Rams at Chiefs - Week 8 - Record: 4-3

Oh did this game start poorly. The Rams shot right down the field and scored a touchdown with a handful of plays that made our defense look like melted butter.

But shortly thereafter we made whatever adjustments we needed to, and it was over. There was a nasty burp at 7-7 when Jamaal fumbled after never even getting the handoff cleanly and the Rams got the ball at our 10, but we stiffened and their kicker (whew) missed a field goal.

Otherwise there was Jamaal, Knile, Knile, Jamaal, Jamaal, Knile. Very nice. Our D also played well,
with great pass coverage forcing the Rams quarterback into flustered throws and the grip of Chiefs pass rushers. Justin Houston had three sacks, and to shut down the Rams late they got Dee Ford in there -- it was nice to see him make some plays.

I was concerned for a bit about our stalwart No. 1 overall pick last year, Eric Fisher, who is playing well but today gave up a nasty sack by Robert Quinn and then had a movement penalty against him a couple plays later. Cause for extended concern? I don't know, everyone can have tough moments in a game.

I mean, look at someone like Dwayne Bowe.

This was one of those stellar days for Dwayne Bowe. Ever notice that Bowe will have those cringe-generating games where he drops that one pass or runs that silly route that just kills us, but then he'll come back and win our hearts with a game like today? Everything threw to him was snatched splendidly, including one pass he grabbed that was way over his head while the defender was tackling him before the ball got there.

Yes, they'll still say our receivers haven't caught a touchdown pass yet, and yes, that's a bad thing. But come on, look at Alex Smith's play today -- agile, quick, decisive. After every gasp we take when he looks to pass, he'll find a way to zip the ball to some receiver. Damn he did that well today, going 24-for-28 -- that's amazing.

All this was topped by Andy having another game in which he masterfully disguised his intentions, imaginatively mixed it up, and again deftly used our running game to dominate. Knile and Charles may get all the press, but we're above .500, 4-1 in our last five games, and steadily moving into contention position.

I'm great with that.
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Chiefs at Chargers - Week 7 - Record: 3-3

What it takes to beat the Horse Curse.

We had to overcome three or four gruesomely dropped passes. We had to overcome a sure touchdown not scored when A.J. Jenkins stepped out of bounds. We had to overcome a splendidly batted ball that daintily dropped into the hands of Antonio Gates for a Chargers touchdown. We had to overcome that ugly seven-headed beast known as the officiating crew who called at least three brutally phantom penalties against us but simply refused to keep the Chargers tackles from holding Houston and Hali.

I was sure something was going to happen to keep the Horse Curse marauding against us, but sure enough, we managed to succeed in doing the one thing that snuffed that sucker today. It is the key thing a team can do to stop the Chargers, and we did it wonderfully today. Damn was Reid good at making this happen -- in fact this is one Reid's best coaching skills.

We kept Philip Rivers off the field.

It was beautiful to behold. The Chiefs were able to chew up clock for inordinate amounts of time, scoring five times in the process, the fifth coming on a nail-biting 48-yard field goal from our brand spankin' new kicker Cairo Santos whose entire 5'8'' frame was well-deservedly mugged after his kick won the game.

Our time of possession was double that of the Chargers, and one less time for Rivers to display his supernatural prowess against us is big-time significant.

While there is a tremendous feeling of relief, that our boys can actually dent this curse (our first win in SD since 2007, really) -- we still have issues. Our receivers did make some clutch catches today, I was very pleased to see that, especially late in the game, but come on -- still too many drops! Our D-backs were beast when it counted -- gotta give Phillip Gaines some more playing time! -- but we are still missing Eric Berry. When is he coming back? I liked seeing some of the support players come through -- is that A.J. Jenkins showing that he can be a weapon? -- but we still need more consistency from others to take the load off Charles and Davis.

And as much as we scream our lungs out at Alex Smith to throw the ball, not get sacked, run there, don't run there, do this do that do that do this -- he still hangs in there and provides a very nice, steady attack that today served us very well.

We're holding our own at 3-3, and that may be very good because it'll motivate the team to know they've got to keep working hard to get into real contention position. Hey, look at baseball's Giants and Royals. They knew they had to battle coming out of the wild-card spots and couldn't afford a let-down. Object lesson.

Of course, now all resolutely faithful all-Kansas City sports fans can sit back Tuesday and enjoy the Royals playing in

THE WORLD SERIES CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT
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Chiefs at 49ers - Week Five - Record: 2-3

This was indeed a game we could have won, we should have won against a very good team.

It was showcased as Alex Smith's return against his old team, and for much of the game he did pretty decently. But let's just be honest about two key things.

1. Alex Smith does need to make the accurate throw when he needs to. Sure there was that ugly overthrow in the last minute, the pass intended for Anthony Fasano that was intercepted sealing the Niners victory. But there were several other passes that were just thrown low or wide when the Chiefs needed to make those connections. He completes those passes and this game is ours, one that for quite some time really looked like was ours.

2. Alex Smith does not have the receivers to make things happen like they should. We were without Donnie Avery because of injury, but even with him this is not a receiving core that'll get us to the next level -- it just isn't. It is scary that it isn't. I'd even heard the announcers relay some stat, I don't remember what it was, but it was indicative that this is the worst receiving core in the league. I think the stat was something like, our receivers do not have a touchdown all season. Sorry, but this is a tremendous liability. Ready for the start of The Wide Receiver Project? After all it is Halloween season, I should get that going to make things especially scary.

Again, this was a game we had. I liked our running game, it was solid and on-track like it should. I liked our pass rush, for a time we really hogtied their QB Colin Kaepernick. And who can't be thrilled with De'Anthony Thomas finally getting in the mix, even scoring a screen-pass touchdown with some extra power running to get into the endzone.

What concerns me are a few things, things that are pretty major.

First of all, I think the play of the game was a clutch Niners play that no one could do anything about. We had the Niners on a 3rd-and-long and under a fierce rush Kaepernick threw up a long duck, and their receiver Brandon Lloyd makes a fantastic catch with Sean Smith draped all over him. (But there ya go, that's a play their receiver makes. Errgck.)

Our D-backs were good sometimes, but then there's Marcus Cooper. Sometimes he's terrific, like when he contributed big-time to disrupting the Peyton Manning pick-passes a few weeks ago, but today he was roasted. How much longer do we have to wait for him to take advantage of his raw physical ability and shut down the guy he's covering?

Our run defense wilted when it got late. The Niners were able to run effectively, get those late field goals, run clock in the process, and keep our offense on its heels.

Regarding both of these critical breakdowns, it must be pointed out that those injuries we've had to key defensive players hurt. Eric Berry is still not in there. Mike Devito and Derrick Johnson are key run stuffers and they're gone for the year. They mentioned how well we've done to make up for them, but sorry, their absence really hurt us late today.

And what about that 12-men-on-the-field penalty when the Niners were punting, giving them a 1st down. Incredible. That one penalty was even worse for the Chiefs than the Brandon Lloyd catch, and it was a mistake contending teams don't make.

After a breakout game Monday night and a chance to show up in the top ten of all the sports network/sites "Power Rankings", now we have to settle for still wallowing around in the bottom half again, and it'll be for a while because the Chiefs have a bye next week.
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I can't finish this post without making mention of the amazing sports week it has been for all things Kansas City in the sports world. After the Chiefs destroyed the Patriots at Arrowhead last Monday night, the major league's Royals hosted the A's at Kauffman in the one-game wild-card playoff game, and they won it in thrilling fashion, 9-8 in 12 innings. The Royals have gone on to win the first two games of their ALDS contest against the Angels.

Indeed, on Wednesday when I presume the soccer team Sporting KC was playing in the Washington D.C. area, they visited the White House where the president welcomed the, yes,

 

World Champion Kansas City professional soccer team.

What a week for Kansas City, who as a city had gone 48 straight combined team-years without a playoff win by the pro football team and an appearance in a playoff series by the pro baseball team.

With their strong pitching, stifling defense, tenacious hitting, and rich enthusiasm, the Royals have gone a long way to make things up-to-date in Kansas City once again.

Now the Chiefs just need to keep moving forward and get to their next level.
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