but it is just not getting enough pressure on the QB. Double derrp.

Mahomes was frustrated not making the plays he can make with the pocket not as securely protected as it should be. He was sacked five times AGAIN today -- remember last week he was sacked five times, by the Panthers. When he is ready D.J. Humphries can't help but help over there at left tackle. I really think the Chiefs thought that really good-looking draft pick Kingsley Suamataia was going to step right in and be the second coming of Anthony Munoz. That he wasn't by miles has really hurt us.

Even when he had protection Mahomes was just missing, missing, and missing again. Our receivers did not help -- while they did make some fine plays, too many other times they just never got open, made some drops, or simply made poor attempts to get up and get that ball.

Meanwhile their QB was set up for success from his coaching staff. Step back, throw the ball to the spot, and let the receivers do their jobs in the routes he knows they're running. Our defensive backfield certainly helped them out. They gave up big play after big play to Raiders receivers who weren't going to mess up.

We just didn't seem to care enough on offense to make the plays or on defense to stop them.

This Chiefs team should have won going away, really, 30-7. At least. But again, maybe, really just maybe those deficiencies at tackle and the inabilities to replace Jaylen Watson are just far too glaring.

As it is we're assured of a playoff spot. 

But dang.

This kind of effort won't get it done against, coming up...

The Chargers.

The Texans.

The Steelers.

And yes, nowadays, the Broncos.

And and and...

Whatever playoff teams we'll face.

Last year after that horrific Christmas Day Raiders debacle, we ran the table, most notably against very very very good Bills Ravens and Niners teams to win it all. 

Will we keep that phenomenally unprecedented run going for the three-peat?

Errrgmpf.

Not playing like this.

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The photo is from Kyle Rivas at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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