Chiefs at Panthers - Week 10 - Record: 7-2

Might as well just not pay any attention to the first half of a Chiefs game. Really, the first half today was atrocious. It was beyond atrocious. I guess because we're a decent team we'd kept the score at 17-3 at the halftime break.

I will tell you, I regularly take a few notes while watching the game, and the number of mad faces, you know, ":(" were at 14 when the half ended. Okay, okay, here they are. You'll see they were very very well-deserved:

:(  Another dropped pass by Demetrius Harris.

:(  Tyreek Hill underthrown, again, on a deep pass, and they get the interception.

:(  ANOTHER drop, this one by Albert Wilson. These are professional receivers in the NFL. Come on.

:(  They said on the television we're 27th in the NFL on 3rd down conversions. We were crap in that area again today. (Later I discovered we'd gotten a grand total of two conversions on 3rd down -- whole game. Expletive. See text on Alex Smith a bit later here.)

:(  After a great sack by Dee Ford on 3rd down, Phillip Gaines gets holding call. They get new life.

:(  3 penalties so far, for a team they say doesn't get penalized.

:(  Interception dropped. Now this was a tricky one, but we missed it twice and it still got a :(

:(  Marcus Peters barely missed the pick, they get the long pass completion on 2nd-&-20.

:(  Kelvin Benjamin makes a key play. Our D-backs really struggle against those big quick WR's.

:(  We try that wide-out screen yet again and it goes for a loss.

:(  ANOTHER drop, this one by Kelce, but the throw was low from Smith.

:(  Spencer Ware out, looked like he was concussed (he came back in later).

:(  Another Carolina TD on a play in which our pass rush was completely non-existent and Peters got burnt.

:(  Smith will absolutely refuse to step up in the pocket and throw the damn football down the field.

There ya go. 14 times with the :(. We're down 17-3. I had predicted before the game this was one we'd lose. Here we were, away from home, playing the very much underperforming Super Bowl Panthers -- remember they were 15-1 last year!

And sure enough all our weaknesses were laid open bare -- ugly and pustulant and writhing.

We really struggle covering those big fast wide receivers. Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess had their way with us. For three quarters our pass rush was invisible, and without Allen Bailey, Jaye Howard, and Justin Houston we're in trouble in that area.

And Alex Smith -- oh Alex Smith. He was cah-RAPP today. Yes, you can give him credit he ran the offense, he's a smart guy, he didn't mess up with the things your brain can get you to do football-play-management-wise.

But oh my was it a horror show out there watching him. He did the dancing-then-getting-sacked thing. He did the abject-REFUSAL-to-step-up-in-the-pocket-and-throw-the-ngkcgking-ball-down-the-field thing. He did the bad-throw thing, you know when he just doesn't make the good throw he needs to and he really really can. He did the completely-refusing-to-see-wide-open-receivers-down-the-field thing. Late in the game he even caught a batted pass and threw it again on the same play. It was all the typical Alex Smith insanity that makes you really really really want to write posts like this one.

To be fair, however, Smith had to have been rusty after that Colts game when he was mauled. Apparently he never had any concussion stuff, they said he was totally cleared medically, but I wonder after seeing him googly-eyed after those two whacks at Indy. Today, to give him some credit, he did make some key throws to get us into field goal range a few times. We sure did need those field goals.

Okay, with all that out of the way, now for the really good stuff.

I mean, we nkcfnkgkncing won the game for nckwxpqckgrrdvxqing out loud...

First of all, we hung in there through the full total entirety of this game. The Chiefs are actually good at that. They won't give up. They'll scratch and claw and dig in, they'll outlast you, even wear you down -- emotionally even. It just seemed as if as the game wore on the Chiefs were getting stronger and the Panthers were playing on their heels. The entire team gets the kudos for that.

After the Panthers chewed up almost the entire 3rd quarter clock on a 20-play drive, the Chiefs stiffened and, believe it or not, forced them to punt. The defense was especially fierce in getting the job done when it was needed.

Here are notable individual players of note:

No. 1, to me, by far, was Eric Berry. This was even before the pick-six. He was a monster out there. For every time the Chiefs sucked, there was Berry making a phenomenal play -- a key tackle, and critical stop. And then of course: the pick-six. After a blitz Berry swooped under a Cam Newton duck, picked it, and simply refused to be tackled. He made a couple spin moves Tyreek Hill would've been proud of, raced to the far pylon, and scored. A Kelce catch at the goal line (yes, a decent pass from Alex Smith yay!) for the 2-point conversion made it 17-14.

Another was Tyreek Hill. Whenever Smith could get the ball to him, he was amazing out there. Streaking, spinning, squirting wherever he could to get yardage.

Another was Dee Ford. How great is his play. He seems to have solved these offensive linemen and their blocking schemes, and he is making plays. A couple more sacks today, some pressures, solid run defense. His play is really helping make up for our woeful injury issues on the D-line.

Another was Spencer Ware. How great was it to have him back in there. When he could he did his splendid power running through little holes and getting a few extra yards with his Herculean effort. That last run to get the ball in even more secure field goal range at the end of the game was a thing of beauty.

I could name a few others here, yes, Chris Jones, Dontari Poe, Cairo Santos with his four long field goals, Travis Kelce (whew, no suspension for last week's meltdown...) there were others, yes, I can't see everything out there, everyone had some positive hand in this win for sure, but...

Mention must be made of -- controversially -- Marcus Peters. Controversial because he'd actually been having a pretty miserable day. He'd gotten burnt, he'd overplayed balls like crazy, he even almost put us out of field goal range with his punting stupidity on the sideline.

But he made what could've been the play of the day. -- Well, except for the Eric Berry play.

With about a minute left, Carolina got the ball with the score 17-17. Newton completed yet another pass to Benjamin, but just as he was about to go down, Peters yanked the ball from him.

With sheer ferocity he pulled the ball from Benjamin's grip.

Chiefs ball on the turnover, deep in Panthers territory, 20 seconds left.

Whuh-OWW.

Can you believe it.

Santos comes in, boots it through, time expires...

Chiefs come away with the win.

So they are 7-2 now, in 1st place in the AFC West tied with Oakland who has a bye this week. Denver won today on what I saw was a screwy return 2-point conversion, so they're 7-3.

We've still got Denver twice, and that Thursday night game with the Raiders on December 8th is looming -- when was the last time a KC-Oak game really meant something for both teams that late in the season?

As for now, this game was won by our grit and guts and heart.

At least we've got that.
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