Broncos at Chiefs - Week 16 - Record: 11-4, The Take

We're in the playoffs, and can you believe it for the first time back-to-back since '94-'95. We'd already clinched a spot earlier in the day when Chiefs-killing Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown power-stretched the ball into the end zone with only a few seconds left to beat the Ravens. We still wanted to win against Denver to cap Christmas day with a chance to get that No. 2 seed, and we did indeed take care of that business.

Right now every Chiefs fan is ruminating madly about which scenario will transpire next week. It is pretty simple. This year's week 17 slate will not be one with those crazy smatterings of playoff possibilities -- the six teams are already set in the AFC, it is just a matter of who's going where.

The best: If the Chiefs win and the Raiders lose, we get the No. 2 seed AND a bye AND a home game. That's big, but then I can only say that (1) the Broncos could easily fail next week looking at them last night, even playing at home against a Derek Carr-less Raiders, (2) the Chargers always play the Chiefs hard (don't forget about Chiefs-killing quarterback Phillip Rivers) even though they just allowed the Browns to get their only win of the season, and (3) how many times have we had home field and still found a way to tank divisional playoff games -- Arrowhead has always been splendid for us in regular season play but there's always been something nasty about it in postseason play.

Still, not denying that everyone still really really really wants that game at Arrowhead this season.

The not-as-best: The Chiefs lose, Raiders win, and Dolphins win -- the Chiefs then must go to mega-house-of-horrors Pittsburgh where we regularly lose whenever we're there by an average score of 56-2. Thing is, if we can do the run-the-table thing like the 2010 Packers or 2011 Giants and start from a low seed and first miraculously beat Pittsburgh at their place, then later we may get Oakland (should they win their divisional game) who we've really matched up well against.

Of course everyone is thinking if we don't get that No. 2 seed we'll most likely face the Texans at Houston again, and this year with a new messy quarterback situation we should be salivating. Thing is everyone is definitely pondering our path to Super Bowl glory --

Having to go through New England again.

So what about it? Do we have a chance? What about where we're at now heading into the postseason in relation to last night's game?

Throughout the first half I honestly felt as if Chiefs decision-makers actually read my blog post. Thing is, what I shared there was not something revelationarily revolutionary or anything, by far. As I pointed out, every Chiefs fan knows it. It seemed as though Chiefs people did too, glory be. You know what it was.

Have Travis or Tyreek get the ball every single play.

Know what?

They did.

And guess what?

It was glorious.

It worked, as we all thought it would.

In and around the thousands of plays those two handled the football in the first half, Tyreek had a 70-something-yard touchdown run, zipping right around the left end helped by a Travis block that obliterated their safety. Travis himself had an 80-something-yard touchdown catch from that neat wide-out pass they do, taking the ball and just streaking up the sideline for paydirt with the help of blocks from everyone.

It was 21-10 at the half, and after that it started to look like the Raiders game a few weeks ago: build a nice lead then just hold.

That's the main cause of concern, however, and all of us know it.

Again we just refused to score points in the second half.

Now we did score points in that second half, eventually. Santos had a couple field goals and there was that fun "Bloated Tebow Pass" as they called it when with a minute left Dontari Poe lined up in the shotgun, faked a run, and shotputted the ball to Demetrius Harris in the back of the end zone. Yes, very very very very very very very fun.

But we still stall far too often in the second half.

We could all see that Andy Reid was much less conservative, actually doing the things he needed to do to play to win, which was nice to see. But Denver's defense stiffened in the 3rd quarter, and it made me think.

Are teams doing a really good job of adjusting to whatever we throw at them, and we're just not doing the job of adjusting to their adjustments? So yeah, here's my new thread in whatever preview posts I do leading up to the playoffs:

Coaches: ADJUST.

Yeah, that is: Not just adjust to them, but adjust to their adjustments.

Thing is, Andy Reid et al are showing everyone that they're willing to take chances and do crazy-ass things and that's the key. I can't help but share this link to a piece about that exact thing -- absolutely something that's been scorching through every Chiefs fans brain in the Andy Reid era.

Thing is thing is thing is, does Andy Reid do the Bloated Tebow Pass kind of thing with the game on the line? Does he do that in the AFC Championship Game when they're at the New England two-yard line, a minute left, and we're behind by four points?

And even not that exact thing! Look what happened when we kept trying to run Tyreek out of the backfield? They started to snuff it out, regularly.

How about this, something he hasn't done but I think would be fantastic, I've mentioned it before: a halfback option pass with Ware. How about the wildcat with Ware then do the option, or a Ware Tebow pass thingie?

It doesn't have to be anything anyone says it must be, I mean, opposing teams are certainly scouring blogs like this trying to get an idea of what kinds of things Reid et al are being told to do by genius bloggers like me, certainly. But the thing is-infinity: seems like Reid has started to get a feel for when and how and when and when again to do the stuff that really keeps teams on their heels.

And it doesn't even have to be any wild special crazy-ass thing either.

It is just knowing when and when again and when another time to do the thing that best utilizes our talent.

That is big, really really really big.

As it is, here are a few other items giving Chiefs fans some very nice chunks of hope.

Dee Ford is very fast, and that is a very nice thing. In fact this is a major thing if Justin Houston is slowed. Houston is still having knee issues so that's a huge concern, but our D-line was sufficiently ferocious last night. Chris Jones was his typical bulldozing self. Tamba Hali looked sharp. They had no sacks but pressured their QB very well to shut him down.

Some of that was the play of our D-backs. Bob Sutton, Emmitt Thomas, and Al Harris have got them playing like world-beaters. Daniel Sorenson is a fumble recovering machine -- he got two in this game, one of which he caused himself. Our cover guys smothered their receivers, and it had been announced this week that Eric Berry and Marcus Peters were among the four Chiefs named to the Pro Bowl (guess who the other two were?) Last night Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas were completely invisible -- that's major.

Our special teams unit is exceptional, except that Cairo Santos missed a very makeable field goal. It was rainy and breezy, but it didn't look like that should've mattered. He just shanked it. On the other hand our punt coverage was terrific (one episode netted us one of those turnovers) and Eric Murray made a fine stop on a fake Broncos field goal when the kicker tried to run for the first down.

Jeremy Maclin is getting back into things. He still only caught one meaningful pass, but if we start using him to offset what we do with Tyreek, then damn. Chris Conley is still underutilized, and wow, if we can get balls to these guys more often -- I'm hoping hoping hoping they're strong so we can do the adjusting we need to when the other guys start radically keying on Tyreek and Travis. The concern is our difficulty in converting on 3rd-&-long -- our wide receivers have to be there.

Finally this was a game you got that feeling that Alex Smith could get us to the promised land. Yes he did have his typical two or three bad passes, but he may just be good enough to to make those innovative Andy Reid plays work, that he may just be good enough to do a fine job of initiating the plays to Tyreek and Travis and even some of those other guys that we can get past a Pittsburgh or a New England on the road.

Yes, very tough tasks indeed, but that's what makes winning these games worthwhile.
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Broncos at Chiefs - Week 16 - Record: 11-4

I want to put in a decent post about this one, here with a playoff spot secured and a new quarterback controversy -- whaddya think: Dontari or Alex? Alex or Dontari?

Anyway, it is Christmas and while we enjoyed this game with family, I want to spend the rest of the holiday with them.

Will write later! Look forward to it!
__

Broncos Game II - Preview

Yes, there was a true "Chiefs Game Today" post yesterday, but I can't help but think of one key thing I want to say about our present attempt to salvage this season not only to get a playoff game or two at Arrowhead but to even get into the postseason at all.

Of course the Broncos are next Christmas day night on prime time again, and while this once looked like a marquee matchup, right now Denver is reeling at 8-6 presently out of the playoff picture and Kansas City had just polished off one of its most embarrassing tank jobs ever, holding there at 10-4 with a smattering of teams slavering to take its playoff spot.

I will say again, we should be putting up 30 points a game, every game. After the last time I said that we put up exactly 30 at Denver, but we had to slug it out to the very last seconds of overtime with completely unnecessary dramatics. That was a game for the ages, yes, one we won, yes -- that's all fine.

But this week we should've easily beat the Titans 30-19.

And so here's the take, THE TAKE, for what needs to happen this Sunday night. I really think there isn't a Chiefs fan who isn't thinking this. Please, if you are acquainted with any Chiefs fans who isn't thinking this, then in the famous loud-speaker-bellowed words of Sam Wyche, "Point 'im out and get 'im outta here!!!"

Here's the take, and it comes in the form of a simple memo.

Memo to Andy Reid.

Oh, and in case Reid doesn't get the memo, cc to Brad Childress and Matt Nagy. For that matter cc the entire coaching staff, and Alex Smith, of course. And Nick Foles. And Tyler Bray just in case. How about Clark Hunt just for emphasis, it'd be best to come from the very top. So John Dorsey too. And the entire team. And all of Chiefs Kingdom. In fact to the whole world for that matter but then this memo could only be lost to the densest of anyone with any knowledge of footbally kinds of things.

Okay, enough goofy hyperbole. Here it is.

Memo to Andy Reid:

From now until you raise that Vince Lombardi Trophy caked in red and gold confetti on that glorious Sunday night of February 5 2017, run every single offensive play to Travis Kelce or Tyreek Hill.

Travis Kelce. Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill. Travis Kelce. Hill. Kelce. Kelce. Hill. Hill. Hill. Kelce. Hill. Kelce. Kelce Hill. Hill Hill Kelce. Kelce Hill Kelce Hill. Hill Kelce Kecle Hill Hill. KecleHillKelceHillKelceHillKelceHillKelceHillinfinity.

"Oh but that's not how professional-football-at-this-level is played."

I know I know I know you're supposed to mix things up and keep the other team guessing, but guess what Andy Reid Brad Childress Matt Nagy...

Yerr not doing that.

Other teams somehow someway know exactly what you're going to do, they just do. Yes when you throw in that fantastic unusual play like, ohhh, that shocking counter run to Hill coming out of the backfield he ran for an 80-mile long touchdown, or ummm, that surprising shovel pass to Kelce behind the line of scrimmage he bulldozed his way for good yardage -- then you're sufficiently mixing things up.

Do that all the time.

These two players are so extraordinary -- game-changers, both of them, not using the term lightly -- they are game-changing players and we have two of them, TWO OF THEM, guys that could get us that 30 before the viewing audience blinks.

We have the talent, let's use our talent to get us the blistering offense we know we could have. 

If we're playing them like crazy it doesn't matter whether they know what's coming.

Just do it.

Do it until the opponent gets so worn out by their phenomenal exploits that they must put three guys on each of them. Then and only then are you allowed to try to do anything else with any other player. Yes we have nice other players. They are nice, yes, we all agree they are very nice. We could name them but not going to right now.

Right now you should only think about Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill.

Seriously.

Every.

Single.

Play.

One of them.

Touches.

The ball.

Signed,

Every single Chiefs fan who is already desperate to run out there to the sideline you roam at 500 trillion miles an hour to bop you on the head so you'll get the idea of what's in this memo, something we've all been wailing at you from wherever we are on this benighted planet for the past however long its been you have not been doing this.

One of the key things that had me thinking about this was the contrast between our bold attempts to get a single solitary 1st down to burn the remainder of game clock with just over two minutes left, and the Titans flailing attempts to go 50 yards in just over a minute with no timeouts.

Ahem, guess which was successful.

My point is in this simple question.

When we have the ball and just need to run out the clock but must get a first down, why on earth don't we just run our offense as we usually do? In fact why didn't our coaching staff know that our offensive line had been struggling in this game, and as such why didn't we throw a pass on one of those plays to --

Yes, you got it --

Travis Kelce or Tyreek Hill.

Even if it was on 3rd down, sure have Smith roll out to go for the 1st down but maybe at least have Kelce as an outlet, or hey, how about just stepping back and throwing the ball down the field? It seemed like Smith was making good throws even with the cold weather. Not trusting him to make the pass play he can make just engenders doubt in your guy's ability and continues to convince us all, most woefolly the opponent, that you're going to do vanilla things because you're scared of losing.

You're playing not to lose.

Oh how many times have Chiefs fans have had to puke up that philosophy in their Chiefs football-enjoying lives.

The key to that memo?

Please Andy Reid et al, we beg you.

Start playing to win.

If you do, you'll have 30 points on the board by halftime.

So remember the words.

Travis.

Tyreek.

Let us know you got the memo. Thanks.
___

Titans at Chiefs - Week 15 - Record: 10-4

One of the nice things about having a winning Chiefs team through the season is you can revel in all the nice things people say about the Chiefs through the later days of fall and earliest days of winter, enjoy all the conjecture about how well they'll do in the playoffs -- hey, we have a good team.

That's very nice.

Thing is, at some point, reality hits.

I know when I blog here after a loss I tend to give up on the Chiefs too readily. I cry and scream and holler the world is coming to an end. I don't think I'm too apocalyptic, but I will share things out of my despondency over any Chiefs loss.

Yes, this one was as good as any to despair.

Up 14-0 after one quarter of play, the Chiefs just blew this one.

Chance after chance after chance they had to put it away, and they couldn't. Yes it was cold, and the cold affected the Titans just as much, but my goodness, of all things, with five seconds left and the Chiefs up by one point and Ryan Succop attempting a 53-yard field goal, he misses it only for us all to watch Andy Reid try to "ice" the kicker.

He calls timeout. Just a nanosecond before Succop puts his foot on the ball for the miss, he calls timeout.

This only gets Succop warmed up for another try, and he then proceeds to make the field goal. Titans win 19-17.

Only the Chiefs. This kind of idiotic field goal-oriented agonizing eventuality only happens to the Chiefs.

Again, it should have never have gotten that far. Our D-backs were way too soft on the last Titans drive letting them get just enough yards to get just where Succop needed to be to just barely kick it through.

But our troubles started way back even before then.

Four times in the red zone and we get only one touchdown?

Countless times we simply cannot convert on 3rd down, including that critical time just after the two-minute warning when a single 1st down -- on a 3rd-&-short!!! -- would've given us the win.

The Titans kept it close by running the ball very well against us, and "we they were who we knew they were!" a very good running team -- damn, not having Derrick Johnson in there really cost us. I do think that may be our undoing, really. Remember when he ruptured his Achilles two years ago? It was against the Titans in an opening game we lost, to a Titans team that went 2-14 on the year. I believe that loss in 2014, opening day -- a game we had no business losing much like this one -- was the one that kept us from the playoffs that year because we didn't make it by one game.

And... well...

This Titans loss may be the thing that again kills us. As it is Oakland can win in San Diego and regain the top spot in the West. If Denver wins then beats us next week, we'd then be no better than a 6th seed wild-card, if we even make that.

So yeah, it was nice to have everyone talk up the Chiefs. That's fun. It was nice to be looking at that Chiefs arrowhead comfortably sitting there in that No. 2 seed spot on the NFL playoff picture graphic. Very nice. Warm fuzzies everywhere. But now... ::wistful siiigh:: 

...I mean, let's face it. Let's face reality.

- We rely too much on turnovers. Those things just don't happen when you want them to. We lucked out early in the game when the Titans receiver fumbled the ball into our end zone. People say how great that is, and it may be because of our pressure and ferocity, but I think it is way less great as everyone says because in large part it is just relying on the bounce of the ball.

- Alex Smith still makes one or two too many bad throws, every game. He actually threw the ball nicely today in the freezing cold, give him credit. On the other (freezing) hand, Smith threw a pick in the end zone watching the receiver the whole time, that's a major no-no as a quarterback. He overthrew receivers a number of times when he simply could not afford to do so.

- Our coaching regularly going conservative too often just kills us. Chiefs fans have actually been thrilling ("It's finally happening!") to some wonderfully innovative things out there, like surprising everyone running a counter to Hill for his touchdown, or that shovel pass to Kelce that got good yardage early in the 4th quarter. But right after that play -- it was, yes, you got it, 3rd down -- we were stuffed on some vanilla play or bad Smith throw or something I can't remember. But I know it wasn't using our best talent aggressively enough! Earlier in the game we were splendidly aggressive, but throughout the second half we just played scared. That hurt us.

- Our O-line is looking very inconsistent. At one point we had a 3rd-&-goal from an inch away, and our O-line couldn't get Ware in. We tried it again on 4th down and the O-line failed again. It actually started looking good in the 3rd quarter when our runners started getting good yardage, run clock -- sheez we're up 17-7. This is our kind of game. Problem is when we aren't still aggressive and innovative, the opponent just keys on our fears!

- Again again again THIS TEAM REFUSES TO CONVERT 3RD DOWNS.  Excuse me but the Chiefs needed one single first down with three minutes left, and they can't even convert on 3rd-&-short. The Titans meanwhile stormed down the field in under two minutes with no timeouts to win. This is something I just don't get.

Look again, sorry about this, but look: ZERO POINTS IN THE SECOND HALF. It's been said before: You are not a playoff contending type team when you don't convert third downs and you don't score any points for long, long stretches of a given game.

I seem to believe we didn't score any 2nd-half points in the Raiders game. So, ahem, when did we last score a second half point? 1986? Well, yeah, the Atlanta game, of course, but still, our last second half points were Eric Berry's two-point conversion run-back -- this was very nice, but PLEASE.

Our points should be coming on Ware runs and Hill touchdown catches and Kelce bulldozers and Smith laser strikes. No, we're bumbling and stumbling and I'm going to say it, sorry, I'm going to say it...

Pretending like we mean business out there.

Yes we make great plays with great talent, yes, so we should be winning.

But the playoff contending teams make that key great play one more time and today we had 57 chances to do it and just didn't.

Now yes, I do get down about all this too much. Every team loses these kinds of games. It was freezing cold out there. This will be one these guys can learn from as an extraordinarily painful loss, they can toughen up, regroup, there's that. You know we haven't lost to an AFC West team since that horrific Denver home loss at the beginning of last season, so there's precedent.

There are good things about this team. This year a number of times it already has made the play that needs to be made.

So let's hope they learn from this and get that ganas for the instance that one-more-time play needs to be made when it needs to be.
___

Raiders at Chiefs - Week 14 - Record: 10-3

It is now the beginning of the 4th quarter and because I have work early tomorrow I'm going to begin this now. I simply won't do a 4th quarter play-by-play like I did with the recent Broncos game, but I thought as we move along here I'd just put in the standard Chiefs Game Today thoughts.

I will say that right now it is 21-13 Chiefs, on the strength of a Tyreek Hill deep pass TD reception, a short Charcandrick West TD run, and a Hill TD punt return -- all happening within an eight-minute span in the 2nd quarter.

First first first first first-first-first. That loss of D.J. was crushing. We are all holding our breaths wondering if it really is that Achilles heel again. Even though our defense has been stout in spite of the horrible Chiefs offensive play in the 3rd quarter, there is just that major concern.

As it is Ramik Wilson has made some plays. Daniel Sorenson has made some plays. Eric Berry is right there leading the charge. Alex Smith had two miserable turnovers early in that quarter, a pick and a fumble, but our D held them to only three points. That's big.

We simply aren't running the football. They showed a stat on the television that said the Raiders have the 20-something-th run defense in the NFL, and in the first half we gained a whopping 20 yards rushing. Whuh? We did run the ball a little better in that 3rd quarter, with Ware getting some fine yardage, but we're still not doing anything with it. We had 0 points in the 1st quarter and 0 points in the 3rd quarter.

Our defense has been a bit bendy, but to be honest, it is just looking like Derek Carr is off. He's never had the best games against Kansas City, and he's just not been connecting sharply tonight. It is about 20 degrees out there at Arrowhead and Carr has a wobbly pinky. His receivers have just not been tracking well either, lots of missed connections by everyone -- there was just one right there not completed to a wide-open Amari Cooper. That was a major whew.

Meanwhile, Travis Kelce has been amazing. He has made catch-after-catch-after-catch. And nice deep long ones, too. He has stretched the field like crazy, and it is just head-shaking that we haven't been able to take advantage of that on offense.

Alex Smith will make a phenomenal throw one time -- I mean that pass to Hill for the Chiefs first touchdown was a truly beautiful thing -- but then at another time he'll just do something ridiculous. Towards the end of the 3rd quarter we had a 3rd-&-2 and Smith just threw the ball into a blob of Raiders. Um, wasn't somebody open somewhere else?

This is just the thing. This Raiders defense I'm told is just not the best that there is. And we're just flopping around out there against them. Travis Kelce is really the one exception. Jeremy Maclin had one nice reception on his first game back in a month but he's been invisible. Spencer Ware has had a few nice runs but we're just doing nothing with them, and the runs aren't that much -- again he's gotten more in the 2nd half but our offense... ::sigh::

Yeah, so I said I wouldn't do this, but right now there are about four minutes left in the game, and we're still holding that 21-13 lead. Oakland has the ball (but well in their own territory) and our defense has to stop again. I mention this because I'm just wondering what it would've been like if our offense had just gotten the job done when it should have. Right now the Raiders have a chance to tie this game, and it just shouldn't have been that way.

So many opportunities not consummated.

A colleague at work said he felt the Chiefs have five players who are game changers. Five. He pointed out any team would be lucky to have two or three. The Chiefs have five. And most would agree.

Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Justin Houston, Eric Berry, and Marcus Peters.

Unless we have a game-changing play of some kind here at the end of the game, the Raiders could steal this game. Marcus Peters just batted down a deep ball in the end zone. That could be a game-changer, we'll see.

This is where we need our depth to come through though, really. Especially without D.J. we are going to need our other players to step up. We've seen some of that tonight. As we all know, as I've mentioned a number of times in this blog, Dorsey and Reid have emphasized filling out the roster with players who can take care of business when they must step on to the field.

Okay, there's one. Terrance Mitchell. I don't even know where that guy came from, but he's had a fine game there in the D-backfield. Just now he batted a pass away on a 4th-&-6 with Oakland having driven the ball deep into our territory.

And we get the 1st down and proceed to run out the clock.

Nice. We're 1st in the West with all the tiebreakers.

Again, what won this game. Alex Smith making just enough fine plays. Travis Kelce being the best tight end in the NFL. Tyreek Hill being blazing fast. Our defense with Bob Sutton's strategy, Eric Berry's (and yes definitely Derrick Johnson's) leadership, and ever replenished depth getting it done every single time it was needed. (A TV stat showed that we are 2nd in the NFL in points allowed at around 16 a game. We gave up only 13 tonight.)

And just that passion. These guys play with passion and heart and ferocity and never give up and just plain get the job done.
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Chiefs at Falcons - Week 13 - Record: 9-3

Okay, so the number is now 13-14-15-16. That's the number.

The number of years in the Andy Reid-Alex Smith era the Chiefs have had a winning season.

Today we clinched another winning season, our 4th in row -- how about that, four in a row after that horrific nightmarish 2012 season. You have to admit that this has been pretty danged great. As much as we can say this or that terrible thing about Andy Reid and Alex Smith... dang-it -- they've been winning football games as Kansas City Chiefs people.

As much as I want the Chiefs to go to and win a Super Bowl, as much as Chiefs fans have slavered for that for years and years and years, I mean to even get into the conference championship game for cryin' out loud, you can't deny that this little run here has been quite impressive. I'm not going to look it up, but how many four-year winning-season streaks do the Chiefs have in their history? Probably a couple in the 60's, and certainly some in the 90's, but that's it. Not that it happens all that often for any team except for the ones that are perennially terrific...

Which leads to this team, and what this game says about this team.

Needless to say we won this baby on some very strange plays, but ones that reflected our daring coaching (for once!) and our skill players particularly at the position of free safety.

Yeah, our phenomenally exceptional free safety none other than Eric Berry.

Before we get there let's get to the offense, which was decent in the first half but pathetic in the second, except for the time we needed to get 1st downs late. We'll get there in a bit, but first,

Alex Smith.

I don't know what to think about this guy. Did you know he was 21-25 today? Are you kidding me? How was he this good? But when you think about it, he really did make most every connection today. He had fine work from Travis Kelce today also, so that was big.

Here's the thing -- it is the standard Alex Smith aggravation in light of the fact that he still won us the game today. With about 10 minutes left we're up 27-22 -- and we can now run clock, it's what we do.

But Smith did something I just had to emphatically note Super Bowl-bound quarterbacks just never do, they just don't. On 3rd down close to mid-field he escaped the rush -- something he does very well and it is a good thing we have that in him -- but then he just flat-out threw a rotten pass to a wide-open Spencer Ware with nothing but green in front of him. Ware was open --  I mean wiiide open breaking up field past the coverage -- Smith saw him, had all day to get it to him, and just overthrew him.

When Atlanta came back to score the touchdown with about four minutes left to go up 28-27, I thought that misfire was our undoing. I mean it. I mean think about that: Alex Smith has great stats, he makes plays smartly and effortlessly, then he makes a bonehead move of some kind that should lose us the game -- and we still win.

What kind of quarterback is this guy?

Examples: two notes I made early. One was about a call off splendid play-action where Smith rolled out, resulting in an easy long completion to Kelce. I'm thinking -- whuh? -- WHY don't we do that a million times more often?

The second was when Smith gets in open space and has time. How many times does he throw the ball just 0.1 seconds too soon, when if he'd waited -- yeah the pass rush is bearing down but you still have time -- if he'd waited that extra tick of a second, his receivers would break that extra step and he could complete that pass.

But then, ahem, 21-for-25 today. Yeah, what am I complaining about? But then again, the Chiefs had zero points from our regular offense in the 2nd half. Zero! Zee---row!

But then what about about that call on Albert Wilson's fake punt run for a touchdown? Were you shouting with glee as Wilson streaked down the field, not just because it was a great touchdown play, but because the coaches called something like that? I was! And guess what else there was about that play that was really cool for the Chiefs?

If you remember the Chiefs lined up to go for it on 4th-&-1, and the Falcons called time-out. This is early in the 2nd half! Those are the time-outs you need at the end of ballgames! The Chiefs then went out in punt formation but snapped it to Wilson for the TD run. That the Falcons did not have that time-out at the end of the game allowed the Chiefs to run out the clock when they had the very surprising 29-28 lead.

I'm feeling very schizophrenic right now, I have to tell you. I don't know what to think of this team. We have the playmakers, we have the coaching, but we get ourselves in these predicaments that people like Eric Berry have to get us out of.

Yes, we could talk all about the pick-six from Berry that really did a ton to save our butts from this explosive Falcons offense, that's great. But what about what led up to the two-point conversion interception return to turn a 28-27 Falcons lead into a 29-28 Chiefs win.

It really starts with the blocked extra-point early in the 1st quarter. Remember that? You'd think those things would come back to hurt us, but just like Bennie Fowler's quick touchdown in the Broncos game last week actually helped us by giving us enough time to come back and tie the game, the failure on the extra-point actually helped us late.

What if that kick goes through and everything is the same, only towards the end of the game the score is not 28-27 Falcons but tied 28-28. Think about that. Atlanta doesn't attempt that two-point conversion Berry picks and takes to the house -- instead Atlanta just kicks through the extra point and now they're up 29-28.

This game is very very very strange, and very very very fun when the Chiefs win out of it all.

Still, I can't help but shake my head about how we're winning. They showed a graphic that yardage-wise, the Chiefs are 28th and 29th -- something like that and I don't remember which was for which, sorry -- but apparently we're 28th and 29th in the NFL in total offense and total defense.

Ahem.

That stinks.

And you know, you know it. You just see it. We get stuck on offense far too often. We get very bendy on defense all the time.

But we find ways to win.

And the thing they showed right next to that stat was our turnover differential, at +14, by far the best in the NFL. 25 total takeaways, by far the most in the NFL. We also do things like stop them on 4th down in key situations -- we did that today. We rise to the occasion when we need a big play -- like with the Wilson fake punt run and Berry's picks. We got a couple big 3rd down conversions that were key -- we don't convert those very often but when we do, it's been big. We get them to burn time-outs they could've had for later.

Can this extraordinarily opportunistic team take us the promised land?

Can we get there with the heart and soul of a winning team -- yeah, a winning team for the 4th straight year.

That's really cool.

Now we've got to go beat the Raiders this Thursday night at home with heart and soul and passion and the leadership of people like Eric Berry.

Very very cool.
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