Jaguars at Chiefs - Divisional Playoff Game - The Take

Five years ago this month, it was Sunday January 7 by the way, I was spending the day at my daughter's volleyball tournament in one of those large indoor volleyball complexes. It was fun being there with all the activity but I do remember the visceral emotional pain of thinking about what had just happened the day before.

The Chiefs were playing the Titans in a first-playoff game and they were up 21-3 at the half. Our team proceeded to score zero points in the second half while allowing the Titans to put up the necessary 19 to win the game. It was definitely a gut-punch felt throughout the next day. Ironically on the television screens in the snack bar of that sports venue there was the Jaguars-Bills game, and it was killing me seeing very small bits of that game thinking one of those teams was moving on and we were not.

Since then the Chiefs have won five straight first-playoff games, which is truly splendid for all of us in the Chiefs Kingdom after enduring all those first-playoff game (wild-card or divisional) losses since that first truly ugly one (which ones aren't, really?) of the merger era when we lost to the Dolphins on that Christmas Day in 1971. Just for presently fun reminiscences: 2019 Colts 2020 Texans 2021 Browns 2022 Steelers 2023 Jaguars. We are now 9-3 overall in postseason play in the Mahomes era. 

This one against the Jaguars sent Patrick Mahomes' legendary status up to yet another level, as if it could go any higher. Early in the game a Jaguars lineman landed on his leg wrecking his ankle. Limping around he valiantly tried to stay out and play, but after the series of downs was up he went back to the sideline and the Chiefs brass forced him to go get it looked at. 

Chad Henne came in and did wonderfully, matriculating the ball 98 yards down the field for our second touchdown.

Thing is, after getting the ankle wrapped, Mahomes came back out and actually played well, hopping around for much of it, his efforts culminating in a jump-pass touchdown throw off his non-injured foot to put the team up 27-17.

Thing is thing is, so many of those previous first-playoff losses had just enough tremendously stupid things happen against the Chiefs to get them to just barely lose games -- every-single-time such that the exasperation levels just became intolerable. I don't have to regale you with them, you know about them -- just in that Titans loss there was the Darrelle Revis batted pass that went right back into the hands of their quarterback who proceeded to run for a touchdown. Uh-huh! Uh-huh! You know!

My point is Mahomes' phenomenal talent coupled with the amazingly courageous play he showed yesterday has definitely had a major impact on reducing the horror of those stupid things. When I tracked the play of the game yesterday, I made special note of any of those stupid things, just to see, just to see if anything could be that stupid and would torpedo our chances to win. 

Fortunately there weren't many of them, but the first was huge, probably the one thing that would have been the most devastating of all of them through the years: the Mahomes injury itself.

Then there was the 2nd half Pacheco run when he came up barely short of the 1st down. Reid challenged it, and lost -- now we just lost time-out. We then went for it on 4th down and didn't get it -- now we've lost the ball on downs. Very stupid all around.

Then late in the game when it was still too close for comfort there was the dropped interception by Juan Thornhill in the end zone. Now to his credit it was athletic as all get-out, and just a bit earlier he'd made a super-studly defense of another pass across the middle. But those dropped interceptions so often come back to bite you. Fortunately on the very next play the Jags fumbled the ball to us, so there is a wonderful thing for us that could easily be considered extraordinarily stupid for the Jags.

To be fair we were also helped out but a number of drops by the Jags receivers, and there were a couple of times when their young QB Trevor Lawrence just misfired. One of those times was a very good thing for us, when Justin Reid's terrific knifing blitz forced Lawrence into an ill-advised throw that Jaylen Watson picked with one hand. This was right after the Chiefs three-&-out following that fumble recovery. That it was this late in the game made Watson's pick extra sweet.

This win was definitely a team effort, every player had clutch plays here and there making some measurable impact, but we can't conclude without giving yet another kudos to Travis Kelce, who balled out today with 14 catches and two touchdowns. Wow. Again, just those guys -- Mahomes-Kelce, Mahomes-Kelce, Mahomes-Kelce -- for a bit it was Henne-Kelce, but Travis was carrying the offense today.

I also have to put in a good word for Harrison Butker, who came through beautifully with every single kick when the margins needed points-wise were narrowed considerably with the Mahomes playing uncertainty. Another kudos goes to him for making what could really have been a game-saving tackle when their fine kick returner was headed for a touchdown and last-chance-Butker caught him at midfield with his helmet tripping him up. Big-time play there.

As I write this the Bengals and Bills are duking it out, and right now I have no idea how that is going. I'm sitting here at the computer. But from the little I saw earlier these two teams are loaded, here's to hoping Patrick is good to go next week -- but from what I've read about high-ankle sprains we can't count on anything.

Here's to praying for him whether he's on the field or not.

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The image of Travis Kelce was from Andrew Mather and the one of Tommy Townsend and Harrison Butker was from Gavin Liddell at the Chiefs website. Thank you.

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