Chiefs at Bills - Week 9 - Record: 5-4

Sorry, I know I'm committed to putting together a decent blog post, but I don't really feel like writing much here. You may know why. Just very discouraged, and it has less to do with the Chiefs failures than what is happening in a world living by the sweetest, richest deceit.

To their credit, the Bills are a good team, and they were at home. They played a fine game, making well-designed plays from their coaching staff. They made our defense work hard out there. And their defense, especially their D-line, did fine work stuffing our offense.

The Chiefs were indeed impeded again by the familiar rotten officiating we get once every three or four games. Today it favored the opponent frequently enough. There were a number of instances, but I can mention the one when they did not observe and call the batted pass that was called intentional grounding, putting us into a nasty 3rd-&-long we didn't need to be in. And they tell us that's a play that is unreviewable. So we get screwed.

Mahomes, our O-line, and yes, our play-calling coaches (Reid, Nagy, whoever) had an off-day. From our first offensive play those coaches did nothing to keep the Bills guessing and on their heels. Nothing. And yeah, Patrick missed a wide-open Travis when we had the ball at the one. Got a FG. That's nice. We really needed a touchdown there, 1st-&-goal from the one. Yeah.

Our pass rush did not do its job to pressure their fine QB, Josh Allen, so yeah, those who are screaming for us to get D-line help may be right. Chris Jones was holding his own, but we have no one off the edge doing anything meaningful. They have a terrific running back who we contained a bit, but he got enough good runs to give Allen enough to get untracked.

When we were in the game Rashee Rice was on fire, so that was nice to see. Only thing, he was really the only one who really did anything. Travis and Hollywood got some nice long grabs, but it didn't mean anything.

We now get a bye week to rest.

Nuff said for now.

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Commanders at Chiefs - Week 8 - Record: 5-3

"AI Makes Me Doubt Everything."

This was the blog post by fine evangelist Tim Challies, published on May 21, 2025, coincidentally the very day after Google introduced its Veo 3 graphics art creator program making any video-generated human beings look about as real as anything. I myself blogged about this reality -- as it were -- here.

The reason I bring this up because as much as the real-world truth that now we really will be questioning the veracity of anything that is exhibited to any thoughtful truth-respecting human being, we will pretty much be doing the same with big-time professional sports outcomes. It now looks something like this:

"Exposed illicit gambling involvement by high profile or deeply embedded sports figures makes me doubt everything that happens on the field or court."

Yes, even with the Chiefs.

I dread feeling like implicating any Chiefs anything in any questionable activity, especially when I have shared my consideration that the Chiefs are so good they really should be winning every game by a lot. Welll... yeah. what happens when they struggle on the field? What happens when they lose? 

Will I doubt that?

And what would happen if this blog effort had more than a handful of people paying any attention? I almost fear writing anything else about this.

I've made some notes about a dozen other things to say, point out, demonstrate, mention, illustrate, but I'm not going to, at least not here and not now. Again, so much of it must be left unsaid... or else. Yes, I can't say any one thing or another about anything, not implying anything except the truth that when people are proven to screw with the game and its competitive integrity, and there are specific instances everyone knows about when that happens, then there is no reason why people shouldn't wonder. About any of it.

You just can't upset the powers-that-be in ways the mainstream media can't spin. This still doesn't keep many people from saying, pointing-out, demonstrating, mentioning, illustrating, and just flat-out being openly honest about what they know is happening out there. There is indeed just too much of it to ignore, as much as so much of it is ::hush-hush:: don't mention names -- don't get too specific -- don't ask the players anything else, or, you know...

So enough of that. As always I'll cheer on my team, and they are playing right now. Not even going to say anything except just to wait until this game is all said and done and make a few remarks. 

Yeah. It is hard. I love my team and love having a decent blog effort here...

But yeah. Maybe it is a good thing I don't have many readers.

It is hard when deep in your heart you can't help but question...

Nuff said about that. 

___

Now to the game. We did handle things, won going away. It was a scoreless 1st quarter with turnovers afflicting both sides.

But wow, Rashee Rice back in there really makes a difference. Our first touchdown was set up by a very fun wildcat formation run that came a half-yard from getting the TD. As a receiver -- just his command of the field, routes and after-catch-runs. Just unparalleled.

The Commanders were without their very good quarterback Jayden Daniels. Even so, they did get two amazing catch-plays from Terry McLaurin, one of them the Commanders touchdown. But with our defense playing as well as they have, and the Commanders losing one of their fine offensive linemen to injury early, it was going to be hard for this team to compete.

And, well, yupp, this is indeed the 11th Chiefs win of 12 games overall against the Redskins/Commanders, since they started interconference play back in 1970. This is their ninth in a row over this team. The only time they lost to them was in September of 1983, in a game the Chiefs led 12-0 at halftime. Didn't score another point to the eventual NFC Champion Redskins. I looked at the box of that game, and Carlos Carson had over 100 yards receiving. 

Notable because they were saying the Chiefs so far this year do not yet have any receiver who's reached 100 yards. Much of that is just the phenomenal work of Patrick Mahomes getting everyone involved. Yet again, he was really the key. He kept all kinds of plays alive with his legs, and found everybody everywhere when he needed to.

The real tests are coming up. We have the Bills next week, then our bye, then ::yikes:: the Broncos and Colts, both playing lights-out football right now.

And right there at the end of the game here, they were saying Travis had 99 yards receiving. Rashee, by the way, had 93. Still no one with 100 this year. Oh well.

As long as we go on to win the Super Bowl.

___

The photo is by Sam Lutz at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Gambling is Evil. Get it Out of All of This. Part II.

(I wrote quite a bit about the news from yesterday in this blog post. Just posting more thoughts here, today...)

Remember that classic scene in the classic film Casablanca? The one where Inspector Renault, played by Claude Rains, rebukes cafe owner Rick Blaine -- the Humphrey Bogart character -- after a police raid complaining, "I'm shocked, shocked there is gambling going on here!" On cue an errand boy steps up to him with a wad of cash and tells him, "Your winnings, sir."

What a picture of what is going on in major North American professional sports now. In fact it has very likely been a part of all of any major organized sports in any part of the world when there is some substantial amount of cash involved in some way.

Someone who is rich and powerful and wicked wants in on the action.

It is comical if it weren't so idiotically lethal. The news has spewed this NBA gambling involvement scandal all over the place, and the association is now working overtime to try to wipe the rotted scrambled egg off of its face. Comical. Why? Easy. This stuff has likely been going on for eons, with many many many more people involved than have ever been exposed.

What else is going to come out into the open? Will it? Will there just be more dissembling and showcasing partial hangouts to keep people from seeing the reality of competitive duplicity in all its forms? I say all its forms because, ironically, as the World Series begins tonight there is no way on earth the Los Angeles Dodgers would be there without the free agency-enabled MLBer powers-that-be many-of-them-certainly-not-so-wholesome helping them out immensely. 

How long has all this been happening, especially the gambling related revelations of late? How much of it has been standard yet very hushed procedure? For years? Decades? For always? The comical: Now everyone's squawking about it? We've all been that blind to the power and infiltration of criminal syndicates in all of it? We've never even looked at what casinos do to destroy lives and livelihoods, we've never bothered to observe what life is like for people in Native American Indian reservations when we told these people to just make casinos and let them generate the wealth. "You don't have to do anything, you poor dumb Indians!" was the message served them. It destroyed their communities.

Thing is we've already seen much of it, already. Social media is now posting clips of various people involved -- athletes and whoever else intimately involved with the games -- from years ago, admitting they've had pressures from everywhere about this shit. That they've had conversations or reacted or addressed at the time these things, shared them with someone in some way, again even being recorded in video-taped confessions! Incident after incident after incident that clearly reflected game action being compromised.

There have been those few people who have already even been prosecuted for this stuff, like that NBA official some 20 years ago who confessed to manipulating outcomes. This is not even to mention how screwed teams like the 2000 Sacramento Kings were when they were dominating the Lakers in that one critical playoff game, but the officials simply couldn't keep from hosing the Kings. It was so plainly obvious it was sick. That's just one. But it is true, making sure a Los Angeles team or a New York team is successful means more of the gravy train for whoever calls the shots.

Just the whole massive operation with implicit enablement or even willful empowerment forcefully shaping any outcome the way they want is a house smothered in lies.

All the connections to organized crime, to organized gambling operations whether they are casinos or mob syndicates or the sweetest nicest online sports betting sites, anyone involved with any of that, from the desperate slot player to the cigar-smoking casino mogul enjoying the spa treatment in his luxury suite, from top to bottom, it infects the soul of the individual, the family, the community, the nation.

We've even been talking about the pros, but it seems the most vulnerable are the big-time college programs. Oh my, how gruesome it was for these people to do anything NIL, portals, and even shifting their schools all around the country to try to get into better money-generating conferences. All of that is part of the same stupidity.

What was ever wrong with student athletes getting a full-ride scholarship going to the same school for four years, playing hard for the team against other teams from the same general region, and enthusiastically preparing for a fine future life, livelihood, and family after those four years extremely likely not anywhere near the pros, and being genuinely grateful for the opportunity? Instead, we had the most immature, irresponsible children whining about this or that inconvenience, and children in big-people bodies pretending to be mature, responsible adults gave in.

Now with all that nice new crap you've got to deal with the influences. And now it is very young, gullible, impressionable people who are thinking of having their families taken care of financially for some time if they just take a good chunk of change for simply doing certain things on the field that will make some very real and threatening "influencer" happy.

What are those in power going to do with that? Are they going to stand up to those influences, or do too many of them have too little courage and principle to do it? Are they all just too immature and irresponsible and foolish as children pretending to be adults to not take pride in just doing the right thing here?

I've also argued for years, on other web platforms, that baseball should get rid of, or at least modify to a dramatic extent, the free agency that shapes the competitive duplicity in major league baseball. The whole thing is just as wicked, with the Los Angeles Dodgers' main players all bought and paid for. Speaking of Shohei Ohtani, there were still many questions surrounding his scandal from a year ago that involved money and possible related illicit associations. But I do understand, nothing will ever happen with any of that because the Dodgers' money stream is flowing well for everyone in major league baseball -- it is made to be that way so everyone gets their cut.

The NFL's Kansas City Chiefs players, on the other hand, are all legitimately assessed, drafted, and developed, all within the confines of an expertly managed salary cap. Still, with all the questionable associations coming to light, could any of them be compromised? Of course they could! Not saying they are or aren't or anything, but what we do see there is a distinct difference in the respect for the overall integrity of the whole enterprise.

In my devotional time this morning I read the 101st Psalm. (Here, read it too, click the link, it is well worth it.) What a terrific piece to bring to the table in all of this. It is merely about really wanting one's own house to be managed with righteousness and probity, simply to take pride in honoring God with active respect for truth and honesty and integrity in that way.

The whole gambling and duplicity thing in professional sports almost everywhere seems to be founded on the idea that one must show everyone around them how special they are by getting lucky in something, and it doesn't matter if they do it unethically as long as they can cover for it in some way. The exploiters take gratification in making so many people addict-er-happy.

Benjamin Franklin once remarked, "Nine men in ten are suicides." Some people, particularly men, live such miserable lives, failing so often, or at least considered failures, bored half the time, that it is the biggest thrill to have a chance to get that big score that will just make them, give them a thrill and just earn the favor of some young lady or someone they need to impress. If not, well, "Who cares if I lose and even die because my life is so miserable, that's just fine."

Otherwise, the substance of Psalm 101 applies to everything, not just this little sports thing. If we as a nation don't take care of business in the big-time sports house, and there at least just plain respect truth and faithfulness to God and His just and righteous behavior in all we do, it is likely everything else is infected with that wickedness too. 

So yeah, there are a hundred other things that have nothing to do with sports that are so critically more important in life and livelihood, but it can't be denied that this sports thing is a microcosm of the wickedness and stupidity that is out there afflicting all of us.

Might want to think about considering the Living Word Who is that Love and Justice in that 101st Psalm, The One Who is the joy and deliverance out of the deceit and death mentioned there.

Will these people "conduct the affairs of [their] house with a blameless heart?"

___

By the way, since this is a Chiefs blog, here's the Chiefs thing.

The Chiefs are thriving, working and playing the game on the straight-&-true with how their team is built with the organizational excellence top to bottom, from owner to water boy, given no advantages not available to anyone else to be successful. Let's look at each player group, from left to right, and you will see. (Just using first names for brevity and -- yeah -- some laziness, it isn't that I'm all best buds with them or anything.)

Running backs: Isiah and Kareem, both drafted by the Chiefs, even though Kareem took a detour to the Browns for a while.

Quarterback: Patrick, drafted and slowly developed spending a whole year on the bench learning from Alex Smith. This after decades of never being able to draft and develop a good QB.

Offensive line: Four of the five starters were drafted, with two of them, Creed and Trey demonstrating the Chiefs really did their homework. Rookie Josh is said to be another amazing selection from the draft.

Tight end: Travis, drafted. Noah, drafted.

Wide receivers: Rashee and Xavier, drafted. They did get Hollywood, JuJu, and Tyquan as free agents, but Rashee and Xavier are their main targets. Oh, and that great WR they had a few years ago, Tyreek? Drafted, even selected in the fifth round.

Defensive line: With a starting four of Mike, Chris, Omar, and George, you've got an all-drafted D-line. We did lose Omar to an ACL injury in the last game. Charles is a free agent who does start.

Linebackers: Leo and Nick are excellent and, yes, drafted. Drue is also very good yet a free agent.

Defensive backs: With starters Jaylen, Trent, Bryan, and Chamarri, it's all drafted. Throw Noah in there for the nickel package, still, all properly and deftly drafted with every team having the same chances as anyone to have players like this.

Every one of these players were drafted fairly, developed appropriately from within the organization, and rewarded with playing for people who not only do things with integrity but work that much harder to evaluate those players and get them to play well because they know the NFLers really do not want the Chiefs winning as much as they want other teams to win.

Now for the Dodgers. I pay no attention to any major league baseball because as we all know (or yes, should know) it is thoroughly rigged to favor the Dodgers, the Yankees, and a bit for teams like the Red Sox and Mets (all of whom made it to postseason play this year). Because I pay no attention to any of it, I do not know every player on the team -- actually I know very few of them. But I do know some of the players. Here are the ones I know are the better players on the team, and yes

They are all free agents poached from other teams who are exploited and unable to afford them.

The ones I know are Shohei Ohtani, arguably the very best baseball player ever to play the game, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Blake Snell, some guy named Hernandez, and a Japanese pitcher who is supposed to be outrageously good. I know they have another very good pitcher, someone Glasnow, I've heard is really good. That's it, those are really the only players on the team I can identify. (To be fair I will admit I do know their catcher is Will Smith and he too is a very good ballplayer, but I think he came from within the organization. And I know I could look up Mr. Glasnow's first name and include it here, but I just want to be fair about what I do know without looking it all up.*)

Those are the only ones I know about, and I do know every one of them is exceptionally good. I also know every one of them was once a fine player for another team then as a free agent signed with the Dodgers because they were given the power to do so at the expense of other teams really having a fair chance to have them play for them.

This is competitive duplicity, plain and clear.

But it doesn't matter to most people because -- the main point to all of this --

It is because powerful people who like getting a piece of the expanding gravy train make it happen and conceal the duplicity. The gambling thing is just a particularly ugly part of it.

Is the way pro baseball is arranged a bit different than the way pro football is arranged? Of course. But it doesn't change the reality of the massive duplicity involved by anybody who is an MLBer, or even an NFLer or NBAer for that matter, who are too willing to succumb to the powers and principalities that tempt them.

Once again, quite a contrast to the Kingdom where Christ reigns with nail-scarred hands to invite all those wounded by any of the duplicity anywhere, not just in the sports stuff, to live rich, meaningful lives in spite of it.

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(*I should add a further note for those skeptical of my claim I pay no attention to any of the baseball stuff, yet at the same time here I am demonstrating that I am aware of those particular baseball players. I live in the Los Angeles area and cannot help but see and hear some sports things -- on televisions in restaurants, from news reports popping up on the radio, from acquaintances who tell me things, and through various other sources. I never deliberately inquire about any of it. Out of that I'm actually surprised I know that much, and I may indeed have some things incorrect about what I've shared about the Dodgers and its players. I should add that I do know the afore-not-mentioned Clayton Kershaw is also on the team, but he came from within the organization, and really the only reason I knew after all these years that he was still on the team was because the news of his retirement announcement this year was everywhere. There are just some things you can't miss.

I should also add, with full disclosure, that I'd already known about people like Freeman and Betts because they each played so well for other teams, the Braves and Red Sox, respectively. Again I'd only known about them for reasons just mentioned, some because they'd both played in, and won, previous World Series. I watched none of any of them, but again it is hard not to pick up the things that get out there about them in those instances. One more note: Obviously in watching Chiefs games and picking up some of the things that do happen with the team, I do know which players were drafted and which were not. I have at times in April peeked in to see who the Chiefs did draft.)

Furthermore it may go without saying that the reason I contrasted the Chiefs and the Dodgers was because recently both teams have been so wildly successful, and this is a Chiefs blog effort with some input about how it'd be nice if these sports efforts, which I do enjoy in and of themselves, would heed the principles elucidated in that 101st Psalm. It is because they don't and things like the gambling thing are so prominent that I do indeed scale back my sports attention to zero as much as it is within me to do so. As I've shared before, I do enjoy watching Chiefs games, but that is pretty much it. I can't help but see other things about them, much like I can't help but catch some things about the Dodgers. Of course I can't stand the patently stupid things that presently occur in the NFL and MLB, so I try my best to abstain. Because I've followed these sports things for so long and so passionately, my mental radar can't help but register some of them no matter how much I very intentionally stay away from most of it.)

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Gambling is Evil. Get It Out of All of This.

Not only is gambling evil, but any formally arranged business organizations that do any of it should be strictly prohibited by law. Of course people will still make small recreational wagers with themselves, and there will be something of a deep underground betting network going, I get that.

But the fact is gambling destroys lives and livelihoods. 

"Oh but don't be such a prudish moralistic busy-body! Mind your own business! This doesn't concern you!"

Um, and your point is? Still, the truth:

Enabled organized gambling operations destroy lives and livelihoods. They are categorically evil and should be made firmly against the law.

"Come on don't be so judgmental! There is really nothing wrong with any of it. It's just harmless fun!"

Excuse me. Let me start over again, tell me where I lost you.

This kind of gambling is evil and should be fully legislated against and properly adjudicated accordingly.

Please, it already is. Look at what was announced today, the purpose of this blog post. The NBA is in hot water for allowing coaches and players to be involved in organized crime activity related to gambling. Of course they will squawk about how much the NBA this and the NBA that hold to the highest standards of integrity and decency and going-really-really-really-hard-at-not-permitting-that-kind-of-thing and yadda yadda yadda ad nauseam.

And yet...

They have official associations with things like Fan Duels and Draft Kings and all the others.

Wickedly evil organizations that should not only be disassociated from any large sports league operation but should, once again, be completely, thoroughly, totally against the law.

Do we have to go over this again?

How much more shit is going on beyond these take-downs of well-known athlete gambling associates working with organized crime syndicates? Is that it? Is it just those guys? Really? How many have been tempted to give into any request that they adjust outcomes to earn a few extra bucks -- or worse, to evade having something very bad happen to them? How many times has any athlete in any sport been asked to do something to affect outcomes in however many uncertain terms but very clearly related to doing that something for those unsavory purposes?

What do you think?

Besides how much (sorry to belabor the point...) it all destroys lives and livelihoods, the integrity of all these games that are played on those fields and courts is always in question with the presence and influence of these insidious associations. Always. This then represents a huge fetid deceit that is woven into all of it. 

Already look at the baseball Los Angeles Dodgers. They've zipped right on into the World Series yet again, being given all kinds of advantages no other team gets, simply because they have a gargantuan fan base and can generate that much more money for everyone. Yes, all the things that have happened for them to get where they are, that's deceit. It is lying to all the people who pay to see a sport with the idea their team has a chance.

The World Series starts tomorrow night. After today's events don't you think there will be some kind of wondering what may be happening? Or will there just be so many Dodger fans pouring into the stadium and pouring mind-numbing alcohol down their throats and pouring their dollars into the Dodgers (and by default all of the MLB) screeching like banshees for their team that no one really gives a rip about real competitive integrity and how it may be fully compromised?

The gambling connection to that? It is important for these power-brokers that when they can, game outcomes are also tweaked so everyone believes it is all on the up-and-up. I can again point right at that ridiculous game the Chiefs played a couple weeks ago against the Jaguars. The Chiefs should have shredded that team. But it had to be at least a lot closer for the prime-time audience. So the Chiefs got hosed on officials' call after call after call.

What about all the patently stupid things the Chiefs did in that particular game, like Chris Jones just standing there on the last Jaguars game-winning play when he might have tried to tackle the guy? Could it be possible he was getting the call, the nod, the signal to shirk on that play to make some outcome more likely?

"Say it ain't so, Joe!"

Maybe, but I don't think so at all. His brazen inaction was just too obvious. Jones has also always comported himself as an upstanding individual (they all try to do that, I know). I'm also convinced that he was just frustrated with the idiotic ways the Chiefs were being screwed in that game -- now that's just my own personal take. Whatever it was it was still no excuse, again, Jones admitted that himself.

The reality of the Chiefs versus the Dodgers is that the Dodgers have been handed all kinds of unfair advantages to keep them winning on behalf of everyone, while the Chiefs have to do exceptionally well in spite of the massive NFLer antipathy towards them. Patrick Mahomes, Brett Veach, and Andy Reid are phenomenal at their jobs. Veach can't just go out and buy players and have the NFL give them favors as the MLB has done for the Dodgers, much of that is again handing them the keys to buying the best players.

It is funny, the Dodgers are playing the Toronto Blue Jays in the Series, and two years ago when I heard about the best player in all of baseball, Shohei Ohtani, deciding who to play for as a free agent, a radio show I was listening to initially got it wrong. They announced he was going to play for the Blue Jays. I thought immediately, "Not even. He is not going to play for the Blue Jays. I do not for a second believe this news report." Now I don't know how the radio guys got it wrong, maybe they were just joking around, but sure enough, later we all discover he went off to the already stacked Dodgers.

The Chiefs GM Brett Veach, on the other hand, has just done an absolutely terrific job getting his players fair and square in the draft. The Chiefs coaching staff has done an absolutely awesome job of developing those players to go out and play at the highest level. And Patrick Mahomes is simply the GOAT. He is. Truth. Sorry Tom Brady-favoring blitherers, but it is Mahomes.

And because of these things, the Chiefs should be obliterating every team in every game they play. This past Sunday they annihilated the Raiders 31-0. But again, this simply cannot happen too often. In the NFL's case, games must be close and the Chiefs must be reeled back in. The MLBers don't have to worry about that with the Dodgers because as long as they are winning, everyone wins.

What about all the gambling stuff? All of that just makes it more likely outcomes will be tweaked to please any powerful interests who infect the hearts and minds of those whose competitive integrity must be elevated to the highest possible level to keep everything honest, for all of us. 

Could the Chiefs be involved in any of that? Maybe. I don't know. I like my team. I want them to win. I like cheering for them. If their players are doing criminally unprincipled things in and around any of this, it is very bad, I agree. In fact, I will confess that I'm saddened every time I see a wide shot of the inside rim of Arrowhead Stadium and I see "Bet MGM" video-streamed all around it.

That stinks. Even if it is the Chiefs.

It is still evil. They simply don't have to do that shit, they don't. Get out of all of that and restore total, complete, full integrity to all of the competitive activity that we can all truly trust is being upheld.

But when it isn't, then yeah.

Sorry.

Lives and livelihoods are destroyed.

___

Shortly after I published this post, I toured through my social media feed, and sure enough there is a ton on all of this. This was a good one, shown there on the right. You can see that while the ESPN dudes were announcing what happened with the gambling scandal, right underneath them was a chyron ad for "ESPN Bet."

There you go. 

The infection is everywhere. You can say this or that about any of it, but the deceit, the hypocrisy, the greed, the exploitation, the manipulation, the grandstanding, the sophistry, the fraud, the smarmy virtue-signaling smothering the criminality of it all, the addictive behavior, the sick obsession, the destruction of lives and livelihoods... it is all right there. No one can miss it.

How much more is happening in all of this that we aren't seeing right now?

And yes, how much complicity do any of the Chiefs people have? If they have any I will be despondently disappointed, for sure. I don't know! How much don't we know? For the Chiefs, and really for everyone, it'd be a start not only to take down the "Bet MGM" ad like ESPN did with its chyron ad there, but to get rid of all of it. Summarily. Courageously. Explicitly. Completely. Immediately.

I don't know -- maybe, just maybe, they will. No more of any association -- Fan Duels, Draft Kings, any of them -- all of them thrown to the curb where they belong. Will they have enough balls to do that? Especially with this stuff that happened today -- will they? 

This ESPN thing with the chyron, damn, that just says tons...

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Annnd... then a little bit later after that addition to the post there was this. You can always count on the fake news Babylon Bee to tell you the truth about things.

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Annnnnd forgive me, one more. I can't help it. Here is Warriors coach Steve Kerr amplifying the truth about the ridiculous pressures on all of them, the evils done by those given over to the entire gambling hellscape. What it must be like to be any of these people. Again, how about it...

Do the right thing.

Fully jettison all of it, every last smear of it in the dankest corners of all of professional sports.

Do they have enough principle, enough character, enough -- yes -- cojones to do it?

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Forgive me but I don't have the wherewithal to just embed the "X" posts there so they may be links. I've merely screenshot them just to post the information. You'll have to go there to find out more. Still, there is now so much out there about it all, you can't miss any of it. Again, how much more will we discover?

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Raiders at Chiefs - Week 7 - Record: 4-3

I learned this was our first shutout since, since... do you know when?

Yeah, it was that 30-0 playoff win against the Texans in January 2016. Remember that amazingly splendid win, the first we had since January 1994? Extraordinarily memorable, but... huh... we've had how many postseason wins in the Mahomes era? Not that any of us mind, mind you.

Anyway, quite a stomping by an extraordinarily good Chiefs team versus a not-the-best Raiders team. Fine with us. 

Just a few notes for tonight. 

One, super nice to see Rashee back out there doing amazing things on the field. Every Chiefs fan was looking forward to seeing this, and we weren't disappointed. He had two terrific touchdown catches on the day (the first Chiefs TD of the day was one of those flip-it jet-sweep jobs), and just having him out there added something to the mojo of the team, no question.

Two, the Patrick Mahomes fake-out over center on a 4th-&-1 was too insane. He bleated he didn't think the play would work, with some especially colorful language added for effect, yet still snapped the ball and handed it to Kareem who got a very nice push from the O-line to get the first. Too sweet.

And three, sorry, but I can't not share this again because it just seems too few people are getting the memo. I won't stop writing about it even if belaboring it mercilessly. Earlier in the day, the European game (I just don't know where because I don't care, London, Munich, wherever) featured the Rams pasting the -- here it is -- Jaguars. The Rams are a very good team this year, but they also got the benefit of having a fairly called game by the officiating.

On both sides of the ball the Chiefs today played so exceptionally well, as they should, in a game that wasn't a prime-time game so there wasn't any intimation that the score should be closer than it would have easily been otherwise -- that there was no real reason for the officials to mess with the outcome. The Raiders helped by contributing a number of obvious and sometimes dangerous penalties, so trying to hose the Chiefs in this one wouldn't have mattered.

If you glance at this post from a couple weeks ago, you'd know what I am talking about.

Here's to the Chiefs continuing this ride in spite of the still simmering NFLer antipathy. Not sure that will abate since next week's game against the Commanders is, yes, a prime-time Monday night affair.

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The photo is by Sam Lutz at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Lions at Chiefs - Week 6 - Record: 3-3

Writing this a bit before the game here. It's about 5:00 PST where I am, just folding this little preview into the game post.

The main and really only preview note:

How much will the Scorecasting officiating and the propelled narrative that goes with it keep the Chiefs from winning. 

That's it. I've belabored the point to death, but, yeah, as usual, it doesn't really seem to take. People all over blap about that Chiefs thing or that Lions thing but the only thing that matters is whether or not the officials are going to hose the Chiefs making it really hard for them to win.

Yes, I know, the Lions are a fine football team. Yes, I know the Chiefs may do dumb things again to make it a bit harder for them to win. But it is simple.

If the Chiefs play like they always can play, like they've plainly shown they can play on a regular basis, they will win, period.

If the officials get in the way or the Scorecasting proven narrative keeps the Chiefs on their heels, it will be very difficult or even a loss.

Let's watch, shall we?... 

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Okay, 1st half take:

The Lions O-line is absolutely demolishing us. Our front seven us get plowed under. Their running backs are having their way with us, but so far we've gotten bailed out by an illegal motion call against the Lions negated a touchdown and a failed 4th down conversion.

We've done a little better against their passing game, but we just aren't getting to their QB enough, we're just not. We did a couple times forcing incompletions and stalling their momentum, but Goff has had  too much time too often to make clutch completions.

After our first touchdown, guess what. Harrison missed the PAT. Derrrp. I've been giving him the benefit of the doubt when people have said, "I think now we should be concerned." "Nah," I've thought, "He'll come around." Is it time to join them and truly wonder about him?

And could doubts about him seep into decision-making? We had the ball at the Lions 20 and went for it on 4th down, and failed. Could have had the field goal.

And then there was that failed play. Worthy really needed to flatten his route and he'd have kept the defender from batting away Patrick's pass. Know what? This is where we need Rashee there. Fortunately he's slated to be back next week. As far as Worthy goes he got our first TD, so he's coming along.

So yeah, even though their offensive line is having their way with us, it is 13-10 us. 

Oh, and yeah, what about the officiating? It has been a very clean game so far, both teams making decent, solid-play, open-field plays, offenses and defenses, that there isn't anything really close that requires an official's interpretation of things, those things that can be so detrimental to the Chiefs efforts.

And they just showed a stat as the 2nd half starts: Lions, some high number of tons of offensive yards in the first half, as well as a high for not being rushed on pass attempts.

Eeegh.

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Okay, quick 3rd quarter report. We got a really nice TD from Hollywood to make it 20-10, that's where it stands now.

We absolutely need to get Brashard Smith in the mix more. Why we don't is, um, well, kind-of known because Andy Reid just refuses to do more to get good rookies in there even when they clearly show they can play. Maybe many times he's right, and wants to keep from taking a chance on rookies making rookie mistakes. But so far every play Smith has had he's been terrific, but they've been so few.

On that TD drive Travis made a tricky catch that may have been questionable, but the Chiefs ran a super-quick play to prevent a challenge. The television official said he thought it was a catch anyway, so that was a close one -- close with that official's interpretative call that would've needed to be made.

And just a note about our left tackle replacing Josh Simmons who is out tonight. Jaylen Moore is doing really well against their excellent DE Aiden Hutchinson. Patrick is actually having a little bit of time to do things back there.

Okay, here's the 4th...

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How about that. A nice, clean, hard-fought game -- for both teams -- with no officiating or narrative issues. They were on fire in the first half, but the Lions just looked more gassed in the second half. We had a comfortable lead for most of the game, so I believe the Lions just couldn't lean on that really good running game, and Spags made his adjustments.

Our O-line played really well, and our running game was productive in the second half. Isiah, Kareem, even Brashard got the job done.

They also said the Lions had serious injury issues with their secondary, so that was likely a factor that helped our fine offensive effort tonight. Hopefully we can keep up the good work there when an opponent's defense is at full strength.

Next week the Raiders rivalry continues!

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The photo is from the Jacob Rice at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Jaguars - What is Really Going On

I clipped an image from an old NFL Films highlight show. I actually like watching them sometimes on the YouTube because they remind me of my childhood enjoyment of pro football. This one is of Jim Marsalis doing a terrific job of defending Haven Moses forcing an incompletion against the Broncos in Week 12 of the 1972 season. Buuuut... Guess what...

Pass interference.

The screenshot you are seeing right here shows absolutely the most contact you will ever see on this play. The highlight reel's narrator, Pat Summerall by the way, even said the PI call was based on the official's feeling Marselis leaned on Moses a bit too much, sneered quite tongue-in-cheek. The Broncos went on to score a touchdown that made the game far too close. The Chiefs did end up winning 24-21, much with the help of two pick-sixes.

The point should not be hard to grasp. Excccept that it is apparent it is for most people who continue to schlurp up the idiotic narrative that is dumped into their craniums, namely that everything is on the up-and-up and the Chiefs have just as fair a chance as anyone out there.

(By the way, in posting the Jim Marsalis play I'm not in any way saying the Chiefs have always been hosed by the officiating, it is just an example of what it is like on a regular basis for the Chiefs today, for obvious reasons I've shared so many times before and continue to emphasize here...)

As I shared in my blog post on this nightmare loss, even though I did not watch a thing just a little while after the Jaguars second touchdown, I did later see that many people remarked that the Chiefs did a number of numbskull things especially towards the end of game. One of those was the pass interference by Chamarri Conner in the end zone, a play that if non-called as it should have been would have resulted in a Chiefs game-sealing interception by Bryan Cook.

I did watch the replay of the play after I saw just about anyone who remarked about it feel that it was the right call by the officials.

It wasn't. The ball simply banged off Conner's outstretched arm in front of the receiver. That's it. Because he didn't turn his head around means nothing. Did Conner move the receiver enough with his outstretched arm to impede his ability to catch the ball? Maybe, but let's be honest, it wasn't much.

In fact, it looked exactly like that play the Broncos defender made on that Eagles receiver at the end of their game earlier in the day, one that was actually more egregious than Conner's supposed infraction, and reminder it was the one that had everyone screaming should have been a PI call not-made costing the Eagles the game.

So, here's the progression, just so we're all clear: 

1. The Eagles lose a game when a Broncos defender does a bit worse to an Eagles receiver keeping him from catching the ball, a non-call that keeps the Eagles from winning the game.

2. A couple hours later the officials in the Chiefs-Jaguars game get word from the NFLer world that the Eagles were robbed and everyone is in a hyperkinetic frenzy about it.

3. A couple hours after that the Chiefs defender does much less to a Jaguars receiver yet they still call the PI on us, costing the Chiefs the game.

4. No one says jack about it except that the Chiefs are just a stupid team doing stupid things and that's why they lost.

Now, yes, I did add a bit of conjecture there for Item No. 2 there, but you know?

It's still true. 

However it happened, in whatever implicit or perhaps even explicit way, the Scorecasting factor kicked in. It did. It is simple.

The NFLers and their powerful marketing toadies do not want the Chiefs to win.

I want the Chiefs to win every single Super Bowl from now until the sun burns out eight trillion years from now. But I know the reality. That would be devastating to NFL ratings and $$$. The problem the NFLers have is the Chiefs are a stunningly good team. They are truly an unprecedentedly good team.

Back to the stupidity, especially with this particular thing screeched all the time: "The calls went the Chiefs way too!" For this particular affair they might add, "What about that non-call on Jaden Hicks leading to the Chiefs interception when the Jags were up 21-14?" Well, I looked at that replay too, and sorry, not a PI call. The officials did a good thing there, amazing, they actually refrained from calling a PI that wasn't there. Hicks was merely moving to defend his receiver and the Jags receiver ran into him. If anything it should have been a pick play on the Jags receiver! Maybe it was called, I don't know, I only saw the brief replay of the play itself. The Jags should just have their guys run cleaner routes so the quarterback doesn't throw that pass ending up in the hands of an opponent.

So yes, please stop. Please stop being stupid. Stop obsessively believing the narrative that the Chiefs get all the calls. No, the reality is the Chiefs are the ones regularly hosed by the rotten calls and non-calls, one after the other after the other (we could talk about a half-a-dozen more obvious ones!) and there is a reason for that.

What about what Chris Jones did, giving up in the middle of the end-of-game game-changing Jags play and not going after their QB when he slipped and fell, yet got right back up and scored the game-winning touchdown? Yes, I agree, Jones should have followed through on the play. He shouldn't have checked out. After this I know he'll know to be sure to play hard for the duration next time. That's all good. But you know?

That play came right after the idiotic call against Conner. And it came right after all the other idiotic officiating calls that went against the Chiefs leaving them in that ridiculous predicament. Call after non-call after call after non-call that wrecked the Chiefs chances. Sorry but the Chiefs should have won this one easily, 38-14, at least. However many stupid things they did should not have cost them at all, because it never should have come down to that. 

But as much as Jones shouldn't have given up on that play, I get it. I get it, Chris Jones! I get why you feel the way you do. The Chiefs players will later talk all about how they need to be better and step it up and practice harder and be more disciplined and do this and do that themselves and yadda yadda yadda what they're supposed to say so they don't get in trouble and bite the hand that feeds them -- they will never call out the officiating -- but you know? They know. They know what they must overcome. And in a very real sense, it can get painfully exasperating.

Chris Jones was hopelessly exasperated out there because of the massive idiocy that weighs against him, his team, and their chances. Is his debilitating dejection an excuse? By all means no, and again he admits that himself. But it does say something critically important that people are simply not seeing.

I also took a sec to peek at some of the comments to the first story about this game at the fine Chiefs blog, Arrowhead Pride. Alas, here's what I saw, among about 100 comments.

Over and over and over again Chiefs fans ripping on this team as if it isn't a good team, it's not a playoff team, it isn't this that we'd like from them or it isn't that thing they should be. On and on and on the stupidity flowed. Yes the Chiefs did some stupid things that were just plain magnified more than they should have been, so it is easy to blap loudly about them. But (a) they are uncharacteristic and can happen to any team in any given game, and (b) those things should not have hurt them at all if it weren't for the patented Scorecasting-proven officiating iniquities.

No, the Chiefs are an exceptionally good team. With Brett Veach and Patrick Mahomes, and yes a little bit of Andy Reid, this team should dominate every single game. Absolutely dominate. But that is bad for business, so the NFLers must throw a wrench in it. We are blessed to enjoy the exploits of a phenomenally talented team that is getting shafted by the NFLers as well as the fans who believe the narrative and squeal so deafeningly that there is no favoring by refs, or if there is, it favors the Chiefs. 

No, there is favoring by the officiating, it is made to be that way, it does heavily favor the Chiefs opponents, by far, and yes, it does very much affect the Chiefs' ability to play the game they would be playing otherwise and in turn does negatively impact the final outcomes of their contests.

Yet I am seeing people see that reality in very few places. It was encouraging to see among those Arrowhead Pride comments actually a few, maybe one in twenty, of thoughtfully observant people who do see it! Bless them. May not mean anything, I get that, sadly, but bless them all the same.

When I see more people seeing the reality and maybe shifting the narrative a bit more to force those under the influence of the Scorecasting verities to make things fair, even if that means the teams that should be winning on their own merits and not on the manufactured advantages are allowed to win (what a concept!) even if those teams are not the Chiefs, then I'll be happy.

Hoping to interact with them. Smart, thoughtful, observant, principled, truthful people. They are good to interact with. It'd be nice if more Chiefs fans got it, but it'd be just as great to do it with anyone who sincerely like seeing and talking about truthful things.

But yeah, us Jeremiahs and Cassandras can be very lonely, that has always been our punishment for seeing things the way they are in real actual reality. For future Chiefs games I'm sure I'll stick around to enjoy their entireties because I'll always like my Chiefs, no matter what they're up against. Maybe, just maybe Patrick et al are as profoundly good as I think they are, as I am firmly insisting they are here in this blog effort -- really, that's one reason I'm still in on all this, to see that they overcome all the crap.

Sometimes though, it is really hard, I have to say, it is really, really hard when you know what's really going on.

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Chiefs at Jaguars - Week 5 - Record: 2-3

Just pounding out some thoughts before our prime-time affair tonight against the Jags. I just noticed that, wow, the Chiefs have beaten them eight straight times including that playoff game a couple years ago. Before that, however, they beat us almost every game before that, so we're now about even.

During or after I'll punch out a few things related to the game, but first.

1. This thing with the Super Bowl halftime show this season. I've shared this idea before, but it doesn't seem to take. The NFLers could easily show their support for the BIPOC community like they've always want to by having a spectacular halftime show featuring one of those amazing HBCU marching bands, even with other dazzling things in the mix that make it special for everyone. Pretty much everyone would like it, I think, doesn't matter what class or influence or race you are.

But they refuse to do that.

Instead they select and even worse musical hip-hop rap oriented entertainer than the wretched ones they've had before. This time it is someone I'd never heard of before, "Bad Bunny," yet it has been somewhat ear-splitting listening to what has been said and written about this selection. So I checked it out myself, just to see if this performer's music is as objectionable as some are saying it is.

It is. Worse. Way worse.

Again, I've known not-a-single-thing about this guy or his music. Nothing. So I checked out a site with a list of his best songs. At the top is "Yo Perreo Sola," or in English, "I Twerk Alone." Just the title alone is beyond reprehensible. But hey, if he is as popular as it seems it must be perfectly fine for hundreds of millions of young people to imbibe.

The lyrics contain the worst obscenities -- nothing new there -- as well as references to loose females fully objectified and illicit drug & alcohol use -- yeah, more of the same.

Among other things about which the guy has brazenly boasted about, along the lines of if you don't like it then take a hike, he recently said for you to understand what he'll be singing in his halftime show, you'd better learn Spanish. Extraordinarily hateful and racist, but, well, he's a BIPOC himself with a story so he should be free to express himself artistically.

Except that it isn't just that. He's getting paid a very nice chunk of cash to blap his sewage to a huge audience of millions, most of them impressionable young people.

I could go on about the utter hellscape that this is all about, and how much our young people are diving headlong into this thing that is absolutely destroying their souls, but I'd just sound like an old cantankerous white heteronormative man, easily dismissed as ignorant and bigoted.

Doesn't make the thing itself less evil.

Nice going NFLers.

2. The other thing was what I saw in a news headline about an NFL game yesterday, this one between the Broncos and Eagles. I screenshotted the thing so you can see it, and sorry, but it blew me away. "NFL fans upset about missed call that cost the Eagles the game"? That they went into a "frenzy"? Guh?

Well, I watched the replay, and really it was just rough handsiness on both parties with the Broncos guy maybe being a little more aggressive. Everyone screeched it was pass interference, but well, with the rules the way they are -- allowing lots of tussling before the ball gets there and full interpretation of those kinds of things allowed for the officials on the field -- it wasn't. It just wasn't.

Oh but we all must cry a river of tears for the poor, poor jobbed Eagles.

Please. Please please please.

For one thing the Eagles guy, a very good receiver in his own right, could fight through it and make the catch. Sorry, he could. That is part of it -- I'm so sick of watching these guys power up and go out there as fully stacked, exceptionally skilled, massively bulked millionaire 240-pound behemoths not fight through any kind of pushing and shoving that doesn't really impede his ability to get the ball and just make the play. Instead they flop and whine and moan and throw up their arms and all the rest of that silliness.

And then get the frenzied media narrative on your side.

Remember no one said anything about the call against Trent McDuffie in the Super Bowl last year when he was called for a helmet-to-helmet, I believe it was against the same Eagles receiver, when it wasn't, by miles. That call changed the complexion of the game right out-of-the-gate, as if the NFLers wanted to make sure it wasn't even a close contest because if it was close the Chiefs were going to win it -- they almost always do.

Where were the cries of injustice? Where was the frenzied response not just from Chiefs fans but -- look at the headline -- all NFL fans? Where was that on a call that was much worse than this game's non-call? I'll tell you why it was nowhere to be seen.

Because it was the Chiefs.

They are the current manifestation of the evil empire in the pro football world like the Patriots once were. Thing is the Patriots got all the lucky calls, they were just charmed, as well as favored by the NFLers because they're a genuine large-market media-darling team. The Chiefs have had to work their behinds off to overcome the obstacles against them, and one of the most important part of that -- really in all of NFL history -- is being blessed to have the best quarterback ever to suit up. That's what it has taken, really.

Oh, and the solution to the handsy stuff on pass attempts open to wide officiating interpretation? I've shared this before but it doesn't seem to take -- but, well, I don't have many readers, but I'll still make the firm and perfectly meaningful suggestion:

Make it so there is no tussling at all, no deliberate hands at all on either side before the ball arrives.

It is that simple. Unless your hands are up clearly and obviously going for the airborne football, if you extend to even touch the other guy, then it is pass interference. Could it get to the point where there are twenty PI calls a game? Fine. Make the point. Who cares if they get the message, back off on the touching of any kind, and we have a lot of high-scoring games with lots of pass completions to now more freely open receivers? Have a much more wide open game?

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By the way, right now into this game, and sure enough the Chiefs just got a 1st quarter touchdown (their first of the year, hard to believe), and they initially called a pick on JuJu that wasn't. He just went into his super-short route, but he did it in front of a defender and lifted his shoulder a bit. They picked up the flag likely because the officials determined it was just close enough to that one-yard allowance for a route-running receiver to make it not a pick. 

So they called off the foul, very legitimate touchdown Chiefs, and of course, the announcers and the television referee screamed about the injustice. The Chiefs got another gimme call! They got an illegal touchdown! They get all the calls!

Crap. Not only did JuJu legitimately do it within that yard, barely, but he was just running his route. A few steps and turn to get a reception. That was it. So the Jaguars defender runs into him. Whose fault is that?

Point is it just continues the narrative. The Chiefs are cheaters getting all the calls unfairly, and yes that does impact how the game is called on the field, it does. Already in this game every - single - little - thing the Chiefs do is scrutinized that much more. Already the most egregious example so far is a call against us for illegal formation that was no different than 90% of the formations every team has trying to get their guys lined up in the right places so they aren't leaving someone uncovered or covered on the line and all that. When they made that call I couldn't believe. It was totally ticky-tack and only a call they will make against the Chiefs because the narrative is so pronounced.

It stinks.

But then, just means we must play that much harder to overcome that crap, and you know? Maybe, just maybe it all just helps with our success, really, just because we have to do that much more to overcome it.

Annnnnnd there's another one. Our D is playing lights out, we've got the Jags on their heels, and sure enough, a PI call against Jaylen Watson that was completely, fully, wickedly not a PI. Their guy slipped, the ball wouldn't have been caught, Watson was half-way falling down himself and barely touched the receiver. It would've been 4th-&-long, but instead, new set of downs, annnnnnnnnnnnd the Jags go on to score a touchdown. 

Huh. I am so looking forward to seeing and hearing the enraged frenzy of all the NFL fans out there about that call. Let's see -- let's listen... (all hands folding ears forward...) Listening... listening...

Yeah. Non-existent. 

Let's just see this through. Let's see, will this be a critical score that affects the outcome? Right now it is halftime with the score 14-7 us. That's good.

Let's see if that holds up.

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Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, now we're starting the second half and -- yeah, I confess I am getting really tired of this. I almost hate talking about it as much, but what difference does it make. Maybe by some miracle there'd be a critical mass of people...

Just wanting what's right.

Right now it is just therapy. Therapy from the keyboard. At least there's that.

Anyway, sure enough........ (for the eleventeen-thousandth time)... Chiefs have the ball, get to a 3rd-&-2, and Patrick throws a strike to Hollywood. 

You know...

The Jags guy totally slams into him way before the ball gets there. Hollywood can't make the catch annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd................

No call. 

Surprised? 

We punt, they get it back, our defense suddenly realizes they have to play lightfooted, allowing the Jags to march right on down the field and score a touchdown. Now 14-14 thanks to the officiating and the narrative.

Maybe I just need a break from this. It is horrific.

Thank goodness we've still got Patrick.

Let's just see........................

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Okay I'm back and all I know is the final score. I watched nothing else of this nightmare. I do not know how we scored our other touchdowns. I did not see the silly interception that was taken for a pick-six by the Jags.

I saw nothing else but the final score. Sure enough we lost by three points, when we should have run away with this.

Even through just the first half and a small part of the second half I'd seen very few horrific games such as this one. Just pure agony. Why endure this. For all the reasons I detailed above. It'd be nice if even if just a peep from somebody about what happened, don't need a frenzy just a peep is all, it might be a little okay.

But I'm done talking about it. It's there, it's what it is, I'll still cheer on my Chiefs whether or not I care to behold the NFLer-empowered ugliness at any given time, and it is good that the Chiefs themselves still went out to play their hearts out and work like nothing else to overcome it all.

They won't give up -- not implying I gave up, I still wanted them to win the whole time. I just can't stand the injustice is all, I just can't. Call it a character flaw, go ahead, but I can't. Yes there are a million other things unjust that are waaay more evil and lethal, but I can't stand those things either, so there.

So out of that it is very good to know our Chiefs played Kingdom quality football for the duration. Here's to hoping they'll get even better to oversome the wretchedness for sure next time.

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Ravens at Chiefs - Week 4 - Record: 2-2

Finally we can shut up all those Chiefs-hating whiners who seemed to feel that because the Chiefs had so many single score victories last year that they weren't worthy.

Today we put up 37 and held the Ravens to 13 before they got a gimme TD in the last minute with our 2nd-stringers in there.

I'd heard the Ravens were a bit banged up to begin the game, and they suffered a few more injuries during this one including their QB Lamar Jackson enduring his hamstring going on him late in the game.

We got decent production from our running game and the standard fine play from Patrick particularly when we got into the red zone. TD passes to four different receivers -- JuJu, Isiah, Tyquan, and Hollywood -- that last one on 4th down -- were very nice. And JuJu is our go-to guy for possession catches. He's not as fast and shifty as he once was, but he runs the cleanest routes and Patrick finds him.

The best was getting Xavier Worthy back in there, he had a number of catches as well as some nice runs on those jet sweep things.

And what can you say about our defense. Even with their injuries the Ravens still had key weapons on offense, yet we really slammed the door on those guys. Spags has for a while now been acknowledged as the best DC in the game, and today it showed. It'd be nice if we could just rush four most times, but he blitzes from everywhere and nowhere keeping the offense guessing and scrambling and bumbling about. When he was in there, Lamar never seemed to get anything close to a rhythm.

As far as special teams go, Harrison missed another long FG, but I still just don't see any concerns there. He'll work things out. And our kick return guy, Nikko Remigio, is a stud. He had another nice long bouncing-off-guys kick return today. Our SPC Dave Toub, also recognized as one of the best, has our guys dialed in as usual.

Next week we're on prime-time again -- awright! Monday night against the so-far very good Jaguars.

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The posted image is from Bri Ali at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Giants - Week 3 - Record: 1-2

Sometimes when these prime time games are on, and yes it is quite a blessing to have so many prime time affairs -- just more of this wonderful time of having a pretty good team worthy of being so showcased, of course -- I'm going to pound out a bit of this now. 

The 4th quarter has just started and we're up 16-6. Our offense played pretty crappily in the 1st half but our defense has done well enough to keep the Giants at six points so far.

Mahomes has been nothing short of amazing, yet again, making plays over and over and over again. One play, insanely enough, was when he tossed a goofy backwards pass that bounced around until a Giants guy picked it up, yet just before he headed off for the end zone Mahomes came from nowhere and snatched it right back. 

Saved a touchdown.

Otherwise we were also getting hammered by the officiating. Any surprise? I've taken a few notes so far and there are five questionable instances of officiating that went against us. To be fair there were two calls that favored the Chiefs when they shouldn't have, but the ones that obviously should or shouldn't have been called that favored the opponent are far more. I could list them, but I'm tired. It's been done before. Ugh, just tired of it.

Several other calls are extraordinarily ticky-tack -- against the Chiefs. Just now Trent McDuffie was called for pass interference -- a horrible call because he barely touched the receiver coming off the line. Right after that the receiver caught the ball, got up to run, then fumbled the ball to us. 

Nope.

Another officiating call that goes against us when it shouldn't have been made. The NFLers really do not want us winning.

So yeah, over and over and over again the officiating afflicts our chances. Some of them in major ways. Again, not going to get into it. Not going to neglect to call it out because, yeah, it'd be nice if others would mention it. A critical mass of mentioners even, that'd be nice. It was actually nice how many did call out the favors given the Eagles last week.

And yeah, the Giants did get points, a field goal, from what they did after the shouldn't-have-been-made call on McDuffie. It is now 16-9.

Mahomes gets the ball again, and while Hollywood, JuJu, Tyquan, Travis, and Noah have been balling out there, we do so need Rashee and Worthy back out there. Travis had come back to doing okay, Noah Gray has made some nice plays, and Tyquan has our touchdown making a solid grab of a Mahomes bullet in the back of the end zone. 

Also, again, while Isiah and Kareem have done okay, we do need that more-solid go-to RB. We need to at least get Brashard Smith more involved! We'll see where we go, how this game goes... 

Until it's done...

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Nkay it's done. We win 22-9, thanks to a very nice Patrick bomb and phenomenal Tyquan catch right at the goal line after which Kareem punched it in.

Aside from all the usual aggravating officiating stuff, our defense was fine, Mahomes was fine, our backs and receivers were just fine, and the Giants generally did not play well. Nice to see the Andy Reid game plan especially in the second half was solid. It was a win we needed because we've got the Ravens next week.

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The posted image is from the official Chiefs site, taken by Steve Sanders. Thank you.

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Eagles at Chiefs - Week 2 - Record: 0-2

This post could just as easily be titled "The Exasperating Kelce," or even the "The Exasperating NFLers," or yes, yet again, "The Exasperating Reid Part MCXXIII."

Let's look at each one, briefly, and we'll start with our head coach.

1. "The Exasperating Reid Part MCXXIII." From the little I've seen and heard most people are screaming about his decision to go for it on 4th-&-1 from about our own 30-something. I don't fault the decision at all. I don't even fault Kareem Hunt because he'd come through wonderfully on those kinds of short yardage situations at other times in the game. What I do fault Reid on is going to this well once too many times, and when we didn't make it this one time, it was costly. Yes, have Kareem blast through for a key 1st down often enough, but there are times you need to do much better at either (a) disguising the look, or (b) just running some kind of novel play action run-pass option which they've done several times before to fine success.

That is just one of those typical Andy Reid specials that make you pull out your hair. 

2. "The Exasperating Kelce." The critical play of the game was by far the Kelce drop right at the goal line after a splendid 14-play drive that put us in position to take over the game. Our defense was playing very well and our offense was humming well enough to sustain clock chewing drives late -- that was the game-winner right there. 

Thing is Kelce has shown a penance for dropping those kinds of passes, and this one was crushing. The ball flipped right up into the defender's easy grasp whereupon he ran for miles. A bit later the Eagles got down to the goal line where they just "tush-pushed" it in for the score.

14-point swing.

I can't help but think about that one play from another ugly Chiefs-Eagles game, also at Arrowhead, this one in 1972. Their QB who never amounted to much threw a long pass right into the hands of our defender, I don't even remember who it was, sorry. In his attempt to corral it he dropped it right onto his foot whereupon the ball popped right up into the hands of an Eagles receiver who ran it in for the touchdown. We lost 21-20. The Eagles that year won only one other game the whole season.

Oh, and yeah, two games so far, two critically bad Kelce things. The first one was Kelce slamming into Xavier Worthy on the third play of the first game, damaging his shoulder and keeping him out of this game and maybe others. I wonder how many people are going to blame the newly-engaged-to-Taylor-Swift factor for this? I dunno, I don't give that much relevance -- it does seem Travis is committed to working hard and playing well and winning more football games. There is a lot more football to come.

3. "The Exasperating NFLers." If you want to read a bad word into that epithet about the people who run the NFL, especially all the powerful elements who really want things to be a certain way so they can make as much money as they can, then yeah, you can. And please, again, I think making as much money as you can is great...

But not when you deceitfully work to destroy the competitive integrity of the game.

And the NFLers are doing that.

I've spoken at length about the Scorecasting factor, simply that officiating can be influenced to make calls or not make calls that influence the outcomes of games. If that is true -- not even to mention the more direct influences -- then competitive duplicity is a reality in these things. I've said a hundred times before in response to the standard bleat "Well why don't you just stop watching?" -- while I enjoy cheering on my Chiefs no matter what, yes, indeed, I do pay no attention to any of it outside of Chiefs games for that reason.

As it was I can't believe how many gambling commercials there were and alcohol commercials there were and even insurance commercials there were -- yes, insurance may be fine but still implies that if people aren't behaving recklessly, they are terribly fearful others will. That's nice. NFL games are smothered with these kinds of advertisements and yeah, it can be distressing that so much of this money is going into the pockets of all these valiant football warriors I like to root for.

Getting back to the Scorecasting factor, one terrific example of the challenges we have as Chiefs fans is what happened with the Eagles "tush push." There was at least one obvious example of their linemen slamming into the Chiefs linemen well before the ball was snapped. I don't know if it was just because everything happens so fast in a great big pile of 350-pound behemoths that the refs just didn't catch it, but that's just giving them the benefit of the doubt. This without even mentioning Drue Tranquill's recovery of a Jalen Hurts fumble in one of those, but, well, it's just a great big pile of huge bodies so who knows? Advantage not-the-Chiefs.

This has so much to do with the veritable Scorecasting reality in that the NFLers absolutely do not want to see the Chiefs anywhere near a Super Bowl again, and it does manifest itself quite clearly on the field. I'm not going to go into all the evidences and reasons and how much the officiating does indeed go regularly against the Chiefs. I've pounded on this keyboard enough about that. At least some people did say something about those tush-push injustices. Always good to call them out.

But this team showed yesterday that it is far too good to be worried about except to the extent we are impeded as we are. This is one of the reasons the Chiefs are so likeable -- they work hard and they work smart and they win in spite of what they are so painfully up against.

Our defense balled out yesterday, we have some fine young players especially on that side of the ball who appear to be committed to always improving. From just that one opening game to today that improvement showed. Our special teams always excels, no worries there -- yes Harrison Butker did miss a super-long field goal attempt yesterday, but are you really worried about him?

We have Patrick Mahomes. He keeps showing why he is the GOAT. It isn't lost on anyone watching just how amazing he continues to be out there. We have a fine offensive line, and when we get Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy back we should be good there. 

The concerns about our running game, however, are legit -- we absolutely need a go-to running back. Isiah Pacheco is a hard-working, tough runner, but his vision is just not-that-great. He cannot be the answer. It is funny, this graphic about Mahomes plucked from a social media post. Dang. 

So yeah, I do think it might be worth it to give up a high draft pick to get a back from another team who is really pretty good but underutilized. I do think if we don't move on that we could be in trouble.

I do sometimes think about what it would be like to have the following Chiefs team, sort of a retro dream team scenario...

What if Mahomes could have our 1960s linebackers over there on our defense?

What if we could stick our 1980s secondary back there?

What if we could have our 1990s pash rushers up front (::cough cough:: Derrick Thomas ::cough cough::)?

What if we could have our 2000s offensive line in front of him (::cough cough:: and Priest Holmes ::cough cough::)?

I just delightfully ponder a season of 57-0 wins every single game.

Ahhh...

But then, that's the paradox of this whole thing. I'd love to see 100 straight Super Bowl titles with every game of every undefeated season featuring similar scores. But yeah, no one would watch. And the NFLers would get no money.

Annnd, you see something wrong with that?...

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Eagles at Chiefs - Week 2 - Preview

Remember the 2017 season? It was very weird. We started great, winning our first five games including that opener when we torched the Patriots at their place.

Then we went on a really bad losing streak, dropping 6 of 7 -- yeah, really, six games of seven we lost. We simply could not get a good win particularly in that stretch where all the New York teams (Giants, Bills, Jets) just had our number. It was gruesome.

Then we closed out the season winning out next four to salvage the thing, including a final-game debut of Patrick Mahomes beating the Broncos on New Years Eve.

But then to close it out there was that once-again mind-boggling heart-shredding playoff loss, this time to the Marcus Mariota passing-to-himself Titans.

In the middle of that worst part of the season I'd blogged despairingly about "The Exasperating Reid," citing a number of things he was doing that simply wasn't doing us any good, and yes, I do confess, I waffled wildly about whether or not he should replace Alex Smith with Patrick Mahomes. In hindsight, certainly thinking about the way our season ended anyway, it may have been best to keep Mahomes on the bench just learning the whole time -- it may have been valuable for his growth to get us to the plateau the Chiefs have occupied ever since.

I bring it up because The Exasperating Reid still does show up every once in a while. He was there very much in the first half of last season's Super Bowl when I do firmly believe our wickedly vanilla play-calling was the thing that did us in the most. Not our offensive line woes, not the slanted officiating, not that the Eagles played very well anyway -- all of those were factors. 

But the key factor? 

Andy Reid.

The exasperating part is just that we can never really complain too much about any of this because there are so many extraordinarily good things he has done and still does do for this team. We are who we are and we are where we are -- now already one of the greatest dynasties in NFL history -- because of those good things.

That 2017 season? I remember when we were 6-6 and on life support. Then we went off, and made the playoffs yet again. Andy Reid had a lot to do with that. We've won three Super Bowls since then, all critically close, and Andy Reid leading the way with fine play-calling and inspirational composure was significant to say the least.

In the opening game loss to the Chargers on Friday I could say there was a bit of The Exasperating Reid going on there. He could have run the ball more for one thing. But I also wonder about our pass blocking and WR route running. There were just too many times Patrick had to scramble around back there. And there were too many of his misfires on his passes.

I say this because I watched the last part of the Bills-Ravens game Sunday night, and the Bills QB Josh Allen was firing lasers to his receivers even in good coverage. He was also able to do that because of his great pass protection. Umm, the Chiefs have I think the best center, best right guard, and best rookie left tackle in the league -- that's what they say anyway. Our new left guard was serviceable and our right tackle is as well, when he isn't getting penalties. Sooo, what's up with that? 

Why isn't Patrick having all day back there and firing lasers to his receivers much more regularly? Why do we have to watch him scramble and squirm and squeak and slither out of trouble all the time? It's wonderful to watch him do his magic when he does have to do that, it's great, but why does he have to do that it seems like all the time?

Granted the Chargers played terrifically on defense, I got that. More kudos to them. And the Ravens did force Josh Allen to scramble a bit sometimes in their game, too.

But still. Is that The Exasperated Reid, or The Exasperated Mahomes? Is Patrick still a bit too gun shy? Yeah he did try to go deep a few more times than before, but I've been thinking. Why? Who cares about getting back to throwing the deep ball? Who's saying that crap? We should just be running the ball well and making sharp clean passes to our receivers wherever they are. Granted we didn't do horribly with that on Friday -- Hollywood, JuJu, Tyquan, and Travis actually did okay.

I also watched the end of the Monday night game, when the Vikings put on a clinic driving the ball down the field to score a game clinching touchdown. I thought, now that's a well-oiled, well-coached machine. I mean every play their brand new starting quarterback ran was laid out for him to have the best success -- and everyone executed. 

The Chiefs on Friday night? It just looked like too many times we were not oiled, and not coached very well. Andy Reid even admitted it! The team starting off poorly really cost them Friday night. I remember when he did confess back in February that, yes, his team was not adequately prepared for the Eagles.

What's funny is, getting back to that 2017 season when we opened with a delightful pounding of the Patriots, do you remember the second game of that season? It was a victory at home against the eventual Super Bowl champions, who coincidentally defeated the Patriots. That team we beat was

The Eagles.

So yeah we have the Eagles at home this weekend in the Super Bowl rematch nationally broadcast afternoon game. Will we be prepared this time? Will The Exasperated Reid pleasantly surprise us with a game plan that gets the best of a very good team?

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I'm blogging about this game early in the week because on Sunday I'll be watching most of the game, but we'll be heading to a family event as the game is winding down and that event will go into the evening, so I won't be blogging right afterwards. Very likely it'll be the next day, so just a heads-up. But I just felt like putting down some thoughts now I'd had a couple days after our opener this year, for your Chiefs Game Today enjoyment in the mean time.

Thank you for your readership.

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