Raiders at Chiefs - Week 17 - Record: 11-5 - Continued

Look at that. Just writing that in the title of this post is a lot of fun.

11-5.

Would you have ever thought that after the Minnesota plap dropping us to 1-5, we'd have ever even remotely considered that.

And we're going to the playoffs. We will be playing the Texans in Houston next week, a rematch of the first game of the season we won with the help of Travis Kelce's TD reception and iconic triple-windmill punch-spike. Yeah, we won that game, went 1-0, then lost 5 straight, then won 10 straight.

Can we make it 11 straight and, yes --

Win that playoff game?

We'll get to all the playoff things-to-talk-about later, but let's look at how this Chiefs team looks by examining today's game against the Raiders. Let's look at the good things and of course the not-so-good things in each department.

Running game. The good things included Spencer Ware's grinding, especially in that drive that chewed up clock in the 4th quarter. This included our offensive line coming alive when -- not-so-good thing: they played more poorly at the beginning of the second half. Charcandrick West can make solid runs too, he was very squirmy today as usual -- but we need that O-line to come through. During the game the announcers were talking about how much Andy Reid wanted these guys to play with a much more aggressive attitude. It paid off today at enough key moments, so that's a good thing.

BTW, Spencer Ware's touchdown in the first half, did that not look just like the delightfully famous 65 Toss Power Trap? How great was that!

Passing game. Good thing: Alex Smith's TD throws to Jeremy Maclin in the first half and Demetrius Harris in the second half which, by the way, was a thing of beauty. He threw the ball right where only the basketball-center height of Harris would enable him to reach it. Harris himself made a fantastic grab to get the touchdown that would end up being the game-winner. The not-so-good things were Smith's interceptions, one of which was a pick-six -- I mean, Smith is not supposed to do that. The good thing is Smith is smart enough to know what to do to improve, be ready for next week, but then, a not-so-good thing is how we regularly storm out like we did today -- 14-0 before you could blink -- but then get bogged down.

Another good thing was how our offensive line's pass protection was early. It was actually very good. The not-so-good thing was that it wilted a bit later. Again, the very good thing is that Andy Reid is the O-line coaching guru. All the guys in this crew have been working like crazy to make it all work, and it has.

One very good thing was seeing Jeremy Maclin come back in the game after going into the clubhouse for a look at a mysterious injury. We were all holding our breaths. We will so very much need him next week, let's hope what happened isn't debilitating keeps him out.

Pass rush. One of the very good things about the Chiefs is that their pass rush gets more ferocious as the game goes on. Today in the second half our boys were insane out there when we needed stops. And what depth we have. Dee Ford is showing his potential, Frank Zombo is a player, and Dezman Moses even showed some game. Tamba Hali got some snaps and it looks like Justin Houston will be out there next week -- here's to hoping the Chiefs resting him for all these final regular season games will pay off.

A fine pass rush. I know I'm jumping the gun on the playoff analysis, but it is one of the most critical items for a team's postseason success: having this unit playing exceptionally well. It is a very good thing this is one of our strengths.

Run defense. The good thing is that our run defense has been pretty good. Credit Derrick Johnson and Eric Berry being healthy this year, as well Bob Sutton calling great games. The kinda not-so-good thing is wondering how our D-line will do against a really good offensive line.

Defensive backfield. Another of our strengths is our pass coverage -- yeah Eric Berry, yeah Sean Smith, but waaay yeah Marcus Peters. The not-so-good thing is wondering if Peters has the strength to hold up against those big tall wideouts. Today Michael Crabtree pushed him down to catch a touchdown pass that made today's game waaay closer than it needed to be. You also have to give kudos to Daniel Sorensen, Ron Parker, and Tyvon Branch, who've been tremendous in those nickel packages.

I have to share one more neat item related to terrific heads-up football. I mean, I have to make special mention of that wonderful tackle made by Sean Smith and Derrick Johnson on the last play of the game. The Raiders had the ball working it to about mid-field, down six, 20 seconds left and no time outs. Their QB Derek Carr threw a pass in the left flat to their tight end and Smith and Johnson wrapped him up firmly and stood him up to keep him from going out of bounds. Time expired. Very nice.

Special teams. What a mix of things here. Good things -- seems like Dustin Colquitt is back on track.  Also that blocked punt for a safety -- great heads-up play by DJ Alexander who's one of our finer special teams guys. The major not-so-good thing? That brain-freeze by Cairo Santos to blow the field goal that would've iced it. Everything about the snap and hold was perfect, but it just looked like Santos was freaked by the mess-ups in this area earlier in the year, and he just couldn't trust things to progress properly.

To be honest, I'm glad that happened, so Dave Toub and the kicking team know about it, address it, and we'll be good to go next week. Good thing it happened today and not in the playoffs when it has killed us so many times before.

There you go. There're the Chiefs for you. This was a typical Chiefs game. Get a comfortable lead, stay in command, let our defense hold them off even in light of the typically goofy things that seem to plague the Chiefs.

Is that a formula for winning a playoff game? That's next, sometime this week! Stay tuned!
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(Since this is the last game of the regular season, I thought I should make sure that I give proper attribution to the photographs used in this blog. Most of them come from the Chiefs own website, where they are posted in the photo gallery there. A very generous thank you to them.)

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