Chiefs at Broncos - Special Take

You have to admit this has to have been one of the ugliest two-game stretches of Chiefs games ever. Really. Last week was an epic failure by the team, this week it was simply an epic stupid meltdown. Two major uglies in a row. Not fun.

I wanted to simply post this to include a screenshot of a question and the first response shown at Arrowhead Pride. I peeked at it last night to see a bit of what some said about this travesty.

Before I put it up here, please do not get me wrong. There are indeed things the Chiefs are suffering from on their own. The gritty ganas to finish this thing off was just not there yesterday, and the chief culprit in this failure was unquestionably Andy Reid. He does do this once in a while, sadly. We all know that.

Our offensive line is a major issue, and not having Josh Simmons in there and having to endure this lunacy with whatever is going on with Kingsley Suamataia has decimated Mahomes' ability to make plays and our runner's ability to get something of a push up front. Add to this Creed Humphrey's sudden inability to make crisp snaps to Mahomes in the shotgun mean we do deserve measurable blame ourselves, straight up.

But the fact is, we should have won this game yesterday because we had fine performances from several others.

And yes, we lost primarily because of the officiating.

Here is that screenshot from Arrowhead Pride, first, then I'll comment.

Nearly every comment in the thread that followed this one mentioned the officiating. Those other strictly Chiefs things are legit, as I've said! That's fine I agree. But beside Mr. Jlmst and the others that followed the cybersphere exploded about the anti-Chiefs officiating -- with several detailed citations of the wretched calls that went against the Chiefs costing them the game.

Funny though, even though I do like them and check in every once in a while, Arrowhead Pride is sadly a rigidly toadying sports blog that will never call out that officiating. When they ran this feature today, the day after, with that exact same question yet this time with their own selected responses, none of those responses mentioned the officiating.

I don't even mean to pick on Arrowhead Pride in particular; any and all of them are the same -- I won't name names (I did in an earlier version of this post but, discretion...) They all go way out of their way to not only expressly reject any suggestion that the officiating alters game outcomes against the Chiefs but often go so far as to ridicule those who suggest as much.

Thing is, look carefully at that response I posted there above.

He mentions the gambling connection.

I'm not the only one who knows the official gambling associations mess with the integrity of the game.

It is exactly like it is with AI now. You know what we all do now! We are all questioning whether something amazing we see in a video or such is real. We are now always bound to ask, "Is that AI?"

Well, it is the same now with what happens with game outcomes and poor officiating calls, and again the Scorecasting factor says everything about that. At its best the officials' impact is inadvertent but still measurable. Worse the NFLers have simply intimated they do not want the Chiefs winning and the officials know it.

And even worse, you do realize with these official gambling associations for all intents and purposes everyone out there on the field, including the officiating individuals, are working for bookies. They are. DraftKings and FanDuels and BetMGM and all the other online betting services are just gussied-up bookies. That's all they are.

And the more they have reign over any of our delightful sportsy pastimes, the more we have to wonder what is really going on with all this.

Let's just look at one play in particular, the one everyone who can put something of a take in the web somewhere is saying something about. It is the one at the very end of the game with the Chiefs on the Broncos one-yard-line in which Jaylen Moore turned his head just before the snap on what would have been the game-winning touchdown, taken away because of the false start call against him.

Know what? Looking at the replays shown all over the web, I think it was a false start, I do. As much as it hurts, I can accept that it was a false start. But you know? Here is the real issue:

I see offensive linemen make motions like he did ALL - THE - TIME, and it is rarely called. Sometimes with a very slight flinch, an O-lineman will get flagged for it. But what Jaylen Moore did was something that happens all the time: heads bob and turn, arms move in and out, and so forth. No calls are made, no big deal, let the game move forward.

Yet they must flag OUR guy, THIS time.

Yes, it does bring back those horrific memories of Dee Ford in the 2018 AFC title game. Yeah, he did it. He did! He was offsides. But how many times do we see it done and it is never called, yet WE get flagged for it NOW, THAT CALL literally costing us the game.

None of this stuff is ever called all the time because it would indeed just drag the game down. Every other down a flag for an O-lineman dropping spittle from his mouth? I get it, that's fine, don't call that kind of thing all the time.

This is the most loathsome thing about it.

The interpretation.

Flag them then but not this other time. Flag them for that but not this other more blatant infraction.

This game not only felt like the Dee Ford game, but it felt like just about every game the Chiefs played in the second half of the season last year. All that needed to happen to the Chiefs in almost every game they lost last year was for the refs to make two or three poor calls/non-calls against us keeping a close game favoring the opponent. That's how it works. Last year exasperation upon exasperation for Chiefs fans because of that, and everybody in the toadying blogosphere regularly shrug it all off.

There's more -- I was already pounding out more on this related to the whole gambling thing, but I stopped. Enough, I'm done. Maybe another time. It is extraordinarily discouraging, yet I'd again remind you if you haven't to read that piece by Debra Soh about the contemptible destruction that online gambling stuff brings. Even if it has nothing to do with Chiefs anything, the much too widely embraced organized gambling thing destroys lives, period.

And the Chiefs? The encouraging thing is -- one last thing that I keep in mind -- is maybe the Chiefs know what they need to do to step it up and will use the terrible ugliness of these two losses to really improve their preparation and be ready to win some good, solid, "putting the hammer down" games this season. Right now they are still 5-2 which is not a bad place to be at all.

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Oh but wait! Bonus feature!

I was bopping about the web but a scant 30 minutes after finishing this post, and found this. I absolutely have to add it.

Un. Bee. Leevable. And extraordinarily sweet. 

There it is, that the beautiful, beautiful satirical website Babylon Bee would mention specifically the Chiefs tells you everything about what I've been saying for years now.

Delightful, absolutely delightful. Does actually reduce the agonizing sting of what happened yesterday just a tinch.

A profoundly thorough and quite poetic vindication is a very gratifying thing indeed.

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Chiefs at Broncos - Week 8 - Record: 5-2

I'm writing out some things now because right after this game we've got things we're doing that will take us right through the evening.

But I can definitely put a blog post up here at the 12:00 mark of the 2nd quarter, Chiefs 7, Broncos 6.

We had one really nice drive polished off by a Rashee Rice TD catch.

But the rest of our offensive effort so far?

Bupkis.

Really, it has been embarrassing. Three 3-&-outs so far outside that nice TD drive.

You know, I was watching the end of the Cardinals-Cowboys game today, the very end when the Cardinals, employing the QB work of Gardner Minshew (our backup QB last year if you remember), sliced up the Cowboys defense to score a game-tying TD, then did it again to win it with an OT FG.

Know what I thought? Do you? Did you think this thing too?

What is with the CHIEFS offense?

Really?

Are our receivers so bad that they can't get just enough open to Patrick can get passes to them? If they are, then Kenneth Walker is useless because the opponent can just key on him. It is nice to get Rashee back, and I think he is a fine receiver, and I know we lost Tyquan Thorton, but as a whole is this receiving core that inept that we can't do what most of the teams across the NFL can do...

Just throw the ball into something of a tight window to receivers who will make plays.

Now yes it is still early in the 2nd quarter and the Chiefs could zip down the field for ten more touchdowns. Great. That's all I'd like to see.

But I do just feel so discouraged. I always ask, and yes, he's led us to three Super Bowl titles so I really can't complain at all, but I still wonder, and have wondered over the past few years...

Where is the 2018 Patrick Mahomes -- will we ever see him again?

I dunno. I'm a weird Chiefs fan. I don't want any close game as exciting as they are. I want 2018 Chiefs-caliber blowouts with Patrick matriculating the ball every game en route to a 50 TD 5,000 yard season.

Just asking. 

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Well that was one ugly *%#$*#.

Not even going to get into it, we have to go. A lot of it just us not matriculating when we should, which is what I just went over there in writing during the 2nd quarter. Just that. Ugh.

For the record, we were up 24-13 starting the 4th thanks in large part to Emmett Johnson who played lights out for us throughout, inspired play that included a stunning kick return very late to try to salvage the thing. 

Otherwise, yeah. It cannot not be said, ultimately there was so much of this that was on Andy Reid. So many things that just being fully on top of everything throughout and "putting the hammer down" late that didn't happen when it should have. And I just can't not say it, I have to, and you know it, the officiating was once again horrifically anti-Chiefs. Over and over and over again.

Nuff said. It's already been said to death and it doesn't mean a thing.

Maybe I'll post more later, I don't know. Everything about that 4th quarter was just too gruesome, so I likely will not. I dunno.

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Chiefs at Seahawks - Special Take

I just had to pound out another take for a very specific reason that I will address in just a moment.

But first things first that are just as relevant, and I think worth mentioning regarding the Chiefs.

I saw a graphic on my social media that was quite sobering. It was simply this.

The Chiefs played one of the worst NFL games Sunday in the Super Bowl era.

Just from a game stat standpoint. I don't remember them all, but, to wit:

No drives into the red zone. No touchdowns. Multiple missed field goals. Interception. Fumble (recovered). No sacks. Multiple penalties. No back or receiver with 100 yards. Their rusher with 100 yards and their receiver with 100. Our quarterback with worst possible QB rating. What was it, I believe six qualified 3rd-&-longs by the opponent's offense, all converted.

There were more, I believe, and a couple of these are items I myself just remember -- that all together was an effort in abject futility that had never been accomplished in the Super Bowl era. Watching our effort out there Sunday night, it was start-to-finish exasperation -- I didn't know, however, it would qualify as being this bad.

The main reason I wanted to make this post was to emphasize a point I have made several times before, with an extra recommendation for any reader who cares to help make the case.

Please go to this article and read it, carefully -- an excellent take from fine social researcher Debra Soh. She is now committed to unraveling the hellscape that is online sports gambling, a practice which is official sanctioned by the big-time professional sports leagues, especially the NFL.

Of course you know I have written like crazy about it in this sports blog effort, but sadly, not many read my humble Chiefs blog. Much sadder is that no one seems to care to do anything about stopping this madness, and it isn't just because it is getting harder and harder to really trust the integrity of the games.

It is simply because the sports leagues and everyone involved with them -- making millions of dollars from the interest they want to generate from young people betting on everything -- 

Is killing those young people.

"Oh now don't be so melodramatic. It is no big deal. It is harmless fun."

Know what I say to that? Well, it'd be a really bad word followed by "...that."

It is folly to say crap like that about this, it really is. It is the worst idiocy and it is so horrifically sorry that so many do this gambling stuff, and then tell me to back off. Of course that sentiment keeps people from seeking to stop it, even working hard toward that end.

I could give a rats nard about the sports aspect of any of this, I already know it isn't wholly on the up and up. I also know if they made the strictest law against it all some gambling interest will still find a way to continue to exploit people in these ways. 

I will still like my Chiefs and hope they win so I can have a good thrill for a couple hours on a Sunday. It is just that the SPORTS is what is a huge part of encouraging it, and the leagues' OFFICIAL PARTNER OF X, Y, Z BETTING PLATFORM is about as wickedly brazen as you can get.

Doesn't matter how many young lives are wrecked, just so we can squeeze every dime from whatever interest we can extract by virtue of the enterprise, it makes it perfectly fine. As long as we have the warning about gambling problems at the bottom of the screen in each ad we post, it's all good.

What evil.

I did peek at a bit of the baseball World Series this year, and I have not watched anything baseball for years and years. (Full disclosure: this is with the exception of a few times I have caught things like this on someone else's TV at a home I'm visiting or some instance like that.)

Anyway, it is like I've been Rip Van Winkle, asleep for years and years and I am waking up to this, now a wretched bastardization of anything that is truly baseball. I could cite a dozen different travesties. But one of them was looking on the TV during a pitch and seeing the graphically placed ad on the backstop fence right behind the batter, catcher, and umpire. They showed a number of different ads, but this one was the worst. It was

"[One of those online gambling sites]" and right next to it was the slogan, something like, "You can now bet on everything."

Everything.

It was something like that, very concise about betting on anything, anywhere you are, right there on the app on your phone.

Right there behind the live televised action of the game.

Blows my mind.

Blows my mind that this many people are just that... well, more unsavory words I can think of.

Yeah, that Chiefs game Sunday night? Maybe I shouldn't be paying any attention to any of it. I love Patrick Mahomes, he's wonderful, he's made the Chiefs at least right now the team of the 2020s -- how delightful is that. I revel in watching him play and do daring feats of football greatness.

But he schlurped Sunday night, and yes, much of that was he got no help from receivers who were just miserable and an offensive line that was beyond offensive.

But you know? What a metaphor for the actual machinery of the whole professional sports enterprise. Outside it is like whitewashed tombs but inside it is full of dead men's bones -- to quote The Living Word. (Oh, and the Chiefs were wearing their all-white uniforms Sunday. Whaddya know...)

I can't disparage only my Chiefs, but let's be honest, they're part of all of them being in on it. That hurts, it does.

I'd like to think this'll all change. I guess I can hope for that. As it is, I limit my Chiefs attention to just those games, for now anyway (simply because it may indeed be way less if nothing changes), and I pay no attention at all to any other sports, at least I am successful most times not to.

Maybe more need to...

Once again, Debra Soh's article is here. Get to it, please, and maybe say something about it to someone.

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The photo was by David Gray at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Seahawks - Week 7 - Record: 5-1

Sometimes when you play a game against an opponent who has, literally, the very best player in the NFL at a given position, it is very likely you are going to witness a game when said player just plays even better than their typical very best.

That player is wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. 

Just watching him tonight make mincemeat of our defensive backfield... just watching a work of art, really... You just have to give him credit, as well as their fine quarterback for brilliantly feeding him all night long.

The Seahawks defense was also exceptional, so there is that. They get the credit too, just got to take our lumps sometimes.

That's really it. There are a lot of other things that could be said about this game, and I'm sure it will be said somewhere somehow, certainly. Not going to get into all of it, but some of it may be along the lines of...

Our should-be top receiver, Xavier Worthy, is indeed super duper super duper fast. But let's face it, he is just not a very good NFL wide receiver.

I think the calls for Harrison Butker's head will get louder. He missed two field goal attempts he's always used to making, and it cost us big-time tonight, really keeping us from at least being in this game, having a chance.

Our O-line just did not play well. There is indeed the very troubling Josh Simmons situation, and everyone is wondering about what is going on with his health and even his commitment after some kind of incident in the meeting room this week. Tonight, not having the people you need up there to make running lanes and provide pass protection showed up in the ugliest colors.

I have to say our offensive game plan, whatever it was from whichever coach there is, was abominable. Yes the Seahawks defense was stifling, so it was a challenge. But every Chiefs play looked like a Chinese fire drill out there.

If we want a chance to actually compete against playoff-caliber competition in January, we have a lot of work to do after tonight's pathetic effort.

I cannot neglect to add this stat just shown on the TV screen. In the Mahomes era there has never been a game, ever, regular season or playoffs, when the team has not had a red zone possession. Except for tonight.

::Sigh::

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Chargers at Chiefs - Week 6 - Record: 5-0

Might be the same refrain every single game.

Give the rock to Kenneth.

Our fine new running back went over 100 on the ground and scored the only two touchdowns of the day. Gotta give him that. Wow, again, how awesome is it to have him back there.

Thing is, ugh, our offensive performance left much to be desired. Patrick was just off, even throwing a very ill-advised interception in their end zone. It was, however, very nice to see some key plays made by Jalen Royals, Cyrus Allen, and Andrew Armstrong. We'll need those guys to keep it up to keep our wide receiver corps serviceable, hopefully even better than that. And as our main target Xavier Worthy made some very worthy snags.

We definitely won this on the backs of our defensive effort. The Chargers only mustered three field goals. Shout out to Nick Bolton and just how dominant he is in the middle of the field.

Thing is, that officiating. Yes, we're up by 16 with a minute left, and the Chargers quickly get into the red zone. They start going backwards and we finally close them out, but......

How are you roughing the passer on 4th-&-22? This is just ridiculous. Just cheesy calls against our team. Chris Jones barely touched their QB around the neck, and yet they do have to make it much more exceptionally proficient against our team -- that's the narrative. Earlier in the game we had another roughing the passer call against on Ashton Gillotte in yet another thoroughly cheesy interpretation. Okay, enough of that. I promised, sorry.

Our defense was otherwise super stout today, against an admittedly weakened Chargers. George Karlaftis alone batted down three Justin Herbert passes. Their QB was harassed by our D-line all day long. Can't complain.

We're 5-0 and, huh, next week we're off to play Kenneth's old team, the Seattle Seahawks. That'll be a very interesting game to see, and it'll be the Sunday Night Football primetime game!

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The posted photograph is from Sam Lutz at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.

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Chiefs Bye Week Take

Got a bye week this week, earliest of them this season. Good time though to continue working out what we'll do with our wide receiver situation. Many are enamored with the idea that we'll get Tyreek back. Ehh, maybe. I think we should just bring up Andrew Armstrong, see what he's got, and work Jalen Royals, Cyrus Allen, and Brashard Smith into the mix much more.

Meanwhile, a lot of talk is about the officiating, especially since a couple of officials were disciplined for belligerently mixing it up a bit with some players. Huh, I wonder if it is getting under their skin a bit from the pressure they have to get every single call exactly correct -- or, huh, the Scorecasting expectations that things go the way the NFLers want them to go.

Putting the Scorecasting intimation aside for now, the news article mentions that the number of penalties assessed so far this year is inordinately high. Naturally that could be simply because players are just committing more fouls. There is the idea, however, that refs are just calling too many things that really shouldn't be called, and they're under duress for not calling things everyone is screaming they should call.

Ha, Chiefs fans know all about that. I'd committed this blogging year to not say anything about the reffing as I have in the past, however justified my grievances have been. But, well, I'm going to break that rule now and mention that at least half-a-dozen times in this past Raiders game the Chiefs were jobbed on non-calls, I mean really obvious non-calls you'd see if you looked at the film -- holding and PIs are the main culprits. As much as the Raiders had a terrific game plan against us and they played a fine football game, the Chiefs still should've won by two touchdowns.

But yeah, every fan of every team has their issues with the officiating, I get it.

I can't help but emphasize that there are two terrific ways to make this better, just make it so the pressure is off the on-field officials and we can be sure the calls are as correct as they can be. I've shared both of them a number of times before in this blog effort, but, well, I'm just a podunk little blogger guy. It'd be nice if someone got the memo not just because I'm sharing it but because it is the truth. Sorry, it is. To wit:

Number one, get two officials in the booth, looking at monitors of every play throughout the game, right there at the stadium not just in New York somewhere, each one looking at all the angles of every play in real time, and having original play-officiating authority -- meaning they can make a call right away and make it stick just like the on-field referee. I do believe that on-field guy should indeed have the final final say, but this would go a long way to ensuring the calls are good and the on-field officials are not so pressured to make one call or another that'll just affect them emotionally when everyone wants to kill them.

Number two gets at the kinds of calls that are the ones that are most troublesome. The procedure calls and personal foul calls are generally not that much of a problem -- even the holding calls from linemen are for-the-most part pretty well adjudicated. Yeah there are times when we scream about a lineman holding our guy and they don't call it or our guy didn't and they call it. But you know? I've realized most times they do get those right, let's just face it, and those calls are really not the ones that so dramatically affect outcomes. It's not perfect, but all OLs are holding all time anyway, and it does relatively even out.

The ones that do affect outcomes, big-time? And the ones they eff up all the time? You know what they are.

Pass interference and defensive holding calls and non-calls.

Not going to get into the ugly details because we all know them. I will emphatically repeat the solution, and I know some may not like it, but hear me out, and I do hope whatever NFL officially official officianados out there will seriously consider it. It is, very simply:

No touching at all by receiver or defender as receivers run their routes.

Thuh end.

Is this simply too hard to legislate and then enforce on the field?

Please. Just nothing, no touching grabbing reaching jostling AT ALL.

I know it may be considered draconian, but trust me, it'll work. 

Yes, if a player even touches another player he is covering or being covered by: penalty. If they both do it, off-setting and replay the down. I do concede any patently incidental contact or instances when one player very accidentally bumps into another player -- those instances when a player has position and is run into -- these things may be adjudicated appropriately, yes, with the help of those monitor watching officials.

Bottom line is it categorically gets rid of the entire interpretation nature of those calls, which is simply too difficult to assess with plays happening so fast and officials' observation skills simply not so attuned to be able to make critical judgments in those instances. This solves that problem.

I do know people will screech What if it happens all the time? That means MORE penalties and we want fewer! And how many offsetting penalties and replaying down after down after down must we endure?!

I get it, all understandable concerns, but after a while, the players will get it and simply do good route running and play good pass defense. That's what we want to see. As it is there're far too many PI and DH calls and right now it's killing the game and wrecking the refs. Also I believe when there are so many called penalties the officials may be unwittingly thinking we'd better hold back because there are just too many of these happening right now, and then they don't make the calls they should be making! (Do Chiefs fans know about that...)

Oh but what if games are 78-74 with all the scoring from easier passing games?

Ummm, that kind of makes my point. And why do games have to be that high scoring if defenses actually do a good job of defending passes? Wow, what a concept!

Once again, if a defender is not going after the ball and he even remotely touches the defender in the activity of not---going---after---the---ball---itself, then it is a PI. If a receiver reaches his arms out for even the teensiest of contact with a defender as he goes into his route, it is a penalty. If that ball is arriving to the receiver and both players are jostling each other... IT --- IS --- A PENALTY.

Will there still be interpretations about which player impeded the other one more -- in a sense just so we're not getting off-setting penalties all the time? Yes, but I think real impeding force will be much easier to detect with this rule in place.

I am certain that after a while the players will get it, and they will start working to be really good passing game football players, and the best part is we don't have to deal with all the insanity of screeching about the calls we should get but don't and the calls we don't get but should and all the penalties one way or the other and the emotional roller coaster ride we all have to endure from all this nonsense.

There. Now go tell everyone else especially those who run this thing, because, um, yeah, otherwise it'll just be more of the same. 

Yet, again, yeah, if the NFLers are still getting what they want no matter how destructive it is to competitive integrity, well, then, yeah...

Nothing will get done.

Or some other dumb idea will come down the way, and, well, that's the NFL for you.

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The photograph was by David Gray at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Raiders - Week 4 - Record: 4-0

They have got to do more to prevent the insane tackles that absolutely wreck players' limbs. I do know they are trying, and they have done a lot to protect the NFL's assets -- and sorry I don't mean to make it clinical. I do believe they consider them human beings and are doing things to keep the hits from being wickedly injurious. Early in the game the Chiefs' Nohl Williams got a very justified "defenseless receiver" hit call against him, and I'm fully behind those things.

The NFL has indeed done well to make the hip tackles illegal, but I don't think they call them enough. They did, however, call the penalty against a Raiders player when Tyquan Thornton, who'd been having a phenomenal game and had just caught a dandy long pass from Patrick, was hip dropped just short of the goal line and... sure enough...

Had his ankle gruesomely wrecked.

That's all that matters, really. Just that Tyquan will be better, soon, just to be healthy and good even if he doesn't play another down of NFL football.

But I will add that it seems the injuries are piling up a bit too much. I don't really watch much of any other NFL things, but what little I see it seems this player or that player is just getting taken out of games for long periods of time. Sure injuries have been a reality in the NFL, but I wonder. Maybe, maybe not. Are there more? Are the players so skilled and conditioned that, while they may be better at withstanding the punishing hits, are still more susceptible to the ones that damage limbs?

We ended up pulling this one out, but it was way too close, and way too stressful towards the end of the game. The Raiders are now a genuinely good team, with what looks to be a genuinely good coaching situation.

Along with Tyquan, Kenneth Walker was amazing today. Those two guys scored two touchdowns apiece. There is this thing and that thing that needs improvement, definitely, and I could riff on all that, but for now, I'm just spent. Yeah, that sounds waaay too stupid because I wasn't out there slogging through this game like our Chiefs were, but well, next week is a bye week and I may have time to write a bit more.

Nice that we're one of the few undefeateds, but still, the price of Tyquan is just really very not-good.

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

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