Bengals at Chiefs - Week 17 - Record: 10-6

Okay so we managed to pull this one out with enough offense to put Harrison Butker in field goal range for six bangers. I mean, that's great, and I mean we did get the win, and we did clinch the AFC West and yet another playoff berth. Very very very very very nice.

And yes, after a messy first quarter when the Bengals took advantage of some Chiefs sloppiness to go up 17-7, our defense was absolutely ferocious keeping the Bengals from scoring any points at all in the second half. 

All --- Right.

The Not-All-Right thing about this game is our still-raging failure to score touchdowns on offense. We did get the big plays from Isiah Pacheco and Rashee Rice and Richie James, yes, very needed. 

But the again just watching Patrick Mahomes messing up almost cost us another game. To be fair, it could be our rookie tackle Wanya Morris messing it up by allowing a Bengals guy to come in and get a strip sack that led to putting the Bengals up 17-7. It was just like last week, like a recurrent nightmare none of us wanted to keep having.

I've actually been thinking about our 2018 season, only because I was wondering what we did then when Mahomes passed for 5,000 yards, 50 TDs, and we just salivated over what we finally got to have there at quarterback. Two things of note -- and there may be more but there are two things I can think of.

The first is those receivers. In 2018 our main wide receivers were, if you remember, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, DeMarcus Robinson, and Chris Conley. Remember too that we also had Travis playing at a very high level, and for a while Kareem Hunt. After he had to leave we had Spencer Ware and Damien Williams doing most of the running back work.

Who are our wide receivers today? Can I just put down a great big ::WHIMPER::? I watched much of the Rams game this morning and you know? DeMarcus Robinson actually had a pretty good game for them. I guess I wonder why we gave up on him. I know people were really down on him, and you've got to move on from some people, but the Rams have simply done a terrific coaching job this year.

Our coaching job? I don't think anyone believes Andy Reid and company have done their best work this year. I actually still believe, honestly, that this wide receiver crew is not this bad. I do believe our coaches have simply not done what they need to do to make Patrick Mahomes as successful as he could be.

That second thing is opposing coaches have done that one thing they know they must do to win games against the Chiefs, and I know you know what that is.

Hold on to the football on offense as long as you can.

Today the Bengals ran their first drive for, what, 57 minutes? Of course I'm exaggerating, I hope you know that, but only to make the point. Other teams' coaches know as much as you can keep the ball out of Patrick Mahomes' hands the better off you will be. And getting that nice little boost of getting even a single turnover from the Chiefs? That's bonus time burning-clock-on-offense-keeping-Mahomes-on-the-sideline.

What we do have that we didn't have in 2018 was a game-rescuing defense. I mean they went off all over the Bengals offense in that second half, and that was the key to keeping them from doing the burning-clock-on-offense thing. The Bengals simply could not keep anything going on offense after those first 17 points. 

So yeah, along with all the guys who played so well out there today, Justin Reid and Charles Omenihu just to name a couple, what we have that we didn't in 2018 was Steve Spagnuolo.

Very nice.

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Just a couple other notes that aren't exactly Chiefs related, but I just wanted to add to this week's post.

I kind of like college football mostly because I've been in a college football team fantasy league. We each have teams and follow the AP Poll each week to see which of our teams did best, counting the best four from each of our stables in the poll. It is like pro football fantasy but instead of players it is college football teams.

I had Georgia. And yes, I do think it is a joke Georgia is not in the final playoff. But they are not there because, yes, I do firmly believe, the powers-that-be just don't want Georgia in there again with a chance to win a third straight title. There is just not as much advertising revenue unless it is someone new -- there just isn't.

Thing is, let's face it. Not only is Georgia the best team in the nation, but college football has its big fat head up its big fat rear end.

Really, why not, when you think about it, how about we let Alabama Michigan Texas Washington beat each other up tomorrow and then next week, and then, for all of us who know better, have the winner then play Georgia. I'll take Georgia.

Yesterday Georgia plastered Florida State in the once highly regarded Orange Bowl, 63-3. Yep. Now I do know that those who know, know that Florida State had to play without, what, something like 20 of its best players -- all sitting out presumably to avoid injury and prepare for the NFL later.

Thing is, this is not unusual. Lots of teams are doing this, and it is stupid. I do get it, I understand why they say they are doing it, but what happened college football stars to your commitment to your school and your football and your all-paid-for education there?

Thing is thing is, this foolishness is on the college football leadership. That they allow the players to do this is just wrong. So this is getting-your-heads-out-of-your-asses Part One.

Part Two is how the college football leadership has not gotten the conferences to stay intact. Next year a number of teams are continuing this idiotic trend of moving into different conferences. This has basically destroyed the PAC-10 and put teams in ridiculous geographic positions. I do not keep track of any of it because it is so heinously stupid, but I do believe UCLA and USC next year are going to play in the Big Ten, and if I'm not mistaken that's way up in the Great Lakes region, far far away from us people out here in the west who actually enjoy the PAC-10 rivalries out here where they belong. 

Because the PAC-10 is no more, I see that Cal and Stanford have been forced to play, get this, in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Please. I kiiiiinda thought Cal and Stanford were prettttty close to the Pacific Ocean. Pacific over here, Atlantic waaaay over there.

Sorry, but all of this is just moronic. Yet it reflects a complete lack of leadership among the college football people who could have just all come together and simply worked it out.

So yeah, bottom line, kudos at least to the Georgia Bulldogs and its leadership, who took their contemptible playoff selection snub with grace and did a great job of keeping all their players on the field for a bowl game that really didn't mean a thing -- they didn't have to prove anything to anyone yet they still went out there and played the game.

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How about this story I just saw. The NFL has "downgraded" an officiating crew, whatever that means, for its boneheaded move allowing the Cowboys to win last night's game against the Lions. Sure enough the play in question was all on the stupidness of the NFL -- exactly like that call against Kadarius Toney in the Bills game. I could get into the details of the technicality ding-dongness that each of these entailed, but I'm not. Needless to say, the NFL leadership needs to take responsibility for this crap, not just slough it off on its hardworking officials.

It is funny, they also mentioned a missed call in the Chiefs-Packers game -- sure enough one that went against the Chiefs that could have easily cost them the game.

Huh. Funny about that...

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Finally, my fantasy football team won its Super Bowl today, so at least there was that! My son was actually the drafting expert, putting together a dominant team at the very beginning of the season. My brother-in-law set up a Yahoo league with 18 teams of his friends and relatives and friends of friends and relatives of relatives, and I did tell him I'd never done a pro football fantasy league before. He still graciously invited me to join.

So, checking with my brother-in-law and getting his enthusiastic approval, I let my son do most of the drafting at the beginning of the season while I followed along, adding some amount of input. We did so well we barely had to make any moves throughout the campaign. It was terrific from start to finish. 

Just to boast a bit, here were our key players on offense.

QB: Really split between the Jaguars Trevor Lawrence who did great to start, then the Rams Matthew Stafford who carried us the last part of the season.

RB: The Rams Kyren Williams was amazing all year. We even had the Titans Derrick Henry, and while he had some decent games he did have some duds.

WR: The Lions Amon-Ra St. Brown and 49ers Brandon Aiyuk were studs all year long.

TE: The Jaguars Evan Engram was also solid all year.

W/R/T: The Texans Nico Collins was the recipient of terrific play from CJ Stroud all season long.

My son also did great making those few necessary moves all season long to keep the team viable each and every game. At the very beginning of the season I did tell him he'd get half the winnings, happy to do it! Besides I just don't even really think too much about the money (though some of the participants would disagree!)

Just thrilled we could come away with the title! Very fun!

Now...

Can the Chiefs do the same in the real live NFL playoffs?...

::Whimper:: -- ::Sigh:: -- ::Unngh:: -- and whatever other sorts of viscerally expressive onomatopoeia there are...

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The photo is from Cassie Florido at the official Chiefs site. Thank you. The screenshot of the tweet featuring the I Think You Should Leave guy was taken after peeking at some Bleacher Report posts.

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Raiders at Chiefs - Week 16 - Record: 9-6

"Run the ****ing play."

These were the words mouthed by Patrick Mahomes coming off the field after one of the several butt-munch plays the Chiefs ran today. We could blame the receivers yet again, and I do believe our receivers are still not getting the job done.

I also do believe that the receivers not getting the job done is resulting in something very, very concerning for this Chiefs team.

It is making it so Patrick Mahomes is simply not running the ****ing play.

And sorry, but much of that is on Patrick Mahomes.

I never watch any of the pre-, mid-, or post-game commentary, but for some reason the television was still on after the game and with all the milling around here on Christmas day I happened to catch Phil Simms' remarks. And I think he said something very profound about the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes.

He said Mahomes needs to stop being so gun-shy and, yes,

Run the ****ing play.

Of course Phil didn't include the colorful epithet, but he said as much.

He said Patrick absolutely cannot worry about whether or not a receiver is going to do one thing or another -- he just needs to run the play. He simply cannot try to control everything and if a receiver doesn't do his job that's on him and the coaches.

How many times did we watch Mahomes run around like a crazed banshee back there and ::ERRRGCK:: not throw the ball. When they showed replays of receivers downfield during the time Mahomes had opportunities to throw the ball, I hate to say it but it did look like they were open enough for him to get that football to them.

Let's just face it. This was an ugly bastard, mostly for Patrick Mahomes.

This is a decent Chiefs football team. It is very tempting to say things like, "This is simply not a Super Bowl football team." I confess I do that all the time when I see Chiefs efforts like today. But you know? 

We can blame Brett Veach all we want about not getting someone like DeAndre Hopkins when we could, but Mahomes needs to get the ball to the guys he has and not worry about what they do.

We can blame Andy Reid and Matt Nagy all we want about not running plays that will succeed, but the players need to perform -- remember today we lost 20-14 in a game where 14 of those points were from two single defensive plays where Mahomes really ****ed up. 

We definitely cannot blame our defense who is carrying this team right now, and our leadership has got to help keep them from being discouraged for working their asses off only to see us go 3-5 over the last eight games, because our offensive players including, sadly, Patrick Mahomes, are not doing their jobs. I mean get this, I'm pretty sure their quarterback did not complete a single pass in the entire second half. I mean, that's shameful, it is truly shameful we could not pull this one out.

Two guys who stepped up were guys I've been screaming for them to play more: Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Richie James. Sure enough those two guys did ball-out. And yes, it was me, sorry, I called it. I believe these guys can contribute way more than people think they can.

As far as where we're at right now, we're likely to make the playoffs and even win the division. The only way we can lose it is if the Raiders or Broncos win their last two games and we lose our last two.

That latter thing? I wouldn't put it past them if this actually pretty talented team doesn't get it together and start playing like they mean it. And yeah, sorry, but it requires -- it is hard to say thing because we've been so spoiled to have a guy like this play at a phenomenal level just about every single game -- but it requires Patrick Mahomes himself to, yes... just plain --

Run --- the --- ****ing --- play.

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"We could have had DK Metcalf!"

I am pounding out a special Chiefs Game Today post just for my two sons who have addressed one of those most profound items banging around in the heads of everyone in the Chiefs Kingdom.

Last night DK Metcalf was extraordinarily beast in his play helping the Seahawks to a thrilling win over the Eagles. Over the past several years we've watched Metcalf do phenomenal things for the Seahawks as one of the top receiving talents in the league. And sure enough, every time I see him do well I do think, as many in the Kingdom do I'm sure:

"The Chiefs could have drafted him when he dropped like a rock in the draft. He was right there for the taking. Instead we drafted...

"Mecole Hardman."

Let's just get this out of the way right now. A team with Mahomes and Metcalf would truly be a juggernaut. It would be wonderful if that whole thing turned out that way, we all know, it would. Ahhh...

But there are a number of things to note about all this, and why I'm putting up this post.

1. I firmly believe the reason the Chiefs selected Hardman instead of Metcalf was, if you remember, at the time there was widely published concern about Tyreek Hill and some domestic violence issues. It turned out to be nothing, but right at that time it was so much in the public purview that the Chiefs were afraid it would all turn against Hill and his future with the Chiefs. So they went after Hardman and his speed as a sort-of backstop option just in case.

Was all that stuff about Tyreek just more folderol from the NFL to derail Chiefs success? I wouldn't put it past them. I don't think they could have deliberately done it to affect this particular draft result, but the Hill stuff being so negative and so broadly blapped into the mainstream I do believe did keep the Chiefs from getting Metcalf and going with Hardman instead.

Could it have been the case that they shied away from Metcalf because of his reputation, that maybe he'd be a less-than-positive influence on the team? Maybe that too. He's had his troubles in Seattle, but they really haven't been so bad that he hasn't performed at a really high level when he wants to. What do you do with that?

2. I really don't believe you can say "What if" too much with the draft results. Anybody can do that with any player drafted before or after some other player. It is "Monday morning quarterbacking" on steroids -- or really: "Friday morning end-of-April general managing." How many times do we have to hear about the 198 opportunities a team had to draft Tom Brady? It gets annoying after a while, and yes, not only can you do that with anyone in pro football, but we all still do it, all the time.

Yes, I confess, I still do it with DK Metcalf. I do, I shouldn't, but I do. I can't help it. But then, what if the Chiefs did have Metcalf and we'd already had four consecutive undefeated Super Bowl seasons? That's nice for us, but bad for the NFL. And this is one of those very twisted things about having a favorite sports team to obsess over. They must lose every once in a while or it'd be boring. People already hate the Chiefs for having Mahomes and being as successful as we've been. We'd be downright abandoned by everyone if we won too much -- hey, I'm already convinced the NFL is doing its damnedest to impede our success in all kinds of other ways. Again, that ref call at the end of the Buffalo game? Absolutely inexcusable.

3. How many rings does DK Metcalf have? And how many rings does Mecole Hardman have? Lessee...

See, this is the key thing that softens the blow of a distinct absence of Metcalf in a Chiefs uniform. And really, it softens it a lot not so much as the rings as the fact that, as much as you may hate Hardman for not being Metcalf, the guy has actually performed for us.

And not only that, but he's been notably instrumental in helping us win games leading to Super Bowls. Notably so. The key things I can think of right now are his game-changing kick returns in both the final game of the 2019 season leading to getting the bye that year, and the playoff game just a couple weeks later that changed the tenor of a game we were losing 24-0.

He's also been the best jet-sweep runner in the league, really, and while much of that is the coaching and execution by the blockers, you can't deny that they guy gets to that edge and finds a way to streak past everybody to get clutch yardage. Last year in particular he almost single-handedly used this skill to annihilate the very good 49ers, I mean we blasted them, with Hardman scoring three touchdowns largely on his ability to do this very thing.

So yeah, I am just as human as anyone in the Chiefs Kingdom. I don't think anyone looks at the fantastic ability of a DK Metcalf and wonder, "What if?" 

But keep in mind that we are tremendously blessed in so many ways. We have Patrick Mahomes -- really, those fans of the teams with the nine picks before he was taken in 2017, how much are they still pulling their hair out? We have Brett Veach, who does get it right most times, in fact far more than any other GM, he really does. Scream at him all you want about his inability to get this guy or that guy, but face it, you want to go with someone else in the front office? Really? Take some time to look at the draft history of pretty much every other team and you'll start to really appreciate what we have.

So in that sense, let's genuinely hope Mecole Hardman returns and can play at the level we know he can. With a largely ineffective Skyy Moore now done for the season, that may be in the works.

And that should be a very good thing for the Chiefs Kingdom.

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The photo of Hardman is from the Fox 4 news website. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Patriots - Week 15 - Record: 9-5

The main questions we are always asking, let's face it. In no particular order:

Will our defense maintain its excellent play on the season?

Can Patrick Mahomes be as consistent as he had consistently been in all his previous quarterback play?

Will the referees let us play THIS week?

Will our receivers for once actually play like they belong in the NFL?

And the number one question of them all:

Will those who have interminably annoyed us all with their incessant and completely unjustified disrespect of Clyde Edwards-Helaire admit that they'd been major league buttheads about him this entire time?

That last one first. Sorry, because CEH is not Barry Sanders does not justify the constant and contemptible dismissal of the skills he does have. Yes Isiah Pacheco is on the whole a better option, but I'm really glad the Chiefs did not give up on CEH because replacing Pacheco today he did marvelously. His ability was highlighted by a phenomenal leaping catch in the back of the end zone for the Chiefs clinching touchdown.

So yeah, no matter what he does from this point forward, please afford CEH all due respect he rightly deserves, please.

As to the other questions...

Defense. It was pretty much as good as it has been, allowing only 17 points and just generally aggravating an average Patriots offense all game long.

Mahomes. Eh, he's still not what we'd like to see, just what we've been so spoiled to see, but he still did pretty good matriculating when he needed to. He threw at least a couple picks if I remember, and yeah, that is always cause for concern.

Referees. To be honest they were making some ticky-tack calls... against the Patriots. To be fair it did seem to go against the Patriots a bit more in this game, although there was one call in particular against Rashee Rice, for a pick he was essentially pulled into, wiping out a big Chiefs play.

Receivers. Still -- not. It's just ----- not. Our tight ends are great, which includes Noah Gray who is not Travis Kelce but still plays well. We have our backs doing great receiving -- besides CEH's TD catch there was Jerick McKinnon's nifty screen-pass touchdown. 

But our wide receivers. Umm -- yeah -- not. 

Kadarius Toney dropped two passes he should have had, one of which he dropped right into the hands of the Patriots defender. Not.

Skyy Moore caught a pass he made himself open-for very nicely, and the proceeded to fumble it away before the relief that it didn't count because of a Patriots penalty. Whew. And not.

There were other drops here and there, and other routes not-run or openings not-had that made Mahomes' day again a bit of a struggle.

The only receiver who actually did well was, yes, our rookie Rashee Rice who is again singlehandedly salvaging the reputation of this group. He caught nine or ten passes today and they were saying he is about to break Dwayne Bowe's rookie record of some sort. That's cool. 

They were also saying Mahomes has never lost three games in a row. We got the win today to avoid that, so we were able to stop our two-game losing streak, so that's cool too.

As it is we're 9-5 and with the Broncos loss last night we've now got a two-game lead again. We may snatch yet another AFC West title still.

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The photo is from Steve Sanders at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Once Again Because People Still Don't Seem to Be Getting It: The NFLers Do Not Want the Chiefs To Win Again, or Ever Really

For review, here is what I knew from yesterday's game during the time I was at an all-day family event:

1. We had a very bad interception.

2. We had a very bad fumble.

3. We had a very bad final score.

That's it.

Thing is, while still avoiding looking at any of it at all, I discovered three other things, only from catching it on my Twitter feed when I looked at it at the very end of the day.

1. At a very critical time at the end of the game we had to experience a horrifically bad ref call and a horrifically bad ref non-call, one right after the other -- the first of which definitely cost us the game.

2. Patrick Mahomes had an uncharacteristically bad meltdown about it.

3. Patrick Mahomes came back, however, to display extraordinary graciousness in his post-game presser appearance while still showing tremendous disappointment in what the NFL is doing by not, in his words, just plain letting them play.

He's right.

Thing is you could see the abject exasperation in his eyes and hear it in his voice about just how phenomenally shitty the officiating was in these instances.

Again the reason I saw all this without looking for any of it was it was all over my Twitter feed, and I actually have a grand total of zero followings related to anything Chiefs. I do know Twitter may put up posts from people they think I may like, but I don't see how that many posts could have come up just from what the program may think I like about the Chiefs.

Indeed from what I gather, this topic was trending pretty viciously.

For good reason.

One of the tweets I saw related to the fact that offensive off-sides like the one they called on us is never called. And it seems he is correct. I have shared this before, it is legion the number of times I see an offensive player, particularly an end trying to line up exactly correct, being clearly off-sides. 

Whenever I see it I think, "Okay, let's see if they throw a flag on him. Ummm, okay, they didn't, which means it is yet another justification for the NFL to extend a most bodacious apology to Dee Ford and the Chiefs."

Yes, sorry, I think that every single time I see it. Every - single - time. Again, I don't mind that they don't call it, it is just too close to throw the flag. I agree. As Patrick said, essentially, "Just let the game go. No player is trying to gain any advantage by being half-a-foot off-sides. Let us play and do our jobs as we should..."

He's right, and it is good to see a number of people, even hifalutin NFL pundits and people like that saying the same thing.

The next step is clear. Let's face it -- and yes this was a bit intimated in even the little that I saw from the punditsphere --

Let's just plain acknowledge that as the Scorecasting truths have plainly uncovered --

The NFLers do not want the Chiefs to win.

There just isn't enough money or whatever other good-things for the powers-that-be to have the Chiefs continue to ride through the postseason as they have. 

It is the same thing in other sports, and for the 87-millionth time, distinct advantages are given to the big-market media-darling teams. It'll be nice for more smart principled people with some measure of media reach to further acknowledge the obvious truth that not only is this all deceitfully criminal through the deliberate distortion of competitive integrity in major professional sports, but also for the most part everyone is perfectly okay with it because those teams regularly winning is good for everyone even if they don't win all the time.

I emphasize that again because of what we all know happened with the Shohei Ohtani free agent signing. He is very likely the greatest baseball player ever, and before Saturday everyone was wondering where he would decide to go to play for the next ten years for some 900 gazillion dollars.

Thing is on Saturday around mid-day I was out driving and heard the guy on the radio say all Angels and Dodgers fans should be disappointed (I live in the Los Angeles area), because Ohtani had decided to sign with the Toronto Blue Jays. The radio guy sounded sure about this, so I took it as ironclad news. Thing is, this was a music station dude sharing this news story, so, yeah...

Anyway, the whole point of all this was right after hearing this I thought exactly what anyone with a single brain cell in their head thought.

Guhhh?

Why on earth would he sign with Toronto? This isn't to diss Toronto or any other major league franchise. 

It is just that we all know.

We all know, no matter how much we try to convince ourselves it is indeed all on the up-and-up, that it's all even-steven, that it is all really a level playing field, that because the Yankees and Dodgers don't win all the time it all must be ever-so wholesome so there...

No matter how much we try to replay in our minds at 78-speed these ridiculous fantasies about the integrity of major professional sports in North America --

We know.

What happened was apparently some rumor went out that he'd signed with Toronto and it got legs. The music station radio caught it -- of course he sounded like some young-ish guy who sees a lot of stuff on social media that just ain't so, and shared what he saw or heard with the rest of us.

Turns out my perfectly reasonable incredulity forced me to check with my very good into-baseball friend, and sure enough...

Ohtani signed with the Dodgers.

We all know why. It just isn't hard at all. In fact the Blue Jays or any other team could've offered Ohtani 57 million billion trillion trazillionillion splazhillionillionillionillion dollars to play for them and he'd still go play for the Dodgers.

It is made to be that way.

And if you're a fan of those Blue Jays or any other team besides the Yankees or Dodgers you can be a good 'ol fan and be proud of your team and sport the insignia in the trendiest outfit and that's a lot of fun, but know you are at a distinct disadvantage every single time you hand over your 400 clams to see a ball game because your fan base and all that comes with it can never ever match the Dodger fan base and all that all of major league baseball wants to get from it.

Same thing with the Chiefs.

It is a bit harder in the NFL to manipulate things the way the majors and the Dodgers do, but again if you look at the Scorecasting truths you'll see it can happen with the officiating. And sure enough, it did happen last night, in bright, brilliant colors.

Maybe this won't be a bad thing, in that Patrick will still be able to rally the troops with that extra motivation for a fine end-of-the-regular-season run. It's very possible.

Probable? Uhh. Now I don't think it is necessarily unlikely because we do have some very good things about our team.

But that receiver situation.

Again, I don't know a thing about the game other than what I've shared here, nothing. We did score two touchdowns -- I have no idea what happened. Indeed maybe there was some good play especially by any of those receivers that is reason for genuine hope.

Because again, we can screech about the ugly duplicity of the NFLers in what happens with that officiating until we can't breathe, but let's face the reality of what is happening with this team. Please. 

How did we get down 20-17 late so we'd have to struggle just to try to tie the game? Why did our offense muster only 17 points for the first 59  minutes of the game, against what I've heard is a pretty average Bills defense? How come with a Patrick Mahomes at quarterback we are only putting up a measly 17 points just about every single game?

What is with our offense for the umpteenth time?

And yeah, did you see? Denver is a scant single game back right now and they are feeling it. And they do have excellent receivers led by that Courtland Sutton who is a total stud. ::Sighhh...::

Gone are the days we can win the AFC West by October. Four games left to see if we can overcome the NFLers antagonism, we'll see -- it's really tough to do...

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Bills at Chiefs - Week 14 - Record: 8-5

I was again completely indisposed during today's game, engaged in an important family event. I did check the score a few times over the course of the game time period, however, and besides just seeing what that score was I noted only two other things. Really, as far as the plays go, these were the only ones I saw. This does comprise my entire knowledge of today's affair, gruesomely as you will see.

After each look-in I was so disgusted I really did not do much checking my cell to see how things were going. I just had a bad feeling about all this, and the two things I saw were, well, disgusting. 

On the ESPN gamecast:

"Mahomes throws blah-blah-blah INTERCEPTED blah-blah-blah." (If you know what the ESPN gamecast notes look like, you know how it feels seeing this kind of thing.)

Then the second thing much later: "Mahomes completes pass to Rice blah-blah-blah FUMBLE blah-blah-blah."

That was it for me.

I did see the final score, though, annnnnnnnnnnnd...

Well, it's late and I'm not going to get into it now. I really don't think I'm going to look at anything related to this game because it will only depress me, but I promise, I do have some thoughts. I do have a take, and I will be sharing that tomorrow.

Until then...

Just remember, just one more win and at least we'll have another winning record for the season! That's pretty cool, we can hope for that!

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Chiefs at Packers - Week 13 - Record: 8-4 - Third Take

I simply had to pound out yet another rant after watching last night's primetime affair, this one between the Bengals and the Jaguars, two fine teams in the AFC. As I've shared before I generally do not tune in to other games, but this one I did, for about half of it here and there.

The only point I really wanted to make in this one is this, well, actually six of them.

Ja'Marr Chase. Zay Jones. Tee Higgins. Calvin Ridley. Tyler Boyd. Parker Washington.

In no particular order these are the wide receivers who played most prominently last night, helping their teams' backup quarterbacks to a combined 65 points in the game. I could of course add Jacksonville's fine Christian Kirk, but he was injured early in the game.

Still.

Still.

I don't know if you watched any of the game, but every single one of these guys played light years better than the Chiefs wide receivers. I'd love to exclude Rashee Rice from that unflattering assessment, but the Chiefs are still not really getting the ball to him anywhere near as much downfield as they should be. It may just be that he is a rookie and needs that much more work in, but that doesn't make the Chiefs' present wide receiver ugliness any prettier.

Back to those WRs last night.

Wow.

They got open, they got separation, they ran fine routes, they made catches, they knew where they needed to be, they looked like they knew what they were doing, they helped their QBs out by being precisely in the right places, they tracked every pass well, they got their bodies and hands in the right places...

Do I need to go on?

Do I need to mention how opposite all of the Chiefs' receiver activity over most of the season this year has been from what we saw last night?

And here's the thing that is just so crushing about all of this.

We have Patrick Freakin' Mahomes.

I guess at this point I just wonder if any of our receivers were even watching what happened in last night's game -- something pretty much anyone who tuned in simply could not miss -- and looking and seeing and deeply richly contemplating what they could themselves be doing, you know, being as athletic and wide-receiver-skilled and phenomenally-well-paid as they are... and learning from it and preparing to practice it deep into the late evening every single day this week. 

Really, they could just about pretty much look at any team's game film and pick up some things to get their game on.

I guess I just wonder why they aren't doing that -- watching, gleaning, confessing, and re-dedicating -- and while doing that just shaking their heads to themselves bleating the words that make all of this so stultifyingly inexcusable. You know what the words are:

"We have Patrick Freakin' Mahomes. I mean, yeah, what the freak ARE WE DOING OUT THERE???"

Let's see. Let's see if their quite productively instructive viewing of the wide receiver clinic the Bengals and the Jaguars guys put on last night means something, and they get something of a game on over the rest of this one football season.

Because if again I have to watch the guy who is very likely the greatest quarterback of all time, space, and dimension have to spend another single minute scurrying around behind the line of scrimmage wondering if his selected receiver is actually going to do his freakin' job, I'm going to pitch an embolism, I swear.

Yeah, I'm sure for next year Veach is going to make sure we get a Tee Higgins or one of those nice free agent wide receivers. We all know he blew it by not going after DeAndre Hopkins, but I confess I was one of those who thought our wide receiver issues would work themselves out. I'm just as guilty.

But again, maybe there is hope remaining for this season.

Maybe they'll get it.

We can only see...

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Chiefs at Packers - Week 13 - Record: 8-4 - Second Take

I thought I'd go to ESPN's nifty "Playoff Machine" just to plug in all the likely results of the remaining season, just to get a bit of an idea where the Chiefs may end up. Of course anything can happen, yes, after all yesterday the Cardinals beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

For the Chiefs I did put losses down for the Buffalo and Cincinnati games, because while those teams are definitely having down years, they are still very dangerous. I did put down wins against the Raiders, Chargers, and Patriots, which would put our final regular season standings at 11-6, barely good enough for the 4th seed.

Losing to the Packers last night really put the hurt on our chances to get the No. 1 seed. We'd need help, and I'm just not confident very good Ravens, Jaguars, or Dolphins teams are going to get it for us.

My confidence is just so low right now mostly because of the absolute atrocious play of our wide receivers, Rashee Rice excepted.

One of the real problems is these guys simply cannot run routes to give Patrick the confidence he needs to get the ball to them. Marquez Valdes-Scantling is supposed to be our deep threat, but on one play down the field he was open but turned in too sharply and simply did not make the necessary turn-around to the ball to get it. A receiver getting paid  -- what, three, four million dollars a year? -- has got to be able to do that.

And that deep throw late in the game that everyone thought was pass interference? Yeah, it may have been, but MVS has still got to come back to that ball and get it, PI or not. It was simply insane last night that the key play of the game for the Packers, really, was their receiver -- smothered by three Chiefs defenders and literally falling to the ground -- snatching the duck of a throw from 30 yards away (after which they scored an easy touchdown), while our critically important receiver can't just easily turn as he should to get a perfectly thrown ball by our QB.

This is a real issue.

And for those who claim the Packers got robbed on an unnecessary roughness call when a tackler really smacked Mahomes just as he was going out-of-bounds? Sorry, wrong. It was the right call. You don't do that to any quarterback, much less one that is so valuable to the league. Yes, I agree, if Mahomes is a "runner," I get it, smack away. But he was clearly going out of bounds and all you have to do is ensure he goes continues out of bounds. No big deal. The Packers defender did commit a penalty, it doesn't have to be beyond that white area for the hit to be genuinely unnecessary.

I did want to remark on the idiotic racialist thread that sadly got some traction at all this week, about the young Chiefs fan who painted his face black on one side and red on the other. I'm not going to get into it all and share a number of things I wanted to, but interesting no one mentioned on the broadcast last night, good for them, and the story seems to have died the quick, painful death it deserves. Just hoping this is something meaningfully related to the very hopeful reality that the ugly racialist stuff may actually be dissipating, that would be nice.

Otherwise, football-wise, we play Buffalo next week and again, if we lose and lose to Cincinnati a few weeks later, we should still be good if was can win out otherwise. We'd be at a 4th seed though, and facing a really good Houston team who believe it or not would, if all of this transpires, have a better record than us and would definitely be looking for revenge for 2019.

It'll be very bad for us if we just don't get this receiver thing fixed.

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Chiefs at Packers - Week 13 - Record: 8-4

Just blogging while I watch the game. Right now the opening drive of the Packers is very bad for the Chiefs. I thought we had an all-that defense, yet they are carving us up. Now we just lost Drue Tranquill to injury, and we are already without Nick Bolton for multiple games. The Packers are just running the ball right down our throats.

As I sit here with the laptop, I'd like to add that I watched just a few other parts of a few other games today. I usually don't do that, but we do actually watch Rams games for some length since my wife is a traditional Rams fan. What I wanted to point out is the number of times the right tackle jumped a tick before the ball was snapped. It happened a few times, not a lot, but a few, and each time it happened it was not called.

Remember when they called it on Jawan Taylor even when he didn't jump before the snap? He was so good getting off the snap that the refs had to rein him in a bit. It is just evidence that the powers-that-be are great with the Chiefs taking a powder this year and letting another team go the promised land.

I think about this again only because this phenomenon happened in college football today. The powers-that-be loved the fact that Alabama beat Georgia because that meant they could have an excuse to kick Georgia out of the playoff. Never mind that Georgia pummeled every team they played during the "regular" season including all their very good SEC opponents. Alabama, on the other hand, had a number of close calls including the need for a miracle play last week to beat a very average Auburn team.

Other teams making the playoff, Michigan and Texas, got powder puff teams to beat in their respective conference games. Everyone knows that if allowed the championship game would be Georgia and Alabama. 

But no.

And Florida State fans? It's nice you went undefeated, but you also won too many close games mostly against teams not in the SEC. Sorry, the team that got jobbed was Georgia. You know as well as everyone else including the powers-that-be that Georgia would have had their way with Michigan, Texas, and Washington. And would they have met Alabama again in the title game they'd have beaten them too as long as the refs didn't miss as many calls as they did in this week's debacle.

But no, what really happened was the powers-that-be made a brief phone call to the advertisers who knew they could get away with whispering, "Um, yeah, another time Georgia is there? Um, no. Time for someone else, we've got money to make here."

So, back to the Chiefs, Travis Kelce just got PI'd, but no call. On the next play he barely pushes the Packers defender before making a fine catch, and they call the PI on him. As it is Mahomes is actually doing his terrific job of matriculating, and Isiah Pacheco is doing his terrific running like a madman. MVS made a fine catch to start to regain something of a decent receiver reputation.

Whupp, Mahomes gets sacked twice to end that threat, and Butker gets the field goal.

Now the Packers are moving the ball at will against this ONE-OF-THE-BEST-DEFENSES-THE-CHIEFS-HAVE-EVER-HAD. Justin Reid is now on a knee. Earlier Charles Omenihu went down but seemed to be back. Tranquill is likely out for the game with a concussion.

Besides being down two of our key linebackers, our pass rush is not stout enough, and the Packers offense is performing like the finest-oiled machine. They have done no wrong at all so far. Unless we start doing something meaningful or forcing some turnovers, this game is going to be lost very soon.

Whupp, there was a missed oppotunity. Big mistake by their QB that could've been intercepted but the throw was so bad no one could catch it. Still on the next play their QB threw a super easy TD pass. Again, the key is the failure of our D-line to get to the QB. Already 14-3 Packers.

Anyway, here's another thing the NFL really should address, and it shouldn't be hard. We watched just a bit of the Lions-Saints game, and wouldn't you know it, we were tuned in when that sideline official, one of those guys who handle the sideline markers or chains, got blasted by a running back being run out-of-bounds. Right after that they showed the replay and happened to catch that official lying down on that sideline, grimacing in agony with his leg bent all sideways.

Sure enough, he did badly break his leg, and they paused the game for some time to address his medical needs. During that time they mercifully did not show any more replays. Crazy, just as I was writing that Patrick Mahomes was run out of bounds and he ran into one of those same officials. It was not nearly as violent a hit as the one in the Lions-Saints game.

NFL action at this point? Really, just extend the part of the field sideline people cannot occupy. Beyond that large white area go about three feet farther and put down a yellow line. Keep everyone back behind that, even the sideline official guys. It really is just too dangerous for all that football action on the sideline -- these guys are just too large running too fast and falling on top of people too hard. 

In fact as I think about it, with so much super advanced information and graphic technology, isn't there some way it can all be done electronically now? I mean really, we all see where the first down is located on the field, you know, with that yellow line and all.

Back to game action, sure enough the Chiefs get all the way to the one-yard line 1st-&-goal, awright! -- annnd, wait-a-minute. Holding against Creed Humphrey. We have to settle on a field goal. That's nice. 14-6 not-us.

Okay, so we have them at 3rd-&-3 deep in there own territory with just under two minutes left. We can get the ball back and maybe get down for more points to tighten this one up.

Nope. Our D-back slips on this stupid Lambeau field and they get the pass completed for a first down. Then they get a nice run, another nice completed pass, And now they're in field goal range.

The announcers are now talking all about our failures at linebacker because we just don't have our two key guys in there. Those guys were also the key defensive on-field play-callers, too.

Wow, cool deal. We stopped them, a penalty and some decent D put them back a bit and they had to punt. Buuut, they punted the ball down to our three for the kneel. It is halftime, maybe our regrouping will be good, the Packers defense looked like it could be had.

Nkay, we get the ball first, let's see if Patrick can get us back in this thing here, but yep, it is up to our receivers and whether or not we can score any points at all in the second half...

Annnd sure enough we get called for holding on our second play of the half. Then we get an illegal shift penalty that was really ticky-tack. Annnnnnnnd now Isiah Pacheco is down -- he's now walking off the field on his own, so we'll see. They now tell us our starting left tackle is out for the game .

Yet Mahomes. He scrambles right up the gut and finds Kelce for the big game. Pacheco back in, and he pounds out an 11-yard gain. Very nice.

We do get the TD on some nice Rashee Rice action followed by an Isiah Pacheco punch-in. But then we try for two and we are afflicted by another Andy Reid tendency -- go to the well just once too often. He handed the ball to Pacheco on about the exact same play, and they stuff it. 14-12.

Oh wow. Now we may have lost Bryan Cook. Are you kidding me. This Lambeau Field, it is evil. Seriously. Early they were saying this stinkin' field requires you to be very careful with your footing, to have the right cleats on your shoes. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd now Cook is being carted off and they're saying they won't show the replay because it was ugly - lower leg thing. Please. 

No more of this.

One of those Four Horsemen of the Football Apocalypse is really killing us today. Remember them? Penalties (we've had some of those today), Turnovers (we've been okay there tonight hopefully not famous-last-words), Bad calls (that one by Andy on the two-point conversion was not great), and that fourth one -- Injuries.

Oh wow. Gimme a break. On fourth down their QB is about to be hammered by two linemen, he lofts up the duckiest of ducks, and it drops into his receiver's hand around four of our defenders for a 30-yard gain. Then he throws a TD to the guy in the back of the end zone. right past our defender's up-stretched hand.

Errrgh. This is just too much. I think I need a break. I'm coming back to this later to see if we can actually make a game of this. We do have Patrick Mahomes, so there is always hope. There is that.

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Okay, I'm back. This was indeed one ugly beyotch. 

Give the Packers credit, they did have a terrific game plan and executed it. We also got afflicted by one of those other Horsemen when Patrick Mahomes threw a pick late to snuff out a drive we needed. Thing is, some of the fault of that was on the intended receiver Skyy Moore who just didn't track Mahomes' pass well enough. Mahomes really shouldn't have thrown it, yes, but that is sadly because Moore is simply not the receiver who could make that play, so you just can't make that throw.

And that's one of the keys to all of this.

Their receivers made plays. They looked great, give them their due.

Our receivers meanwhile? 

Uggh.

Should we go through the list yet again? 

Briefly: MVS was invisible. Watson was invisible. Moore was pretty much invisible. Toney was not getting any downfield throws. Richie James actually made a great catch-and-run so how about working him in more? I should add that Rashee Rice was solid, again, but again, he can't do it all.

All these guys were needed to make plays especially at the end when we had the ball at midfield down by a score with about a minute left. That Hail Mary? Justin Watson actually had his hands on it, really, looking at the replay there is no reason for him not to grab that ball. 

But then...

It never should have come to that. There was a whole game they could have performed.

Again, broken record...

Our woeful receiving crew.

Nuff said.

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Chiefs at Raiders - Week 12 - Record: 8-3 - The Take

As I shared yesterday I spent the afternoon with my daughter. I watched the game on DVR later that evening, and, of course, it was immensely enjoyable. The best part, again, is that we meant business in the second half. Our running game was productive, and sorry, Clyde Edwards-Helaire was an instrumental part of that. I do believe getting him involved especially in our short passing game will help the receiver play we've all been lamenting so much.

Rashee Rice had a number of fine catches, one of which he took from some distance out for the score. It is obvious his yards-after-catch ability is exceptional. He really is the one guy who is rescuing the stature of our receiving crew. I would have like to have seen the team finally employ Kadarius Toney downfield more, but he was out for the game -- whupp, hopefully his past injury issues are not afflicting the Chiefs too much now.

Otherwise a nice dominant win for once -- this team is too good for us to have so many uncomfortably close games this season. 

I did mention that I'd gone to see the Taylor Swift concert film with my daughter, and I thought I'd add a bit more about that since I'd mentioned it yesterday.

I am not a big Taylor Swift fan -- it isn't that I don't like her, I just pay no attention to much of anything about her. But it was obvious watching the film she is an extraordinary performer. Her music is actually pretty good, and she is phenomenally talented, as a songwriter and entertainer. Her music is quite seductive, in the sense that her lyrics speak to the lives and relationship experiences of her fans.

Thing is, as a follower of Christ, I was concerned about a number of things I saw, which I did address with my daughter. She was very good about understanding and conversing meaningfully about them. I could mention a number of them here, but the main one is just how devoted her fans are. And yes, it is clear this devotion borders on idolatry.

Really, how much is one's attention to, adoration of, even obsession with a given thing replacing the genuine devotion that should only be afforded to God? I actually only say this because I too can be guilty of this. 

Can I give the Chiefs too much of my emotional investment? I know I can. If you've read some of my blog before you know I can do the very best ugly -- I've ripped Chiefs people new aye-holes far more viciously than I'd like to admit, with I believe Andy Reid and Clark Hunt getting the brunt of my embarrassing ire.

On the other end of this unseemly passion, just as much as Taylor Swift endears herself to millions of devotees, her new beau Travis Kelce can do the same for all of us Chiefs fans. Like Taylor he is smart, committed, industrious, personable, charismatic, and on the field does things that win games. Taylor and Travis are winners, we can vicariously experience the glory of their success over and above the things each of us experience in our lives that are not so glorious or glamorous or gratifying.

It is exceedingly entrancing.

Thankfully God shares with me some things that keep me grounded. Two weeks ago we were privileged to get free tickets from an in-law of a relative who could not attend the Rams-Seahawks game at SoFi Stadium -- ironically the same venue from which all the Taylor Swift concert footage was taken. 

Sitting behind us was a gentleman who was, shall we say, quite a devout Seahawks fan. I mean rather expressively so. It wasn't as much his cheering for his team, one that actually played pretty well on the whole. It was his incessant grousing about every little thing that didn't go right for his team.

Huh.

Sounds like me sometimes with my own emotional commitment to the Chiefs.

And wow, was this Seahawks fan annoying. Just sayin'... I never want to be like that. Elation when we do well? That's great. Disappointment when we don't do so well? Not a good feeling. But when that obsession gets overwhelming it is far too painful than it should be, not just for me but for those around me. This is precisely because my perspective may get wildly out-of-whack.

I have been around some fans, especially when attending live sporting events in-person, who just can't hold a perspective. And it isn't just the scoreboard -- add in all the drinking and gambling and, as Scripture says "jealousy, fits of rage, and selfish ambition," along with whatever other ugliness is in the mix, and you've got a nasty idolatry. (That biblical verse is in the fifth chapter of the letter to the Galatians, by the way.)

So yes, I spent the afternoon with my daughter during an optimum opportunity to spend time with her. It was right at the time of the Chiefs game, and yes, just before the movie started I noted we were ahead 28-17. I did not check my phone again until the movie was over. The wonderful thing was settling in to watch a scintillating concert performance on film that was genuinely enjoyable, except for those things...

The main thing is the time spent with my daughter, the film experience was good and the conversation afterwards was good too. I have the same kind of vibrant interactions with my sons regarding all things Chiefs, all of that is good too.

But to keep all of it from being to destructive to my psyche, I know I must give all the glory for the ultimate victory to God. I humbly but heartily encourage my readers to do so too.

Blessings.

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The photograph was taken by David Gray at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Raiders - Week 12 - Record: 8-3

I did a very Chiefs thing this afternoon.

I spent the entire time during the game watching the Taylor Swift movie with my daughter.

It was a Chiefs thing! After all Taylor is dating Travis! Right! Doesn't that count?!

Anyway, all I know is that we did win, and that --

We scored in the second half!

I noted we even scored 17 needed second half points to take this one. Wow, awesome.

Just looking at the score, our D stepped up yet again to allow only a single FG in that second half.

So for once, a fine second half performance to get the dubya!

After I watch this on DVR I should put in another post. Until then!...

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The photograph was taken by Andrew Mather at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Eagles at Chiefs - Week 11 - Record: 7-3 - Part II

Just a few more thoughts about last night's joke of a game -- err -- joke of a second half of a game.

First of all we can yell at the receivers all we want, but in some very real ways it gets back to the coaching and front office.

Front office first, for not swinging that trade when we could have actually truly had someone like DeAndre Hopkins. Please, do you really think Hopkins wouldn't have jumped at the chance to play with Patrick Mahomes if we really meant business? Right now he is stuck on a woefully underperforming Titans team.

I do understand, however, Veach's reluctance to make a deal when he could have earlier. Looking at our receivers it really does look like they should be performing way better than they are. This leads to the coaching staff, because failures this glaring for a group of receivers who should be playing better has got to fall a lot on those whose job it is to give them the best opportunities for success.

For now?

1. Get them on the business end of those tossing machines 24-7. Really, in every situation with every kind of throw at every kind of angle... I just can't see how professional pass-catchers making a million dollars a year just to put a projected weird brown ball into your hands aren't doing that. It is your job. So coaches, how come they aren't out there practicing that thing a million times a day?

2. Get those routes right. That's on the coaches. When they aren't out on the practice field catching Jugs throws, they need to be in the film room with you guys.

3. I happened to see a tease for a sports talk show bit that had Kurt Warner telling us Mahomes is scared to throw the ball to these guys. Please. Coaches, if true, you need to drill deeeeply into Patrick's head not to worry about that. Just have him throw the ball. He can't control everything. He's just got to trust his receivers and keep throwing the ball where he needs to. If he overthinks this too much there won't be any passes heading downfield. He also can't be favoring guys too much just to favor them. He seemed to do that with Justin Watson, and while Watson made some fine plays, he also made some dumb ones, with drops and just not making his routes right.

4. Along with that idea, the receivers need to know not to worry about what happens besides catching the ball. It really does seem our receivers "hear footsteps," get freaked, and just blow up at the last -- mostly just flubbing up when that football could easily be caught no matter how they think they'll get hit later. This happened to Skyy Moore at the end of the Detroit game we lost when his catch could've got us into FG range, and it happened last night to Watson on a terrific throw to him at the first down marker on 4th-&-25 that would've kept a critical drive alive.

5. And lastly, coaches, mix things up. Do different things. Set all of them up for success. One thing that would seem to be worth trying is getting Kadarius Toney untracked. Get him downfield more and try throwing it to him there. On kick returns he jukes guys out of their shorts like no one I've ever seen. Why can't he do that to his cover guys on pass routes?

I happened to catch an NFL Throwback episode on YouTube, "Ugliest Wins Ever," featuring teams that sucked throughout the game but still ended up winning. Well, you know?

Last night's game could've been on that show.

The Eagles were, really, when you look at it, kind of sucky. They were sacked half-a-dozen times and were thoroughly stuffed by our defense -- their best receiver was a total non-factor. They got a nifty crazy long pass towards the end of the game setting them up perfectly for their tremendously annoying tush-push touchdown to put them ahead. Mostly they just got blessed by a Chiefs offense that has been absolutely atrocious in the second half for weeks now.

Finally, some history, for what it is worth.

I took a peek at the Chiefs in 1970, the year after their first Super Bowl win. Remember that, when they beat the heavily favored Vikings? Do you know who they played in the very first regular season game after that, there at the beginning of the 1970 season?

The Vikings. And they got squashed, 27-10. Funny, no one remembers that game, and no one will remember last night's game either. Only last year's Super Bowl counts for remembering, really, so keep that in mind when distressed by all the goofy trolling that Eagles fans are doing right now.

Know who the Chiefs played in their second game that season? The Baltimore Colts, in only the second Monday Night Football game ever. They pummeled them 44-24. The Colts, by the way, went on to win the Super Bowl that year. 

Know who the Chiefs played in only their second interconference game ever (sixth game of the season)? (That Vikings opener was the first.) The Cowboys. The Chiefs got spanked in that one, 27-16.

Know what I noticed about each one of those games? Even the Baltimore one?

We sucked at scoring in the second half.

We scored 3 second-half points in the Minnesota game. We scored 13 second-half points in the Baltimore game (after scoring 31 in the first half). We kicked a piddly two FGs in the second half of the Dallas game.

Am I obsessed with looking for poor second-half performances just because of our total second-half ineptitude all year long this year? I dunno, just disconcerting what our team has been doing -- or of course not doing coming out of the locker at halftime.

Just gets back to the coaching, and the thought did cross my mind, it did: that Andy Reid has just somehow gotten back to his old ways of not making the adjustments he needs to make to counter their adjustments, and/or just sitting too comfortably on any lead he has and playing not-to-lose. Errgh.

Hopefully not. Hopefully it really is that receiver core situation.

But that is still a major ::Errck:: for all of us in the Chiefs Kingdom.

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Eagles at Chiefs - Week 11 - Record: 7-3

Well that was ugly.

Actually, no, the Chiefs first half was terrific. We did pretty well in every phase to go up 17-7.

Then the second half started. We lost 21-17. 

Did you catch that? Did you catch the final score there?

You do remember that two weeks ago we were up 21-0 on the Dolphins at the half, and went on to score zero points in the second half. Annnd do you remember the game before that? When we lost to the Broncos? When we scored zero points in the second half of that game?

Can you guess how many points we scored in the second half tonight?

The math is not hard.

The Chiefs second half tonight featured dropped passes, fumbles, no running game, inept routes, stupid penalties, and just a reverse image of the Chiefs in the first half, or really any time when they play football.

Let's face it, that drop by Valdes-Scantling close to the end of the game was just about the last straw for anyone's patience with this receiving crew. Valdes-Scantling in particular looked lost out there, scampering around wherever, flailing about tracking balls, and of course just not making the play that a Super Bowl-caliber player has got to make.

But he wasn't the only one. Justin Watson made some plays, including a touchdown catch, but he also had drops. Travis Kelce had a fumble in the red zone that, let's face it, really cost us. Skyy Moore has the athleticism to be that Julian Edelman-type clutch receiver for us, but he is about a trillion light years from being that. Kadarius Toney was worked in much more tonight, but he's still not catching passes down the field. Rashee Rice was okay, but he can't do everything.

Bottom line, it was a pathetically inept performance by our offense in that second half, and yeah, it is so crazy that the Chiefs got zero second half points for a third straight game. There was a stat the television broadcast showed, just phenomenal for this team, really brutal, that the Chiefs have an average of 5.9 second half points this season, lowest in the NFL.

5.9. You're kidding. That's not even a single touchdown with two full quarters of football play to get it in the employ of a Patrick Mahomes-led offensive unit.

In fact, I went back over each game this season, just to look at the second halves. In only one game did we score more than seven points and score in both quarters -- that was the Jacksonville game. We did score 14 against the Vikings, but only in the 3rd quarter. Otherwise in every other second half this season our scoring has been wickedly abysmal.

Yeah, really, let's hope there is something that can be done with this receiver situation.

The Eagles got their Super Bowl revenge, but they sure got a lot of help from the Chiefs.

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Dolphins at Chiefs in Frankfurt Germany - Week 9 - Record: 7-2

I will confess I saw or heard none of this game, and only peeked a few times at what what going on at the web gamecast. A 6:30-to-around-9:30 game is kind of around the time I'd like to be worshipping the Lord, so I was there doing that with a few people at a pretty nice worship assembly. I might add briefly that if you are not believing on Jesus Christ I'd encourage you to do so.

One thing I did see after church was all done was what the Chiefs had going with about two or three minutes left in the game. We were ahead 21-14 when we really should have been ahead something-like 35-14. Anyway, here we were with a 3rd-&-1 and a chance to seal this one by getting one little tiny easy one-yard gain.

Of course, you know what I thought. I always think this when the Chiefs are in this situation.

We are so going to fail here. We always do.

And you know what? We did. Looking at the replay later Mahomes went back to pass and... and... had to throw the ball away.

For the 5,809th time when we have a 3rd-&-stupifyingly-short-yard-to-get --

We sucked.

You have to know, any time I watch any other NFL team in any other game and they have a 3rd-&-short, I'd say they get it, ummm, something like 99.93719% of the time.

When the Chiefs have 3rd-&-short, that rate -- I'm pretty sure -- is around 0.0027001502% I'm pretty sure, you can look it up, but I'm pretty sure that's it. Or pretty close to that, pretty close to reliably suck.

I don't know what it is about that except Andy Reid just has some kind of brain fart when it comes to having the right play to get that yardage. It just has that very palpable feel to it. It is almost like whatever it is the Chiefs plan to do on any 3rd-&-short, the other team just somehow by some psychic ability knows what to do to stop it. And they inevitably do. Do you feel that way too?

What saved us, really, was after Miami got the ball back and started easily matriculating the ball down the field on us our now-quite-reliable D managed to hold them to a 4th-&-10 at around our 30 yard-line when their QB could not handle the snap. Good thing too because we were blitzing and they had guys breaking open downfield.

::Whew::

There are any number of things I could write about here that I later happened to catch about the game, but the one thing that needs mentioning is the splendid defensive play we made just before the 1st half ended. We're up 14-0 and our good friend Tyreek Hill took a swing pass that our CB Trent McDuffie gets all over. He's very good at stripping the ball, and he did here. Mike Edwards picked it up yet was immediately grabbed by Hill, whereupon he flipped the ball to Bryan Cook who streaked down the sideline for a super-spiffy Chiefs score.

Very very fun.

Not so fun is our offense, and our now-getting-more-and-more suspect receiving crew. Rashee Rice was still okay, scoring a nice touchdown this morning, but everyone else -- at least from what I heard -- still: ::Yikes::

We have a bye next but then we face the Eagles. I'm not so much as worried about them as I am the Ravens. They absolutely crushed their opponent for a second straight game. This Chiefs team should be doing that -- I mean it looked like we were today but then...

Uggh. That 2nd half today. Zero points -- zero. From anyone, offense, defense, anyone. Fortunately our D held the fort, but what is going on with a team that has Patrick Mahomes? Come on guys.

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

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Dolphins at Chiefs in Frankfurt Germany - Week 9 - Record: 7-2 - First Quick Take

Whew we escaped with a win, after going up 21-0 just as the 1st half ended. Then our offense went dead and we didn't score another point the entire rest of the game.

What --- is --- with --- that.

Very busy today but I should be able to carve out some time today to put a few more thoughts down here. Until then...

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Image is from Andrew Mather at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Broncos - Week 8 - Record: 6-2

Yes, the streak had to end some time. Well, not really -- I'm happy with the Chiefs beating every team 100 straight times. And then continuing to beat them another 100 straight times.

The Broncos beat us today because Patrick Mahomes is not Superman. He can't do everything. It was said he was battling the flu, so, yeah. And the giveaways. How many times did we turn the ball over today? Ugh. And there were the times the offense matriculated down the field pretty decently only to end up with field goals every time. No Chiefs touchdowns today at all. Double ugh.

So yeah, not much to write about here. Just an ugly performance that led to a Broncos win that certainly had all Bronco-ites very very very happy finally getting to enjoy a game against the Chiefs.

Time to start a new streak against these guys next time!

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Chargers at Chiefs - Week 7 - Record: 6-1

Another day, another win over an AFC West team. I shouldn't speak too soon -- speaking about having this division wrapped up so early yet again, because the Chargers were playing us really tough in the first half. It was 17-all with a few seconds left until halftime when, yes, yet again...

Travis Kelce showed us all why he should be first get any girl he wants.

Patrick Mahomes threw a pass to him in the endzone and the cover guy simply could not keep up. PI, 1st-&-goal from the one. I believe it was on the very next play Mahomes did one of his shovel-like passes to Kelce at around the line of scrimmage and he was stopped.

Except this is Travis Kelce. And the top girl of all girls was watching, you know, Taylor was in the box right there next to Brittney and her 57 million-strong entourage thrilling to it all.

Thing is, Kelce took the pass at his knees, and because there was no more than 0.0008 seconds before everyone collapsed on him, he raised the ball quickly above his head and tried to single-handedly matriculate his body right on into the endzone about a foot away.

Only right as he got some push from his fellow linemen, the Chargers linemen all tried to snatch the ball from his grasp. It was a surreal look for just a moment, the ball held high while Chargers hands were flailing away at it to try to knock it loose. They were, needless to say, unsuccessful. Kelce fell into the endzone with the requisite mighty grip on that ball and with seconds left in the half the Chiefs went up 24-17.

In the second half the Chiefs D stiffened against a Chargers offense that has been notorious for wilting late in games. That is pretty much how it played out today. The Chargers did not score another point.

We lost Nick Bolton to what is considered a pretty nasty wrist injury, let's hope it isn't too bad.

A fun note about this one. After the Chiefs reacquired Mecole Hardman from the Jets where he went to play before the season started and was inexplicably little used, he was put in to return all our kicks today. On one occasion late in the game, Hardman took a punt that was returnable (it seems so few of any kick is truly returnable these days), and right as the television announcers were mentioning it was Dante Hall day when the Chiefs were putting Hall's name on the Ring of Honor, Hardman returned it fifty yards to set up our close-out touchdown. 

I got to meet Dante Hall nine years ago when he was coaching the high school football team that was playing my son's team that night. I was the football stadium announcer so I was privileged to be out on the field pregame getting acquainted with the player names I'd have to pronounce. What a joy it was to speak with him just for a minute, and have my son's picture taken with him.

Really neat to see him honored at Arrowhead today.

Next week we get the Broncos again, who I just noted beat the Packers today. Maybe they will be getting more of their game on, I mean they did actually do a good job against us last Thursday.

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The first image is from Chris Donahue at the official Chiefs site, the second is from Andrew Mather, thank you.

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Broncos at Chiefs - Week 6 - Record: 5-1 - Second Take

Nkay let's face it. The Chiefs actually have a pretty decent defense, arguably the best Mahomes has had in his tenure so far. The back seven, the LB and DB core, has been playing lockdown D, and last night our D-line was swatting QB tosses like flies. Our running game is solid with Isiah running "angry at the ground," Jerick picking it up with the outlet passing game, and yes, Clyde filling in admirably no matter how much other web efforts ("Arrowhead Pride" ::cough::cough::) so foolishly dismiss the guy. On special teams Tommy was booming punts and Harrison was blasting 60-yard field goals. And yes, Patrick-to-Travis is still rails, last night it was on its standard bright, brilliant display.

Okay okay, we all got that.

But, yeah, ahem...

This receiving core.

How about ranking them, this time simply by how well they are looking of late.

1. Rashee Rice. By far our best option. He not only looks really good downfield but he is exceptional at doing what we all thought he would be exceptional at: yards-after-catch. Every game this dude gets more experience the better option he'll be for Mahomes.

Now this is where it starts to get ugly, which is why the WR room is just kind of gruesome right now.

2. Skyy Moore. He did make some plays last night, which is why he ranks so high here. He does actually look really good catching the ball and making plays, he does, he's athletic -- that's good. How come we are just wondering when he'll take the next step?

3. Kadarius Toney. He too looks like a phenomenally gifted football player. It's just he looked really overwhelmed last night, especially when they tried to get him into open space so he could juke everyone out of their athletic supporters like we've seen him do before. Except that, well, once they had him run a wildcat and it exploded in the Chiefs face.

4. Justin Watson. After his two great plays last week he was invisible last night. Where was he? His one notable target was a dropped pass right in his hands. Sadly right after that he was driven into the turf by the cover guy and he suffered some kind of serious shoulder damage, putting him on the sidelines for a few weeks.

5. Marquez-Valdes Scantling. Also invisible, and mostly noted for an illegal block (another really questionable call by the official -- it could be called yes, I get it, but again, don't say the Chiefs aren't victims of niggling little interpretation calls either) that negated a long catch-&-run by McKinnon. I mean, the guy came through so much in our AFC Championship game last season against the Bengals, remember? He practically carried the team when during the game we lost a couple of our WRs. This season, where is he?

6. Justyn Ross. And where is this guy? At all? From what all of us can see, it is clear he has tons and tons of talent, drive, commitment -- if this translates into real potential why isn't he on the field? In some measure, with the WR crew like it is, why not get him more targets? I don't think there are any Chiefs fans who don't feel this way.

Here's the thing. It isn't as much that any one of them don't have the ability or any of that. We can see it whenever any one of them gets the ball. The problem is in them getting the ball.  How many times are we watching Mahomes step back to pass and look and look and look and look and look and look and look and look (I mean the O-line is really doing a fine job of giving him time) and look and look and look and look...

Sure the opponent D-backs could just be doing their jobs, but how about our WRs doing their jobs? Even when Mahomes scrambles he still looks and looks and looks and looks and looks and...

Do you see this? It is very much ::errrrghckghrrgh::...

Where are those WRs breaking open for him?

I do think a lot of it is on the coaching, and working to get those guys knowing what to do and getting those routes right and getting that feel for what the defense is giving them -- those are the things that make the best WRs. And when you have a Patrick Mahomes at QB? Yikes! How can you not be getting all that?

I'm very very very sure Andy Reid et al know all this, and I'm confident they'll get it worked out. Glad to hear Mahomes say after the game, as he always does, that he likes these guys and he is looking to see them improve day-by-day -- and I don't think he's just saying that. I think he means it.

Look forward to seeing how this all plays out.

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The photo is from Chris Donahue at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Broncos at Chiefs - Week 6 - Record: 5-1

It's late and I have to work early tomorrow (I know, a common prime-time game refrain for this blog), so I'm going to put in one simple take then when I can tomorrow I'll see about adding a bit more.

But for now: two plays, very late in the game, one right after the other.

The second one of those, one of the most amazing sideline-of-the-endzone catches you'll ever see by the Broncos guy. Courtland Sutton made such a leaping, twisting, acrobatic touchdown grab -- keeping both feet in-bounds, with two Chiefs guys draped all over him -- that the officials simply did not know what to call. The Broncos coach had to ask for a replay, and sure enough, the replays showed it was a catch.

Phenomenal work. Well-deserved touchdown for the Broncos.

Thing is...

That touchdown never should have happened. 

Because the play right before it, Chiefs safety Mike Edwards made a perfectly fine hit on Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson just as he threw up an incomplete duck. Thing is, they called roughing the passer. Please. It was at least a 3rd down play, may have even been 4th -- sorry I'm just not sure -- which meant the following play, the touchdown by Sutton, would never have happened.

Whatever the case, the main point with this is that all the silly claims that the refs are favoring the Chiefs are absolute bunk. What I do see or hear about Chiefs things, which isn't much, is often clouded by the reports of so many screeching about officiating favoritism for the Chiefs. Sorry.

It just isn't happening.

And after the ridiculous Mike Edwards call, it is still quite apparent the officiating favoritism can more easily happen against the Chiefs.

To be honest though, I really think the officiating overall this season has been pretty good. When the Chiefs get calls against them they do look fair. When the Chiefs get them in their favor, they do appear that they were correct.

In fact, a positive note! A Broncos player looked to fumble the ball away to the Chiefs early in the game, but no one could tell: Was he down first?

Well guess what.

Officials from somewhere radio'ed down to the officiating crew after a look at the replay. It was clear the ballcarrier was down just before losing the football, and and AND!!!...

They told them about it.

No red flags, no settling for the wrong call, no shrugging that no one could really tell, no any of that.

Just -- glory be...

Getting.

The Call.

Right.

How about that. What a concept!

By the way, postscript, Sutton's TD and the Broncos two-point conversion made the score 16-8 with about six minutes left. I should get to more of what happened tomorrow.

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The photograph is by Andrew Mather at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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

For a while I was joining all those expressing deep concerns about our receiving core. In this game it just seemed as if the naysayers were correct -- I was indeed starting to believe them. Our receiving core may really be just not all that.

And then Justin Watson came through.

In a big way Watson made one of the most tippy-toe of tippy-toe catches, reaching high to pluck a Mahomes toss at the sideline and barely getting the thread of the tip of both shoes down in the field of play, clutching the ball a nanosecond before sliding right on out-of-bounds. It was so close they had to look at it on replay, and sure enough, he made the play.

Thing is, just as impressive was another snag by Watson. Mahomes heaved the ball out to the place where Watson was, around midfield somewhere, and after the defender reached up to pick it Watson snatched it from his grasp.

Good thing, because this young receiving core definitely needs some of that action for inspiration. Here's the scoop on every other WR for today, just because it is truly the major talk regarding the Chiefs offense these days. Pretty much in order of the guys' rank, as it is pretty much considered. In my view Watson has solidified his role as No. 1, here're the rest:

Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Eh. Once he could have had an easy touchdown if he continued his route into the endzone after a Mahomes scramble, but he did have a nice catch in the right flat for a needed 1st down.

Skyy Moore. Eh two. He is not getting as many snaps and targets, but I do remember he did make a nice grab from a very high Mahomes pass. I don't think anyone should give up on him.

Kadarius Toney. The guy definitely has skill, but I'm just wondering if he can run deeper routes and get open well enough further downfield. They are just not throwing to him deeper than ten yards for some reason.

Rashee Rice. Definitely making his way up the ladder here. The guy is truly a beast -- big, strong, and fast especially after the catch. If he keeps learning, I mean, wow. He had a terrific slant route touchdown catch today.

Justyn Ross. Okay, we finally got to see some of this guy on the field, with some nice catches. He did drop a couple and he does look very raw, but still. I know everyone reeeally wants to see more of him out there.

About the whole WR thing Andy Reid said something like they like what they see but they've just got to work them in and keep them learning. Sounds about right. All of them can do well, and really, the one who shined the most tonight was Watson, But Reid has got such an imaginative playbook -- for one play Toney ran a wildcat -- and Mahomes is throwing the ball to everyone that the most experience they get on the field will only mean better things to come.

One more shout-out (among many that there could be), this one to L'Jarius Sneed. Oh my did he shut down Justin Jefferson. At one point early Jefferson was doing a bunch of flopping and flailing to get penalty flags against us, and on a subsequent play Sneed just hauled off on him. As the play started Sneed just deliberately shoved his hands all up into his face shield, knocking Jefferson back off his feet. Oh yes he got penalized for it, but really, it was genius.

In no uncertain terms Sneed had to make the statement. Don't eff with us. No more of that crap. You want some of this, here it is.

Jefferson was a total non-factor for the entire game. 

In the second half, however, he went out with a hamstring pull, but this was purely that evil artificial turf they still have in these stadiums. Travis Kelce twisted his ankle earlier on that turf, but he later came back and even scored one of our touchdowns.

Still. Please, get rid of that artificial turf. I'm really surprised the players' union and even just plain NFL for that matter doesn't address this more fully.

Anyway, we have a quick turn around to play the still-woeful Broncos on Thursday night. I keep thinking this team has to beat the Chiefs sometime. Yes, it could be Thursday night, it could, this is the NFL -- this vaunted 4-1 Chiefs team has still had four of its five games decided by only one score.

But again, weird, as if we don't all already know this, the last Broncos win over the Chiefs was that other Thursday night game in September of 2015. Eight years ago. 15 such game match-ups ago.

So is this Thursday night the time the Broncos can pull it off? Again, could be, but with the way both teams look right now, not so sure. I should admit I just peeked just now, and the Chiefs are already ten-point favorites.

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The photograph is from David Gray at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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