Chiefs at 49ers - Week 7 - Record: 5-2

I have to admit, very sheepishly, that I thought the Chiefs were toast in this one. I confess I doubted our offensive firepower to get the job done today. Indeed, I'm ashamed of that when we do have the best quarterback in NFL history on our team, right now, today.

Last week Mahomes had a bit of a subpar game, and this week we were facing a team that I thought was too daunting, with its Nick Bosa-led defense and newly acquired Christian McCaffrey-led offense. I was convinced our line would get overpowered on both sides of the ball, and when the Niners opened with a very imposing effort and a 10-0 lead, I thought the rout was on.

But we not only have Patrick Mahomes, but we also have...

Mecole Hardman.

Yes, I agree, Hardman is tremendously aggravating when he doesn't course through or cut off or even improvise his routes when he must, I get it. But when Andy Reid uses him as he did today, it is easy to forget Tyreek Hill. Hardman had three touchdowns on the day, all on jet sweep type action. They were saying on the television broadcast that he's the only WR in the Super Bowl era to have two rushing TDs and a receiving TD in the same game. Very nice.

Our defensive line started out limp, but stiffened later and started to shut down McCaffrey. Having Willie Gay back in there made a difference. We also got the Niners line on both sides shook up and committing a lot of penalties that kept them from really finding their rhythm as the game wore on.

When the score was still relatively close there at the beginning of the 4th quarter, 28-16, the Niners were deep in Chiefs territory when L'Jarius Sneed had a pick-six right in his hands, and dropped it. I'm always thinking about the points lost when a defender just drops any easy pick. Sure enough the Niners scored shortly after that -- and there it is: a 14-point swing. Aagh.

Right after that, however, Mahomes connected with MVS on a long pass play, then slung another nice pass to JuJu to get closer to paydirt, then Mecole got his 3rd TD.

Never mind -- we're up 35-23 after all.

Add to that a nice TD catch-&-run from JuJu, a safety, and it's suddenly 44-23 us with only about six or seven minutes left of game time.

Mahomes had 400+ yards passing in this one, his highest total of the year so far. There was also a stat they showed on the television that I have to reproduce here. The Chiefs are successful at a 48% clip when facing 3rd-&-7+, in other words 3rd-&-long. That is actually really really good, especially when noting the league average is 25%. 

Indeed, apologies please for not giving these guys enough credit. Mahomes may indeed have a subpar game here and there, but not often. He is just so good. Another incredible television-broadcast stat: in his first 70 starts he has 56 wins. Wow.

Bye next week, then the Titans on another Sunday night prime time affair.

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The image is from a photograph by Steve Sanders at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Bills at Chiefs - Week 6 - Record: 4-2

Just doing this as I watch. Real quick, in the 1st half:

On our first drive we got a TD called back because they called Creed Humphrey as illegal down-field. He really wasn't, but there you go. That opening drive ended with an interception that MVS couldn't hold on to. Errgh. Pay attention later here because, really, this one play very early was the instrumental one.

On our first-half TD to Ju-Ju, Mahomes maneuvered brilliantly in the pocket. Wow. It was another magical moment from our QB.

Our blitz package was actually making plays, when the Bills had the ball near our goal we batted down two passes and stopped them on 4th down. It was awesome to see, genuinely rattling their QB Josh Allen, but we were never quite getting to him! We really needed to finish with our pass rush if we hoped to win this game.

Our punter, though, dang. Tommy Townsend has quietly developed into, really, the best punter in the NFL. He boomed one pinning the Bills deep, we held and held and held until on 3rd-&-super-long we let them get away. Couple of pass completions and ::BAM:: a long touchdown pass that gave them the lead. Errrrrgh. It was against Joshua Williams, a very raw rookie who has size and speed but is just liable to getting burnt like he did then.

The contrast. We had the ball just before that Bills success at midfield and got diddly. During that attempt to get points before the half it seemed Mahomes lost his ability to move around. The Bills rushed four and he didn't move out of danger. Von Miller was in the mix of that rush, so I get it, but Mahomes has got to be ready to use his legs as well as he does.

So, to summarize, end of 1st half it was like this. Us: garbage - we're at midfield and get nada. Them: money - in the course of a minute, having the ball at their own one with 3rd-&-long, they still march down and get a TD. Literally 99 yards for a TD. Errgh.

In the mix was yet another ding-dong taunting call on us, Ju-Ju making some silly two-second gesture at the Bills bench. Please. Yes I agree -- Chiefs players: please don't do that. But they still should not be called for that. It is stupid for the NFL to do that, to make calls like that, stupid.

Finally I can't neglect to mention that we got the ball back with just a few seconds left in the half, and we did matriculate the ball down to get Butker a shot at a 62-yard FG.

He nailed it.

Second half. They just showed a stat. Bills have only given up 7 points in the 2nd half all season. Chiefs have scored 77 points in the 2nd half all season.

We got the kickoff to start! Woo-hoo! Buttt... We couldn't move the ball enough yet got a FG shot that...

Butker missed. Errrrrrrrrgh. That I think was a killer too, he just missed it by an inch, considering we lost 24-20.

So at this point it was 10-10, and sure enough again against Joshua Williams, they got a TD pass to Stephon Diggs. Let's see, who's going to win that matchup... hmmm... All-Pro All-Everything WR Stephon Diggs vs raw untested barely-ever-played-an-NFL-down CB Joshua Williams.

Our next possession, Ju-Ju. Nice slant pass to him and long run afterwards. We picked up this guy in the off-season and every Chiefs fan had to be stoked, the guy was a stud in Pittsburgh. Absolutely we've got to get him the ball more. We finished that offensive set with Mahomes connecting with Hardman for the TD to tie it, 17-17.

4th quarter time. The Bills had the ball at midfield and we got a great backfield tackle from Darius Harris and a fine stop on a 4th down attempt. When we got the ball we were doing great with our matriculating but the refs got involved with a crap call yet again. They called a very questionable offensive PI on Travis. Major errrrrgh because that stalled us out and we only got a FG.

After a nice drive the Bills got a go-ahead TD, and then after we got the ball with a minute left we got to thrill to experience the standard issue confidence that Patrick was going to get our go-ahead TD with seconds remaining to win it!

Not.

Instead he threw a pick and that was it.

Thing is, to be honest, against a very good Bills team we had two rookies at the corners, and neither of them was Trent McDuffie. Where was he? He was nowhere. I'd heard all this chatter about how spectacular he was as our real savior D-back defender, and I don't think I saw him out there at all today.

Now here's the thing. We lost by four points. Remember at the very beginning of the game when MVS had a touchdown catch, and it was called back because they thought Creed Humphrey was too far downfield? And the penalty took the TD off the board? And we only got a FG? Really, that was the key play of the game. What if that play occurred with less than a minute left in the game?

Yet another poor ref's call that no one challenged because it was so early and it was kinda hard to tell because it was so close and all the rest of it. It's early, let it go.

Most of the ref calls in this game were fine, on both sides. The problem is the call on Humphrey is just one that should not have been made. It is one of those calls that you don't make unless it is so obvious, much like the off-sides call on Dee Ford in that 2018 title game.

Refs do change game outcomes, and the Chiefs have had to deal with that all season-long so far.

Fortunately this is just one regular season loss against a fine team, one that provides a lot of good learning opportunities for these guys. Hopefully we can get McDuffie going in that D-backfield and guys like Watson and Williams can grow enough to effectively use their talent to shore up our relatively porous pass defense.

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I cannot neglect to add a final note to this blog post. I did post this one already, but after peeking a bit on Twitter some things were shared that make it even more evident how much the refs' calls, or in this case one particular non-call severely hindered our ability to win this game.

I'd mentioned the PI call on Kelce there a bit earlier, but in watching the tweeted replay of that TD catch by Gabe David against Joshua Williams, it was so plain that Davis pushed off on Williams. It was far more egregious and had far more of an impact on the game. But yepp...

Should've easily been a PI call against Davis.

But then, you know, we're the Chiefs. It just seems the only way the Chiefs can lose is if just the right number of stupid things happen against us.

So typical.

So in some ways, my apologies to Joshua Williams. The dude looks like he can be a really good D-back and he definitely deserves a shot. We'll surely need him with his size to take on the Mike Williamses and Davante Adamses of the division. Here's to watching him grow and improve.

Maybe the refs will actually make a few more correct calls that should be made in a Chiefs game.

Not sure though, knowing how the NFL feels about the Chiefs.

So very typical.

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Raiders at Chiefs - Week 5 - Record: 4-1 Part II

I couldn't resist. I just had to add a few things after last night's thriller today after also peeking around a bit at what people have said about the affair.

First, the Chris Jones roughing-the-passer call that shouldn't have been. Afterwards Jones was extraordinarily gracious and deferential, but profoundly truthful. What was the main takeaway from his postgame remarks?

That there simply must be officials up in the booth making those calls.

It is simple. The refs on the field simply can't get it, things happen so quickly. Officials that are in the booth with initial authority to make calls wire down to the field, tell them it really wasn't RTP, and no one is worse for wear. Are there other things the NFL can do to protect the QB? Perhaps, but you can't take the game away from the players.

Second, there was a play Mahomes made that was one of his most spectacular. It was when the Chiefs were driving for their first score to start catching up after going down 17-0. He'd already been sacked, but this time he dropped back but then stepped up right into the teeth of the pass rush, bobbed and weaved a bit, and flicked a -- what, 10 or 15 yard pass? -- right into the mitts of MVS.

First down.

A few plays later they had the touchdown. I actually believe the image I led with in the first post last night right after the game was of that exact throw. I'm just surprised more wasn't made of that amazing play. But then again, yeah, ho-hum, just one of the hundreds of the many Mahomes Mahmazments we've seen and continue to enjoy seeing.

Lastly I did see some people remark that Arrowhead was even louder than when it broke the decibel level record back in 2014. Nice. The reputation Chiefs fans have for their unmatched passion is really pretty cool. And last night's game: again, we can screech all we want about the injustice of the Chris Jones call, but the loudness is assumed to have even shaken the refs to make sure they call the game right. Did that give the Chiefs a bit of an edge in ref calls? Maybe.

Did it rattle the Raiders? I can't think that it didn't.

But then I just think about the other Chris Jones goofball call in the Indy game. Oh my. He tackles someone perfectly legally and gets flagged. He blurts "Yo momma" while just standing there and gets flagged. Yet to his credit he treated each instance with tremendous poise and respect. Yet he'll still join his teammates and Kingdom fans fighting like crazy for the win.

Wow these Chiefs. The Kingdom.

I like it.

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The image of Chris Jones is a screenshot of a posted video from a postgame interview.

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Raiders at Chiefs - Week 5 - Record: 4-1

Patrick Mahomes Patrick Mahomes Patrick Mahomes Patrick Mahomes.

Travis Kelce Travis Kelce Travis Kelce Travis Kelce.

Brett Veach Brett Veach Brett Veach Brett Veach.

We won a heart-wrenching squeaker and the reason I mentioned those guys is Mahomes threw four TD passes, Kelce caught four TD passes, and Veach is just a beast at putting together a team that has enough depth to make "next-man-up" keep us competitive in a given game. 

We suffered a number of injuries today and it will take a while to gather the extent of those injuries. We started the game at a disadvantage from the injuries we already had. No Willie Gay to stop their fine run game, no Trey Smith to better protect Mahomes, no Trent McDuffie to cover a Davante Adams, no Harrison Butker to actually make field goals (even though fill-in Matthew Wright nailed a 59-yarder which really was the difference in the score)... not having any of those guys helped make this affair much closer than it should have been.

Thing is, the Raiders were suffering their own slate of injuries. First their fine tight end Darren Waller was out, and at the very end of the game their terrific running back Josh Jacobs went down when he was doing great slashing his way down the field to try to get the Raiders in position for the game-winning FG.

This game started when we had the Raiders at 4th-&-1 and they threw a 58-yard TD bomb to Davante Adams. Yhee.

A bit later we had 4th down deep in Raiders territory, and our replacement kicker missed a gimme FG. Errgh.

We must have done something to help out our young D-backs trying to cover him because we did a decent job of neutralizing Adams for most of the rest of the game, until very late when they got a TD pass to him to almost tie the game bringing the score to 30-29 Chiefs. They burnt our young D-backs yet again.

As it was we did poorly in the first quarter, going down 17-0. We then poured it on and went up 30-23, but then let them right back in it with that second long TD pass to Adams. They failed on the two-point conversion, and when we needed what Shawn Barber called "Attitude Runs" with four minutes left we just didn't get enough. We we started off well, but stalled. No points, not even a FG at least to get us up by four.

Thing is, our defense held.

It held.

Keeping Davante Adams from beating us was big. There was a play on 3rd down when Adams barely did not get his feet in bounds for what would have been a 16-yard gain to get the Raiders closer for a gimme 67-yard game-winning FG from their excellent kicker.

We could talk more about the horrific officiating calls, especially the one when Chris Jones got a splendid strip sack fumble recovery and sure enough they called roughing the passer. I think this actually lit a fire under our butts and helped us more than hurt us. It was great seeing Andy Reid just light up the refs after that one. I like it when he does that, I think we all do. Defend what is right, awesome to see!

A close one with lots of story lines but as it is a Monday night and I have work tomorrow, a potential second post will have to wait.

Next week, though...

Da Bills.

4-1 verses 4-1. Rematch of that amazing divisional game last year.

Prime time on CBS, late Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead, Jim Nantz and Tony Romo announcing, game of the year so far...

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The first image is from Chris Donahue, the second from Gavin Littell, both at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Buccaneers - Week 4 - Record: 3-1

To start, a couple of fun things Cris Collinsworth said on the TV broadcast tonight:

"These guys are just too good."

This was in specific reference to Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, shared right after Kelce made a critical catch off the turf while falling backwards to get a first down deep into Buccaneers territory. Both indeed had their typical great games, play from both that was pretty much expected after each just did not have their A-games out there last week against the Colts. They were actually still pretty good in that game, don't get me wrong, but tonight they were amazing.

Then there was this one:

"This is the Kansas City Chiefs and you have to be perfect."

Our defense managed to give up 31 points tonight, but the Bucs still have an outstanding QB-WR combo in Tom Brady and Mike Evans. After our protracted bendiness against those guys, our D-line actually started to get a bit more in Brady's face forcing enough errant throws to keep Tampa Bay from getting any real traction to keep up with us.

But yeah, what a statement about our Chiefs. 

This too after the Kansas City Star this week published a horrific character assassination piece on Patrick Mahomes. I did not read it, I do not care to, but the idea I got from those I happened to read say something about it was that it had disparaging things to say about those who may be associated with him, as if the alleged improprieties of others have any impact on who Mahomes is -- sounds very much like all the negative talk about his brother Jackson. It also had a take that Mahomes is really into himself -- and the point is? First of all we're all into ourselves to some extent, and secondly, one of the most team-players in Chiefs history is Patrick Mahomes. Errgh.

But then, it may have just been perfectly fine serving as one of those added motivations to get Mahomes to step up his game even more, which he did tonight in a big way. That play he made at the goal line spinning out of tackle after tackle and flipping the ball at the last second to CEH was just magical. ("Magical," have we used that term before? In reference to Mahomes' play? What? No fewer than 57,000 times already? Oh.)

Anyway, another thing I heard was about how this week Bucs pass rusher Shaq Barrett snickered something about the Chiefs O-line being no better than the injury-replacement one patched together to try to win the Super Bowl two years ago. Well, that Super Bowl defeat moved Brett Veach to put together one of the best O-lines in the league, and after a mediocre performance against the Colts last week, they mowed down the Bucs tonight.

One of the best things about their play was how much it elevated our running game. Clyde and Isiah Pacheco ran like crazy tonight, never getting off any huge runs but gaining large chunks every time they touched the ball. It was a joy to watch, again, especially seeing the O-line have their way with a very good Buccaneers defense. 

That we gave the beatdown we did to a really good team bodes well for us. And we'll soon be getting Willie Gay and Trent McDuffie back out there, and when we do... oh my.

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The image of Mahomes' TD pass to CEH is from Maddie Washburn at the Chiefs website. The meme is from Benjamin Solak, plucked from his Twitter post. Thank you.

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