The Exasperating Reid, Episode LXVIII

I just had to do it, I just had to. I had to add this post. Right now Chiefs fans are going apoplectic over Andy Reid's decision to continue with Alex Smith in spite of the fact that it was proven Smith absolutely cannot deal with the kind of defense teams are throwing at them since they've finally got what Pittsburgh does to the Chiefs time after time after time.

Apparently this "Cover 2" defense is the culprit, but I'm hearing this is a basic set that any team should be able to address, adjust to, and beat. Andy Reid has been coaching for -- ahem -- how long? How many times has an average Pittsburgh defense smashed Reid's face into the ground and twisted his arm behind his back with whatever it is they do?

Reid has firmly announced he's going with Smith, even though everything points to Smith's refusal to cope no matter what Reid does. "Fool me once shame on you [the Giants game], fool me twice shame on me [the Bills game]." In fact it is really many more games than that in which Reid continues to believe Smith can do the job. We should be beating any NFL team regularly 28-14. Instead we've always eeked out wins, or gotten spanked by bad teams as we have recently, having to endure over and over the precise things Smith and Reid are incapable of doing.

Again, read this post from Arrowhead Pride if you haven't already. 

It simply isn't a matter of Andy Reid coming up with another game plan to address the horror of Chiefs football these days. It is a matter of going with Mahomes. Yes, I confess, before the Bills game I did insist we should go with Smith for the rest of the season, but then I saw the light.

We simply don't have anything to lose with Mahomes in there.

And besides, here's the main thing with Reid. If he's such a good coach, why can't he put in place things that Mahomes would do, that he can do that Alex Smith simply can't?

I guess right now I'm okay with whatever happens. Here are the four possibilities, and really, all four are fine as long as Mahomes turns out to be a fine quarterback for us sometime.

1. Smith stays in and stinks like we all think he will. What's good about it: More credibility for our view that Smith needs to be benched, more likely Mahomes will finally go in. The difficult part is the question about whether it will move the Hunt-Veach faction to put pressure on Reid, even going so far as to consider letting him go if he continues to refuse to go with Mahomes.

2. Smith stays in and does well enough to win us more games. What's good about it: We win more games, we get into the playoffs, though not getting past a Pittsburgh or New England yet again will be a major disappointment. But then, we're used to it, so what's different? Oh well. At the very best Smith figures it out, decides he wants to win football games, and will actually truly comprehensively do what Reid says he's going to do to change things up. Okay so we're going to go with another thing Reid's going to pull out of his hat to fix all this. Yeah, I'm thinkin' ::HAHAHAHAHA:: too, but again, it's what we've got, let's just see. What are we going to do?

3. Mahomes goes in and stinks up the place. What's good about it: He learns and learns and learns by walking, no, by running and plowing and slashing about in the fires of fierce adversity. Let's get him going on this thing though, dammit, right now. Let's actually win football games sometime doing what our players can consistently do best.

4. Mahomes goes in and does pretty well. What's good about it: See the first part of Item 2 just above -- even with Bennie Logan at quarterback winning games is a very very very good thing. What's better is that we'll see what we should get with Mahomes and joyfully anticipate those future days when he's torching opponent defenses even more viciously. And again, if we don't get far in the playoffs (if we even get there), what do we have to lose? We're already resigned to that with this brutally realistic assessment of Smith.

Yes, there is no question about 98% of us Chiefs fans desperately want either Item 3 or 4 to happen. As of now, we won't get it. Andy Reid may have Santa Claus' girth, but he doesn't have his generosity.

So we'll just watch what happens when the Chiefs play another New York team, the Jets, this Sunday. Third time's the charm right?

Right Andy Reid?

To be fair, I should close with a link to this piece from an SI guy, who also does a decent job of dissecting what's ailing the Chiefs right now. Interestingly though, while this writer elucidates the reasons why Smith should stay in, he ironically and perhaps somewhat inadvertently demonstrates how much Mahomes should be in there. All those things this guy says should keep Mahomes off the field for now are covered in the Arrowhead Pride analysis, every one.

Mahomes should be in right now.

But again, among all of the four things that can happen, there are some nice advantages to each. It may be perverse, I agree, but this Chiefs thing can actually be pretty good right now. 

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Bills at Chiefs - Week 12 - Record: 6-5 - Part II

I simply could not leave today's nightmare without a link to this fantastic piece by a top Arrowhead Pride writer, someone who takes only about 16,000 times more time and attention to what's happening with the Chiefs than I do. (Yes, in the midst of all the agony over our Chiefs right now, I did peek around at what others were saying, again.)

This guy does a terrific job of laying out the case for putting Pat Mahomes in now. He elucidates all the things we're all seeing with Alex Smith, and laser focuses on the real problem. It isn't Andy Reid, it isn't the offensive line, it isn't a soft defense -- all of these are possible culprits in our minds to some degree, however justified any one of them is or isn't.

No, the problem is really, actually one thing.

Alex Smith.

Just looking at those highlights of Smith doing what we all see him doing -- flat-out not seeing receivers any other NFL quarterback would see and hit in stride for points points points. And he does it (or not does it as the case is) time after time after time. The footage in this piece are just samples. How many more of these kinds of episodes have you seen right there on your television but you just shrug, "Well, I'm not an NFL quarterback, so how would I know? I'm sure it's hard to be an NFL quarterback... ::sigh::..."

I can only think about these receivers doing their damnedest to get open and run their routes and desperately desire to make things happen and Smith just ditches everything one way or another because he simply cannot cope. And how gracious they have been to support their quarterback and teammate. Kudos to them for that.

But we all see it too, and we don't have to be as deferential.

The only person who counts though, is Andy Reid, and the question right now throughout all of Chiefs Kingdom is, will he be so deferential?

I simply cannot deny thinking about that time back in 2012 when Smith was benched in favor of Colin Kaepernick. At the time Smith was playing well for the 49ers when he got concussed and was out for a few games. He never saw the field again that entire season. And I think, what did Jim Harbaugh see that forced him to make what-was-then a quite dramatic move?

Anyway, you just have to read the piece. It is comforting to find a perverse appreciation for the times we've sacrificed our voices going hoarse screaming at the television "THROW - THABALL - DOWN - THAFIELD." It is quite reassuring to know that there are people who see it and know it and have some desire to commiserate with one another. It is good therapy.

It would be really good therapy to know that the Hunt-Veach-Reid brain trust sees it

And does the right thing.
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Bills at Chiefs - Week 12 - Record: 6-5

This season is very much looking like 1998. That was the year we started out really well, then started to tank. We tanked so badly that I simply stopped watching anything sports cold turkey. I did resume watching Chiefs games in 2003. That was the year we actually had a nice offensive line.

This year.

Kinda like 1998.

Such disappointment.

I have actually been so disgusted with this team, really, mostly its offensive line and offensive quarterback (see last post), that I didn't even watch the first half of the game. I was spending more time in church this morning, but sure enough when church ended, instead of seeing us up 28-0 at the half we were down 10-3. The only reason it'd be worth it was to see us up 28-0. Then I'd know we were doing what we should be doing -- okay, we're back to playing well.

Not.

Our quarterback isn't good enough.

Our offensive line is miles from being good, and with all this we may be finding it is even worse than any of us thought.

Sure everyone will say we're still at 6-5 and holding on to 1st place. We don't deserve to be there, that's for sure. Sure we could look at this like a bump in the road, but you simply don't lose games like these. Last week the hapless injury-riddled Bills gave up 54 points to the Chargers. Today they held us to 10. Last week we lost to a hapless injury-riddled Giants team who lost to an 0-9 team the week before.

What happened to that 5-0 team that was scorching the NFL? We had even done that against the best teams in the league? Here's what happened.

We played Pittsburgh, that's what happened. That's the killer of the whole season, just that one game right there. This team knows precisely how to play our team. Every time we play the Steelers they have a game plan that makes it look like they have 14 guys on the field and we have 9, every time. Has Andy Reid been so dense as to not figure this out by now? (Yeah, I'm thinking of putting in a "The Exasperating Reid, Episode LXVIII" post later this week. I don't know if I'll be up to it the way I'm feeling now, but I can't say there'd be any observant Chiefs fan who wouldn't know exactly what it would be about...)

We then played Oakland on primetime television, and the NFL simply could not allow the Chiefs to dominate so the officials gave the Raiders a thriller win with several ridiculously horrific calls against us.

We then got a break against Denver when their quarterback made so many mistakes a team of my grandmothers could have beaten them. Still the Broncos ran up and down the field against our Eric-Berry-less defense, a definite portend of things to come.

We then played Dallas, just one of the teams to watch tape of what Pittsburgh did to us -- now everyone is doing it. Eight guys in the box to stuff our running game, and blitzing just enough to keep Alex Smith off his game -- this weak offensive line and terrible quarterback simply cannot cope with that kind of pressure defense. By the way I'd heard that since that game Dallas has lost all three games and hasn't even scored ten points in any of them. Another portend. We made Dallas look waaay better than it was.

We then played New York and couldn't score a touchdown. The Giants dropped pass after pass after pass, and they didn't score a single touchdown either, but that didn't matter -- all they had to do was employ the Pittsburgh philosophy against us and they had us.

We then played Buffalo, at home no less, a team they said had one of the worst defenses in the league. We get 10 points against them. Just do what Pittsburgh did, that's all.

So yeah, this depressing turn of events is not a whole lot different from 1998. But there was a good thing about that year. With the purpose of this year's blog effort to look at the best things, here goes. Yeah I could say I like this guy or that guy -- none of that much matters with our QB and O-line keeping anyone from being good. I could say we're still in first place -- ::whimper:: And I could say I will always hope no matter what that this will all change -- but I'm so sick of saying that I want to throw up.

But here's the good thing -- about 1998?...

2003 was on its way.

Remember that? Priest Holmes, Dante Hall, Trent Green, Will Shields Willie Roaf and that phenomenal offensive line.

::Ahhhh...::

And sure enough, 2022 is not that far away. That's the year we'll have Pat Mahomes in there slingin' it downfield for will-shattering drives ending in back-breaking touchdowns, and over the previous few years we'll have picked up some offensive linemen who'll get Kareem Hunt untracked, and we'll have picked up someone ferocious to occupy the middle of the defense, someone who shatters the will of opponent offenses and wins us playoff games.

2022.

::Ahhhhhhh...::
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The Aggravating Smith, Episode XXXIV

Alex Smith is the anti-Aaron Rodgers.

Yes, yes, I know for eons we've been severely admonished not to compare Alex with Aaron, because it is so easy since Alex was taken first in the 2005 draft and Aaron, what was it, 24th or something like that. Alex was bounced around from one 49ers offensive coordinator to another while Aaron got to settle in waiting for Brett Favre to finish up before he took over. Not fair.

But my comparison here is about this thing that I've been thinking about.

Have you noticed that when Aaron Rodgers plays, it seems like you've got him pinned down, but he just gets up and torches you with some heart-breaking, will-shattering play that only he can make. It's 3rd-&-16 after he's just dumped a pass and gotten sacked, yet the next play is a fiery dart 20 yards downfield to a double-teamed receiver at the sideline. He'll do it again and again until the game's over, you look up, and the scoreboard says "Green Bay 20, Your Team 19."

Then there's Alex Smith.

Have you noticed that when Alex Smith plays, he'll throw a super crisp wide-out pass in the flat for 7, then a soft toss to the tight end for 18,  then scramble and plow into some impenetrable linebacker and stretch for the first down. Awright awright awright! Amazing Alex Smith!

Then he implodes. Then he throws the ball away. Then he dances around and gets sacked. Then he misfires on a pass the receiver just can't track.

Then at game's end you look up at the scoreboard and it says "Other Team 12, Kansas City 9."

This is why Alex Smith is the anti-Aaron Rodgers, and every Chiefs fan knows it.

Please, we all know Alex Smith is a winning quarterback. We all know the Chiefs have been winning regular season games on a regular basis ever since Alex got here in 2013. That's cool -- again, we all have a love-hate relationship with Alex Smith.

But the fact is Aaron Rodgers has a slough of playoff wins under his belt and a Super Bowl ring. Alex Smith has one Chiefs playoff win in his four years here, that one over a decimated Texans team in 2015. I can't neglect to mention that I believe this does have a lot to do with that supernatural impediment that somehow someway dooms the Chiefs every year -- Alex Smith is just an unfortunate part of that.

Still, there is something about Aaron Rodgers that gets it done, and something about Alex Smith that doesn't. Please don't get me wrong -- I am going on record now with much more forcefulness to insist that I'm looking for Alex to pick it up, revert back to his first-five-games-of-this-season form in which he was blisteringly good, and we run the table and make the fine playoff run we should be making.

I am genuinely really hoping for that.

On the other hand, I can't deny precisely what I wrote about in my post-ugliness post yesterday...

That it'll be really nice to see Pat Mahomes in there in 2019 doing Pat Mahomes winning things.

See, I never look at any of the standard NFL punditry after games, except for a few times, and I must confess I caught myself looking yesterday -- yes, just to see if anyone was calling for Pat Mahomes.

Sure enough there was quite a bit of it, but sadly a lot of it was, "Try to work Pat Mahomes in more."

Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong WRONG.

Don't do any of that. Keep things exactly the way they are, letting Mahomes just soak up things on the sideline, learn from Alex and Andy, no pressure -- do it the way they did it with Aaron Rodgers. He got Green Bay a Super Bowl title in his fifth year in the league. Hey, I'm great with a Super Bowl title in 2022. Aren't you?

But let's let Mahomes learn and learn and learn and get him developed. Does this mean he can't go in and run things if Smith gets injured? No. But for right now just go with Smith.

Sorry folks, I got news for you.

This Chiefs team isn't going to the Super Bowl this year.

Again, our offensive line is playing abysmally right now, and our defense is far too soft without Eric Berry. Yeah, huh, I know, you've just got to work with what you've got. What, you mean we have no chance this year? No, of course not, anything can happen, and I will always hope we win the Super Bowl every year. Always. I just said I'm hoping like crazy Alex Smith gets off his rear end and shows us what he's got.

I mean, after thinking about those couple of plays yesterday in which Smith really sacrificed his body to power for the first down, you do have to admire him. We all do! Again, he's smart, he's athletic, he has a good arm, he runs plays beautifully, and let's admit it, he is very competitive. On the other hand, it was clear from yesterday's game, he's inconsistent, he has terrible downfield vision, he struggles to improvise with the pass, he gets nervous too often, and he's simply not courageous enough to make that critical clutch pass when we need it most.

Here's to hoping that he does more of those good things he can do and we can win this year -- always always hoping.

As it is, I had this final thought. The two best teams right now are clearly the Eagles and the Patriots. Looks like it may likely be those two teams in the Super Bowl, I'd think. Wouldn't you think?

You of course know what that would mean, don't you -- an Eagles-Patriots Super Bowl?

It'll mean yet another instance when the two teams appearing in the Super Bowl will have BOTH been defeated by the Chiefs in the regular season. For the fifth straight season both the Super Bowl participants will have suffered a loss to the Chiefs either the season before or the season after.*

And how many times have the Chiefs appeared in any of those Super Bowls? How many conference championship games will the Chiefs have appeared in to even earn a rematch with the team they beat or will have beaten?

Yeah, uh-huh.
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(*The 2013 Super Bowl version of the Broncos was defeated in 2015, but it was essentially the same Peyton Manning-led team. Close enough.)
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Chiefs at Giants - Week 11 - Record: 6-4

I can't deny it. I know you can't deny it, but we all keep ourselves composed and don't say anything out of respect or whatever nice form of behavior we want to display.

But really, we all can't deny it.

Oh how wonderful it will be when the Chiefs are piloted by a true drafted and developed quarterback.

Oh how wonderful it will be when Pat Mahomes is in there.

This was a game we should have pummeled the opponent. Throughout the game they were showing stats about the Giants that had them 30th in the league in that, 31st in the league in that. Throughout the game the Giants were dropping passes left and right. They were playing a lot of new kids for those out with injuries. They looked like the Keystone Kops out there.

But they weren't as good at being the Keystone Kops as our offense was today.

We should've been up 35-6 at the half, but we were behind 6-3. Yeah. AREYOUKIDDINGME. It should've never even come close to there being a goofy 4th-&-6 pass completion allowing the Giants to kick the game-winner in overtime. YOUHAVEGOTTOBEKIDDINGME.

Until he did decently to get us into field goal range to tie it in regulation, Alex Smith was all over the place. Again again again he abjectly refuses to throw the ball down the field. On one play late in the 4th quarter when he did, he heaved the ball somewhere between Tyreek Hill and Demarcus Robinson, right into the hands of their guy. This play led to their go-ahead field goal making it 9-6. AREYOUSERIOUSLYKIDDINGME.

To be fair, it wasn't all his fault. Andy Reid helped by either being too cute or being too much the technician -- I wonder what is going on with him sometimes. Some games he manages the entire game not to lose. This game was just atrocious, how can you be this good and not take care of business? Even when we do win, have you noticed how it looks like it is so hard for us to use this marvelous talent to take care of business?

I also can't neglect to mention our continued weak offensive line play. The fact that we are penalized too much, a lot of it on this O-line, means our offense is just plain inept right now. Kareem Hunt showed some of his brilliance today, but far too often he could not get untracked like he could. Anyone can tell that watching Hunt slice and dice the field that he'd have 200 yards rushing a game if the line could actually open things up for him.

This was inexcusable. Last week this Giants team lost to the 0-9 49ers. They came into this game with a 1-8 record. Sure "any given Sunday." Sure they still have a dangerous Eli Manning.

But there was no excuse for this one. None whatsoever.

Yeah maybe this is a reverse 2015 when we were 1-5 then won 11 straight. This year we started 5-0, and since then we've gone 1-4. Since the rest of the AFC West is kind of sucking we may still eek out a division title when it's all said and done, but I really don't have any hope for this team right now. Yeah I can enjoy some nice things about our Chiefs in any game, but come playoffs time will we beat a loaded-with-got-it Steelers team or a loaded-for-a-standard-long-playoff run Patriots? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

We have so much talent yet we don't win football games.

This past three weeks reminds me of 2005, when we started 8-4, in the midst of thoroughly enjoying a wonderful season, in control of everything. Then we had two straight road games at Dallas and New York, just like this year, games we should have easily won and lost, just like this year. That year those losses really killed us -- we finished a fine 10-6 but missed the playoffs.

Since this whole year's blog philosophy is about the good things the Chiefs do this year, yeah, until we can seriously be considered Super Bowl material when Mahomes is on top of things, here are the players I like right now.

Reggie Ragland. He's the one guy who seems to have the most Ray-Lewis in him. Without Eric Berry we need guys like this to help in our relatively anemic run defense.

Steven Nelson. His coverage was excellent today. He made a couple of key plays late that kept us in it. He looked to be injured late, let's hope he's okay.

Tyreek Hill. I consider this guy the very best player we have. The plays he makes -- when they get him the ball, it is nothing but ::wow::

Dustin Colquitt. Yeah, have to put a good word in one of the best Chiefs ever, really. I know, the punter. But he is so good at pinning the other team way back really helping our defense. He did that a number of times today yet again.

Well, at least there was that.

So yeah, I'm done with this. I'm done with this for now.

I can't wait for 2019 when Pat Mahomes is in there as a drafted, developed, at-least-a-little-experienced-with-a-take-care-of-business-no-matter-what-approach game leader, and we can look like we want to win when we should.

I have a feeling I'm not the only one...
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Chiefs Bye - The NFL Desperately Needs a New Commissioner, Part II

I couldn't help but add another note about Roger Goodell's lack of leadership putting the big hurt on the NFL, and in turn having much more of a detrimental effect on the teams that must really work hard to overcome the competitive duplicity that is more profoundly distended in these circumstances.

The Chiefs are undeniably one of those teams. Check out my last post to get a much more comprehensive feel for what I'm seeing.

The reason for this update is I'd seen that Jerry Jones is valiantly trying to stir up a mutiny against Goodell, and it appears that his inability to get any traction among a number of key fellow owners means "the nuclear option" may be employed against Jones -- apparently they may try to get Jones himself removed from his ownership position.

You've gotta be kidding me.

I've never really liked Jones as an owner too much, he's always wanted to go his own way -- certainly knowing that his Cowboys are the most valuable major sports franchise on the planet. Why shouldn't he have more of say in an NFL that relies on his Cowboys for much of the freight?

But Jones is right on this point. Goodell is on his way to driving the NFL into the ground, and he absolutely has got to go. The only thing in his favor is the veritable idea that whoever would replace him probably wouldn't be any better because all of these power broker people are now so intractably kowtowed to the politically correct hegemony that it really wouldn't matter.

Tell the players to get in line with the Americanist conception of NFL football -- that means standing respectfully during the national anthem -- and you're a racist straight away. The New York Times narrative of incurable systemic racism among the white privileged population is now so entrenched that most owners can't get out of it, will do nothing about it, and are leaving Jones hanging in the wind as he tries to make his principled case.

What is so sad is that apparently Clark Hunt is one of those owners.

I have had great hope for Clark making this Chiefs franchise great with robust, insightful, courageous leadership, but when I see things like this, I feel great sadness. Clark's authority, direction, and guidance cannot necessarily be impugned on the merits of this one position, but still -- it is a major one.

Again, there are perfectly fine arguments to be made in the discourse, that's fine. But the truth is, millions of fans are taking off and the NFL is losing millions because of Goodell's virulent impotency. And again, the fans are hearing in no uncertain terms, "Hey, thanks for the huge wad of cash you racist asshole."

Who wants to hear that?

Some people know this, see it for what it is, and want to do something about it.

Most continue to keep their heads in holes in the ground.

::Sigh::
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Chiefs Bye - The NFL Desperately Needs a New Commissioner

This is the bye week for the Chiefs, and after a sizzling start to the season, we've dropped three of the last four games. Much of that is because our offensive line is playing so poorly, Alex Smith is reverting back to his dancing days, and we simply don't have Eric Berry in there. There are other reasons for all of this, some related to the Chiefs themselves indeed.

This post isn't about those.

It is about the reasons the Chiefs are debilitated by other factors having nothing to do with what happens on the field.

Yet those things impact the Chiefs negatively just as much as the on-field failures, and they have for years. It is now that these things have been screeching toward critical mass. It is now that I should finally get around to articulating the things that simply drive me crazy about the NFL. I love my Chiefs, but I really don't have a lot of affection for the NFL.

And yeah, a lot of that is because of the leadership. It is as sure as sure can be that some owners now are grumbling and rumbling about finally, finally dumping Roger Goodell. OH but he's done so much to get us gazillions of dollars in ad revenue and whatever revenue -- he's a dealmaker in the Pete Rozelle mold!

Really? As far as I can tell the gravy train is going right into the crapper, for the reasons I'd like to share with you now. Please, anyone with any of the tiniest marketing savvy could hold up the NFL in front of rich people's faces and barely have to say a word.

So, what are those things? In no particular order -- although the last one is of particular significance to me because it most adversely impacts our beloved Chiefs.

1. Injuries. Yes injuries have been a common part of NFL football for eons, understandably. But with the NFL suffering financially I can't for the world see how it can continue to give lip service to protecting players. Yes there are new rules against head shots and stuff. Yes there is an emphasis on keeping bone-crushing type hits from happening, especially against the vulnerable quarterback and receivers trying to catch passes.

But it isn't enough, by far. I simply refuse to believe that much more meaningful constraints against injury-causing hits will make everyone ditch the sport.

Look at what's happened to two of the NFL's biggest stars, players who aren't Chiefs so I don't think one way or the other about them as players, but they're still humans and they should be important to the NFL, and as such there is no way they should've been injured the way they were.

Aaron Rodgers had a 900-pound behemoth lineman drop on top of him, breaking his collar bone. He's out for most of the season, if not all of it. How about we make a new rule, no defensive player can drop his body on top of anyone, especially a quarterback. I even think we should consider limits on how large players can get, really. Once you reach a certain weight, say 300 pounds, you can't play. So keep the diet going and let's see if you can play well anyway -- isn't that the point after all?

So tell me, think the NFL is happy without Aaron Rodgers playing?

Then there's Odell Beckham Jr. Even though he's been a yutz with his rants and rages and generally boorish behavior, he's a mint to the NFL. Sure enough, after he leaps for a ball some defensive back yanks him down onto his foot gruesomely mangling it, and he's out for the season. So yeah, we need a rule that says any tackle like the one this D-back made is illegal, with the penalty not just yardage but ejections and suspensions.

I've heard people say you can't do that.

Sorry, yes you can. These guys are expert athletes who can control their bodies any way you ask them to. Oh but you can't help yourself when you're on the field doing it. Yes, you can! And for those who think the game will be changed dramatically, yes, it will. In fact I'd think it'd be something that'd increase scoring and thus would be something the NFL would like!

It was recently revealed that Aaron Hernandez, the former Patriots tight end who committed a murder then killed himself in prison, had a horrific form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It is now a given that this is caused by repeated severe blows to the head, so how about the NFL make more helmet-to-helmet hits illegal, again followed by ejections and suspensions. They should also be making the helmets themselves safer with much more advanced technology employed to do that. Please don't give me excuses -- they can do all these things.

They won't because they don't have the stout leadership to do them.

One of the troubling aspects of NFL football today is that the players are either not trained enough or training too much. They are faster, stronger, beefier, quicker, fiercer than they've ever been and they simply cannot handle it all. Look at the Chiefs! Eric Berry and Chris Conley were lost for the year with non-contact Achilles injuries. I truly believe Berry was lost partly because of his weakened body from the cancer he endured, but partly because he hardly played in the preseason to get into game-playing shape. I even wonder if he'll even ever be back at a level we need for him to be as effective as he's been.

So how about radically reevaluating how players train and then reinventing it terms of making it more likely they'll stay on the field and actually be out there playing the game. Even more importantly, they won't be severely debilitated by CTE related conditions and may live rich, meaningful lives well after they finish playing football.

There are several other things that can be done to limit injuries. Get rid of any and all artificial turf and do more to make sure the grass turf is maintained properly with the right drainage and whatever else is needed to make it as safe as it can be. Get rid of Thursday night football games which do not allow players enough rest between games. I'm sure there are a dozen other significant improvements for pro football that could be made if it had the courageous leadership to do so.

2. Commercials. For years and years and years I've been sick and tired of the ding-dong commercials they show over and over and over again. You know, they'll have a break in the action with lots of commercials, then show a punt, then have more commercials.

It now seems they are showing even more commercials. Come on! After eight minutes of football, another four minutes of commercials show up. Sorry, Roger Goodell, if your product was good enough, you could get a lot of money from a few committed advertisers and have fewer commercial breaks. The games would move along much more briskly -- actually providing the entertainment we tune in to see.

This is not even to mention the idiocy of the commercials to begin with. If I see another ad with a gecko in it I'm going to go crazy. Yeah, I just mute them, but still. I want to puke whenever I see the most idiotic commercials of all -- the beer ads. And please know it isn't just these. Almost every commercial is ridiculously inane, many of them full of racialism and virtue signaling, shamelessly going on one after the other after the other -- stupidity for dollars. No wonder the NFL is in trouble, it reduces itself to its lowest troglodyte denominator.

Which means much of the issue with the NFL is the simply plain idiocy it enables. But then this leads to another critical factor...

3. Enabling. This has to do with what many see as the politics invading the NFL, but really, politics is not a bad thing. Everyone is political. I really don't care what political views my players have, as long as they're contributing to lots of Chiefs touchdowns on the field. Now I am interested in what people feel about things, but I have to confess I'm not really thinking about Travis Kelce's position on tax reform if he's scoring the game-winning touchdown, I'm just not.

The issue is how much the NFL is promoting issues the players spout about and how much that spills on to the field, and yes, let's not fool ourselves, it does matter what those things are. This is really the issue. And what more is there to demonstrate this than this whole national anthem mess.

What makes it enabling is that the players are making their racialist declarations based on New York Times-generated disconceptions -- yes, not misconceptions but disconceptions, meaning these players are hypnotized by asinine racialist poisons that are pounded into their minds by powerful people bent on keeping them, really, on the plantation -- and they don't even know it. They don't even know how exploited they are by those powers whenever they kneel or sit or stay out when the national anthem is performed.

I personally don't care what the NFL expects with the national anthem. I'm not a rah-rah patriot guy -- I'm pleased to live in this country and always honor those who've served and do serve, but I'm relatively indifferent to what is done with the flag or the national anthem itself. I also encourage any player to enthusiastically support positions about which he feels strongly, doing everything he and his cohorts can do to make the world a better place, that's terrific.

The problem is many of the NFL customers do care about how they shove this particular stuff they believe into their faces, and it is a slap in the face of those putting dollars into these players paychecks. People who want to see them respect the flag are essentially being told by these players, "Keep paying us gobs of money even while we brazenly scold you for being viciously racist even though you're not but the New York Times keeps insisting you are and I need to look good as I'm appearing to be crusading for something the Times says I need to keep crusading for." I'd venture to say several of them would add, "In the mean time I can't upset my brothers so that's also why I feel I have to do this."

Really, that's what they're doing even if they have to spew the standard racialist pap.

And many, many of the once stalwart NFL customers very reasonably despise it.

It'd be one thing for the fans to respond with a harmless adversarial sentiment, it's wholly another for them to take their money with them, which is what they're doing in droves.

This is why Roger Goodell is a magnificent fool for not going to every NFL team right after Colin Kaepernick first did his thing to tell them, "Look, we'll set up an 'NFL Office of Sensitivity to Race Issues' or something really important like that, really, let's do that, but you have to stand for the flag during the national anthem. If you don't, you're fired." If long ago Roger Goodell said that to every single player and made the statement uniformly across the league -- simply, personally, graciously, considerately, meaningfully -- then we wouldn't be having to deal with any of this.

But he didn't, because he doesn't know what he's supposed to do to lead with wisdom and courage, with insight and boldness, with truth and grace. Let's be honest -- we've all known this for years. So who's really the fool? The owners and the players and yes, the fans for just following along with the idiocy.

Now, the NFL is suffering big-time.

4. Duplicity. I've written about this for many years, even a number of times in this blog endeavor.

Doesn't seem to mean much to many, though.

Yes, it does disappoint me, but it doesn't mean I don't accept the reality of the situation.

The situation is merely that large major professional sports enterprises must have the larger-market media-darling teams succeed for them to reach the levels of profitability they expect.

Yes, it does make for very pronounced what-I-call competitive duplicity, meaning that the leagues actually do things or allow certain teams to do things that give them advantages over other teams.

In a nutshell, does the NFL really care whether or not the Chiefs are successful? Ahem. Do they care that the New York Giants or New England Patriots or Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys are successful? Absolutely. In fact, let's just cut to the worst of it -- the NFL really doesn't want the Chiefs to be successful because the Chiefs will never come close to generating the kinds of cash a Cowboys or Patriots can get in any featured game.

Oh you'll occasionally have some non-major-market-darling teams get far in the postseason, I don't think any major sports league can keep that from happening. But the way the entire structure is set up, you will always see plenty of Patriots-Giants or Steelers-Packers Super Bowl matchups. Yes, the NFL has much more parity than other leagues -- this deliberately arranged competitive imbalance is far more pronounced in something like major league baseball, where presently the Dodgers and Yankees have been being groomed for appearances in any or all of the next several World Series.

I like to peek at the franchise values coming out every year, and you can see this phenomenon all over those. Here are the latest top values among all American sports franchises. See if you can see a pattern. For 2017...

1. Dallas Cowboys $4.2 billion
2. New York Yankees 3.7
3. New England Patriots 3.4
4. New York Knicks 3.3
5. New York Giants 3.1
6. Los Angeles Lakers 3.0
6. San Francisco 49ers 3.0
8. Washington Redskins 2.9
8. Los Angeles Rams 2.9
10. Los Angeles Dodgers 2.7
10. New York Jets 2.7
10. Boston Red Sox 2.7
10. Chicago Bears 2.7
10. Chicago Cubs 2.7

These teams all have the most fans (more $$$), the biggest broadcasting contracts (more $$$), the most frequent mentions among sportscasters, sportswriters, and pundits (more $$$), and the largest national followings (more $$$). And please don't let the Knicks, Jets, and 49ers failures detract you. These teams should all be very successful but have been plagued by horrible management.

Should a Chiefs ever even make it to the Super Bowl the NFL power brokers would barely tolerate it, but that's it. I fear looking at what the television ratings would be for any Super Bowl in which the Chiefs appear, because waaay fewer New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston fans would tune in.

The powers-that-be know this too well.

Some of the extended advantages come from the officiating. There are other given advantages that reside in the deeper politics areas of the overall league organization, but what referees do out on the field is the most obvious, and Chiefs fans know it too well. I could list all of the critical calls that have gone against us in the most critical moments -- I feel much of it is to make it more likely the Chiefs do not advance. It may be said the officials can only do do much especially with the use of instant replay, and that is true, but the extent they can make an interpretation of a pass interference or holding call turns entire game outcomes, and countless times they have against the Chiefs.

The interesting thing is football fans -- even Chiefs fans -- generally disdain citing those very obvious evidences because we fear being called whiners or sour grapes spouters or whatever.

It still doesn't change the reality of competitive duplicity.

Could new leadership change this? I honestly don't think so, because again, Roger Goodell is there ultimately because the fans want him there. And again, the reality is that there are more New York and Los Angeles fans who really don't mind advantages coming their way making them more successful. Who wouldn't secretly want that?

As it is, I'll still root for the Chiefs even with all that is against them. I'll still hope against hope that they'll emerge as a team many could root for, even with all the geographic demographic autocratic disadvantages. I'll still enjoy them play football and, at least this year, play winning football with a fine head coach and some extraordinary playmakers doing thrilling things.

I committed to this at the beginning of the year -- take each game one at a time, enjoy each one, revel in our proud Kansas City Chiefs. I've even written this here before -- it makes it that much more meaningful when we win when that duplicity stacks things against us.

Should we go all the way and win the whole thing, then we do it with the greatest adversity -- most of it coming from the NFL itself.

Wow wouldn't that be great.
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Chiefs at Cowboys - Week 9 - Record: 6-3

::Sigh::

Missing Eric Berry.

Sorry but our defense is just too soft for us to really be considered meaningful playoff contenders. We still don't have that Ray Lewis type in the middle to really make it hard on offenses. For years Eric Berry has provided a good deal of that stoutness in the middle, but without him there a good team like the Cowboys can just carve us up.

This game also proved how important the offensive line is. The Cowboys O-line made it easy for fine skill players like Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliot to have their way with us.

On our side -- sorry, but our offensive line is just not good. Yes we got Laurent Duvernay-Tardif back in there, but it didn't matter. Alex Smith just doesn't have enough time to make good passes down the field, and Kareem Hunt only got one decent run. Weak pass protection and weak run blocking. You'll win very few games with that.

We lost 28-17, getting only two touchdowns, one of which was that brilliant last second play ending the first half when Tyreek Hill took a pass at about the 30 and because the Cowboys defenders were all positioned way back for a Hail Mary attempt, Hill just zipped past them all with the help of fantastic blocking from Demetrius Harris, Travis Kelce, and DeMarcus Robinson. It was a wonderful, wonderful play.

But that was it, and we really had to rely on this surprising play call using Tyreek's speed to get it. A novel crazy play to try to stay in it. This means we simply can't sustain solid, talent-driven offensive football because, again, our O-line just isn't up to it.

Think about it: Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliot, Dez Bryant, Jason Witten.

Then we have: Alex Smith, Kareem Hunt, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce.

I'd say those sets are pretty equal, pretty terrific skill players across the board, give or take a few talent notches one way or the other for any given player. I'd even add on our side guys like De'Anthony Thomas and DeMarcus Robinson in whom I see terrific potential -- can you see it? But you aren't able to really see it because, well, you know...

That offensive line. That's how major a factor it is to have a strong offensive line, far more than I believe people think. Those skill players get all the press, but look at the reality. And it wasn't just a phenomenon afflicting the Chiefs in this game. It has truly hurt us all season. We have a team that has the potential to score 40 points a game, really. But we just can't, it looks like these awesome Chiefs playmakers have to pull teeth to get untracked in any given game.

You can easily see the reason why. Today the Cowboys defense knew it, and they toyed with us.

Here's the thing I can't help but keep thinking when I see this kind of stuff happen to our Chiefs.

It'll be nice over the next several years to enjoy Pat Mahomes in there actually stepping up in the pocket and throwing the ball down the field on a regular basis, something Alex Smith simply will not do. The benefit of that will be the high draft picks we now can use to get help on that defense and offensive line. I know we don't have a whole lot of high picks coming up, but I'm looking to our brain trust to make some nice picks where we can get them, and that our key defensive picks from this year -- that linebacker and defensive end -- will step it up when they start getting playing time.

Just to add: the last (and only) time the Chiefs have beaten the Cowboys in Dallas was way back in 1975, can you believe it? Kansas City beat a Dallas team that eventually went to the Super Bowl, in the middle of the 70's when the Chiefs were generally horrible. For now we'll have to wait until 2025 (assuming the next Cowboys game is at Arrowhead) to get another shot at them at their place, and yeah, by then here's to hoping Mahomes is seasoned enough to take care of business.

We have a bye next week, and if I have some time I plan to post a special blog about the things plaguing the NFL and in turn plaguing the Chiefs chances to be successful. After this game, it'll be good to do some therapeutic venting.

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

Yes we are 6-2 here at the halfway point in the season, record-wise dominating the AFC West. There are several key facets of the Chiefs game that every fan should be enjoying right now.

But I can't deny that I have very mixed feelings about this team. I do confess that I still feel the way I did at the beginning of the year, that this team is just not ready for rich meaningful sustained playoff success -- which really means playing so well that we'll make it to the Super Bowl. Really, do you think this team will get past a playoff-tuned Tom Brady? A Steelers' Ben, Brown, and Bell combination that destroys us every time we take the field against them? An officiating crew who has deep in their psyches -- whether deliberately put there or not -- the idea that a piddle Kansas City team simply cannot appear in a game that means so much revenue to the NFL world?

The Chiefs must reach the threshold of such a phenomenally exceptional team to actually overcome these typical impediments so we finally throughly summarily win crucial playoff games.

And I just don't see that we do.

Last night I watched a run defense that was absolutely pathetic. I thought from what I heard that the Denver offensive line had issues. Not with our defensive front. They pushed our guys anywhere they wanted and ran all over us. We won this game in part because they allowed their struggling quarterback Trevor Siemian to pass the ball.

They should've just run the ball all night.

In fact I don't know why the Denver coach didn't use former beloved Chiefs great Jamaal Charles more. Sure he allowed Marcus Peters to strip him for the big touchdown play early, but when Charles was in there running he got good yardage. He looked really good. It's a good thing they didn't use him more, actually. We lucked out again because too many times Siemian threw the ball, often enough to our guys.

We won with the help of some key big plays, but I am always nervous about relying on a handful of big plays on offense, really. Here were some of them.

Smith's nice touchdown pass to Kelce.

Smith's bullet pass to Hill to get a key first down when Hill was blanketed by Aqib Talib.

A couple of solid Smith passes to Kelce, one of which was a marvelously designed bubble screen that forced the Bronco defenders to respect Smith's running ability (Yay!)

Smith scrambling for a first down on a couple of occasions, one of which was a certain sack that Smith this time just managed to squeak from and jet straight up field.

Thing is we only scored one touchdown on offense, and relied on five Harrison Butker field goals. (And again it can't be said enough -- what a find this kid has been.)

The thing about all this is, are we good enough to rely on these big plays merely because we have the personnel to make them happen more often? Isn't that a good thing? Isn't the NFL just that anyway -- you win with big plays because you're lucky enough have the personnel to make them happen?

The Chiefs certainly have the playcalling and playmaking ability. It is a wonderful thing to watch this team sometimes, just marveling at how well Reid puts plays together and the team executes them. A number of times Reid runs the option -- the option -- and it works. I mean you can't deny that the Chiefs still got the ball into positions to score something seven times, against this Denver defense. Give some credit to the Chiefs pass protection, which was actually pretty good. How about the job right tackle Mitchell Schwartz did on Von Miller. That was major.

Some of that was set up by the Chiefs big play defense. I really believe our D-backs are not given enough credit -- over the season they've barely missed some fine defenses on passes. The television announcers were lobbying for Siemian to throw more "50/50" balls, implying that the Chiefs simply can't defend those lobbed up-for-grabs balls that their 6' 5"receivers will surely get -- and sure enough when he tried one of those Ron Parker picked it. It was significant too that we got Steven Nelson back in there, I think he was a factor in this win.

Then there was the monster game Justin Houston had, two big sacks and a number of other quarterback-pressuring, runner-tackling kinds of things he did.

So that's this game -- the good, the very good, and the ugly.

As I've said I've committed to doing, just going to enjoy it now. I know I sometimes devolve back into the whole "Are we really going to make it to the Super Bowl or what?" attitude, and there's nothing wrong with the conversation, I know.

But for now I confess it's just good to enjoy these Chiefs.
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Broncos at Chiefs - Week 8 - Game Preview

We are enjoying another prime time affair tomorrow night, the classic Monday Night Football showcase, and because of that I will not be putting up my standard post-game blog post. Sometimes I've blogged during the game since I must get up for work so early, but I'm not crazy about doing that, and we'll be having family over tomorrow night, so I'll simply be posting on the game the following day. If Halloween activities take over on that day and I don't have the time, I'll just do it on Wednesday.

Until then, just a couple thoughts.

The Broncos always play us tough and I don't think by any means this game is a gimme. I noted that we're seven point favorites, and a friend told me the Broncos offense is anemic this year especially after some offensive linemen have suffered injuries keeping them off the field.

We still must score points against their fine defense, and that's precisely what concerns me. I still for-the-life-of-me don't understand why Andy Reid abjectly refuses to move Alex Smith around more, putting in designed plays in which Smith moves -- even deliberate scrambles, sort of a play action with Smith threatening to do things with his running ability while his receivers run specifically drawn routes with that in mind.

How many times does Smith, or any good mobile quarterback for that matter, make something happen from nothing when scrambling out of trouble? Quite a few! Why not have this stuff happen deliberately? I wrote a lot about this a few years ago when we lost a game to the Broncos. I have still yet to see it happen, and oh would it be great to start to see it happen with Smith.

It would be especially helpful since our receiving corps is being pressured to perform with Albert Wilson ailing and Chris Conley out for the season. I do see, however, good things from DeMarcus Robinson and De'Anthony Thomas, so this may not be so bad.

The real concern is our offensive line simply because their pass protection for Smith has been woeful. Contributing to this is having Mitch Morse and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif out for so long. I don't even know if they'll be back for this game, and if they aren't, then we'd better start using Smith's mobility better.

Another thing related to the O-line -- Zach Fulton had better start getting his snaps better. It wasn't just the snap that flew out of the end zone for a safety in that last game, it is him frequently not getting to Smith much more sharply so our plays can get off much more smoothly.

So yeah, we'll see how we do tomorrow night!
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Chiefs at Raiders - Week 7 - Record: 5-2

Another prime-time affair, pretty cool. But I've got to blog now. It is the start of the 4th quarter, and we're up 30-21. I didn't even get to the game until close to halftime because of a work obligation that kept me from seeing what was happening.

My wife told me we'd already had two bad calls go against us. An offensive PI that helped give Oakland a touchdown catch, and a phantom defensive holding call that I imagine helped get them another score. It just makes me think yet again how much these calls will yet again weigh heavily against us at some critical time when we just can't afford it.

Oh well, my focus is just on how well we're doing and enjoy it no matter what.

So far the fun Chiefs things I've seen. Just freeflowing thoughts.

We had a cool blocked field goal by Eric Murray. On our side Harrison Butker is booming field goals in.

There was that spiffy missed interception by their guy allowing Albert Wilson to take the rebound into the end zone. Nice to have that happen after last week's version that happened against us.

Alex Smith is making some terrific throws on finely planned routes.

Our defensive backs are doing a decent job blanketing their receivers. They've got terrific receivers and Carr is always dangerous, and we've done okay.

Kareem Hunt had his standard good long run, and has been pounding the ball well late again.

Andy Reid and his coaching staff have been executing their fine game-managing play-calling matriculating-the-ball-down-the-field program.

There's been some disarray on Oakland's part, with Marshawn Lynch being ejected for shoving a ref and some jawing among their players. Still, this is too good a team to give up on. They've started 2-4 and are desperate. They've just driven down the field with good passing and after they got a nice non-call in the end zone (Eric Murray was pulling on the receiver and it should have been a PI), they get a field goal to make it 30-24.

So yeah, 4th quarter, we have the ball again, and start giving it to Hunt. Still 11:00 left, but this is our quarter. Now Kelce. We play our game and we got this. And there's Hunt again, getting his 100 all-purpose for the game.

Yet, there's another too-powerful-a-bullet pass from Alex to Travis, almost intercepted. Uh. The Raiders do not have an interception all year and Alex hasn't thrown one, but there've been a couple that should've changed that easily. Then Alex throws a beautiful strike to Tyreek for the first.

They also show the Raiders fans frequently, looking pensive. I actually feel for them. They've been had by Mark Davis, Las Vegas, and the taxpayer-fleecing NFL, and they're still loyal. Gotta give them that.

Sure enough, the Raiders blitz, they can't pick it up, and Alex can do nothing with it. Thfxxphthxx. We have to punt. Inside six minutes left and they have the ball inside the ten.

Can our defense hold?

Errck. Where's our pass rush? Carr has all kinds of time back there. But we still stop them! They can't get 1st down, have to punt. Now's the time we need to burn clock, with decent field position.

But eh, we get nothing. That's not good. Another time we can't get a game-closing 1st down. Colquitt's punt and exceptional kick coverage has them back at around their ten again, this time with a little over two minutes left.

Can our defense really hold now?

Nkay they get a huge pass play from Carr to Cooper, but now have a 3rd-&-11 at our 42. We're only up 30-24. :46 left.

Pass from Carr to Roberts incomplete and wouldn't have been enough for a 1st.

4th down.

Errrrgh. They get the 1st down, their huge receiver just out-muscles Eric Murray. Eric Berry is just not there. 

Now :33 left at the Chiefs 30. Carr throws jump ball in end zone incomplete. Our pass rushers are just not getting to Carr. Refs now allow O-linemen to hold like crazy -- huh, wonder why that never benefits the Chiefs. Huh.

I don't have a good feeling about this.

And sure enough with :16 left Carr throws a touchdown pass through two defenders -- they do this goofy two receivers in the exact same area and it ended up being pretty much like a Hail Mary. Whupp, he may be down inside the one-yard line.

I'm telling you.

The Chiefs could have had this game if they didn't just not-truly-take-care-of-business when they had the ball close to midfield and they needed a couple first downs with only a few minutes left.

Too much not-aggressive-enough game-managing at the wrong time.

Sure enough the receiver was down just inside the one.

And they get an obvious PI call against them on a fade route.

:03 left and they have the ball back at the 11.

Here it is...

And there is now a holding call on us on an incomplete pass.

Sorry, that wasn't a hold. Please.

Okay, I'm tired already. This is it. I can't even do this anymore with the blog.

Oakland has one more play with :00 on the clock from the Chiefs 6.

Here it is...

And he bobbled it out of bounds!.. And another holding call on Kansas City. Puh-lease. And it isn't a hold again! Another crappy call! Come on!

They get the touchdown on the next play.

I knew it.

It's a joke. It really is.

Nobody says anything about these holds that are just not. Sorry but no excuses for this. Oakland really had nothing on us, but on anything that was close the call went against us, either those phantom holding calls or the non-holding calls that should've gone against their offensive linemen.

You just gotta have a good game though, and good wild home-town finish.

Ugh.

If anything it's good the Chiefs are being challenged like this. I hope they know what they're up against and rise up to be even better next week.

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

I really didn't think we were going to win this game. I just had a feeling that Steelers thing was going to so brutally impact our game yet again -- just all the goofiness that makes virtually everything we do bad and everything they do good -- at least just enough to get them the win.

Happens every time.

Call it that weird spell that afflicts the Chiefs any time they play the Steelers. You see it in every game they play against them. It was on full display in that playoff game we lost to this team last year. It was all over that critical game in 2014 that effectively knocked us out of the playoff race. That thing just hasn't ended. I actually wonder if it has something to do with the Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley, just desperately doing everything he can to ruthlessly punish the Chiefs however he can with this interminably seething vendetta I'm sure he still has against us.

As far as I see I look at the Steelers getting clobbered by a Jaguars team as they did last week (even though the Jags are pretty good this year), I see them with two losses already, I see a team in disarray with this national anthem confusion, whatever little I catch about the Steelers it is all about a very average team... I don't get it...

They meet the Chiefs and no matter what they become a team of supermen.

Every single time.

It was like that game we played against them in 2006 when we just got hammered by them, I mean it was a complete and utter obliteration. I swear they had 14 guys on the field while we only had 9. I'm telling you that's what it looked like today. They constantly showed stats that indicate the Steelers are very average -- except when they play us.

And it isn't just the play on the field. It is the absurdity of the calls that go against us, like the touchdown that Demetrius Harris had -- oh he had it, he had the ball and took three clear steps, but the refs just missed it and Andy Reid just had a brain fart refusing to challenge it. Oh, sorry, all scoring plays are reviewed. So we can't even do anything about that. And even if it was too close to overturn, why? When we play the Steelers when does the play ever go in our favor by the inch required?

Look at that almost interception by Phillip Gaines. Are you kidding me? Why did that insanely idiotic play happen against us?

Because it had to do with the notoriously charmed Steelers.

So here's the upshot of this game beyond the curse stuff.

Alex Smith played a very very subpar game. He missed wide open receivers all over the place. A lot of that was the offensive line. He looked intimidated and the thug approach of the Steelers worked -- there were two roughing the passer penalties against them. Get into Alex Smith's head and you can rattle him. Smith was rattled all day.

The Steelers offensive line is very good. It's nice to have a healthy offensive line. Our refusal to have a Ray Lewis-type in the middle of the field really hurts against a team like this. LeVeon Bell had his typical 800 yards rushing against the Chiefs. Our loss of Eric Berry was glaring today -- he is really that big of a factor in shutting down their running game.

Meanwhile on our O-line our loss of Mitch Morse and LDT showed big-time today. Our running game was poor and it is because that make-shift O-line is being exposed. Zach Fulton had not been snapping the ball well and sure enough, first play of the game -- zzzhoop -- into the end zone for a safety.

I'm sorry but I'm tired right now. I have a lot of work and need some rest, and this game was just draining. Forgive me I'm not going to write a whole lot more.

It's probably pretty good that we lost because the pressure of seeing how long we can be undefeated is off. We can know what we need to do and what it takes to be a consistently winning team. As aggravating as all get-out as this all was, I will end on a positive note.

We still have weapons. We will regroup. It was fun to watch DAT make that catch and will his way to the touchdown. What a play by Eric Murray on that Steelers 3rd down late to give us a chance, awesome. Our special teams, Dustin Colquitt and Tyreek Hill and Jehu Chesson, great work. There were other great Chiefs individual efforts today, there were.

Several good things I can talk about with the Chiefs, yeah -- I mean, that we kept it close for so long while they were truly having their way with us on every metaphysical level has to be a good thing.
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Chiefs at Texans - Week 5 - Record: 5-0

It is indeed a wonderful wonderful thing that the Chiefs are being showcased so much on primetime television. I remember back in around 2012 I tried to track how few times we appeared in these kinds of games. I never got a conclusive number over the time period I examined, something like 2006-2012, but the Chiefs definitely did not appear very often.

Understandable. Most of the time they were a bad team in a small market, exceedingly not who the NFL powers-that-be wanted occupying one of the two premium prime-time ultra-revenue-generating slots on a Thursday, Sunday, or Monday night.

But since the Andy Reid-Alex Smith era, the Chiefs have actually become good. Really good.

So here we are on national television yet again.

Thing about that is, for the purposes of this weblog endeavor, it is hard to put in a post after the game. I've always just blogged my thoughts about Chiefs game day football after the game -- get the whole overview and put it into words I can share with a few fellow Chiefs fans readers.

But when there are all these primetime games, I simply cannot do that. I work very early the next morning every time there is a Thursday, Sunday, or Monday night primetime game. Huh. The fact I've always been able to blogpost after a game has been because we've rarely had this kind of attention. Now I've got to do more of this. Huh. Kinda nice actually.

Anyway, I thought I'd put down a little of a preview of tonight's game with the Houston Texans -- hey, it's still "Chiefs Game Today," it's just I'm remarking more about it beforehand. Again, I don't follow any of anything else but Chiefs -- although I do confess as I have frequently before, my sports radar still picks up things here and there. But what I know is this.

Last year we played an early game against the Texans in Houston and did pretty miserably -- it was one of our four losses on the year. Alex Smith had a terrible day, much because Houston's defense has been very good -- from what I hear.

I know they've got a solid defensive line, yet another good one this season our offensive line has to address. They have super-DE J.J. Watt, and while I don't know how good he is I can't imagine No. 1 overall pick from a few years ago Jadeveon Clowney isn't really good.

I've also heard brand spankin' new QB Deshaun Watson is doing phenomenally -- this is the guy picked in the draft this year right after the Chiefs snatched Pat Mahomes. The Texans also have that fine WR DeAndre Hopkins. I know of no other weapons they have on offense, but I'm sure they're helping Watson be very good for such a youngster. In fact I also caught that they clobbered the Titans last week, scoring 57 points against them. Wow.

With all this Texans information in mind, I'm just not sure we'll be able to keep up our perfect record, honestly. Yes we have the playmakers -- yes, we've got Smith and Kelce and Hill and now this Hunt kid. But I'm very nervous about our makeshift offensive line holding off their defense. I'm also nervous about a defensive backfield that is playing way over their heads -- no Eric Berry, no Steven Nelson... Will our fine play back there continue? And the pass pressure is muted by not having Dee Ford in there, and I'm wondering why we're not going with the rookies Tanoh Kpassagnon and/or Ukeme Eligwe.

Andy likes to bring in his youngsters gradually, so having a cushy 4-0 record gives him a window not to rush guys, that may be okay.

Thing is this is definitely one of the distinct edges the Chiefs have.

Andy Reid.

It appears he's doing some of the best coaching of his career right now. Really, he's got the game planning going (all the misdirection), the stamina going (the finishing games late), the Alex Smith talent unleashed (the playmaking in the clutch).

Let's see how this all plays out with a few in-game notes as we go.

1st qtr. Chiefs 3-0. We had a nice drive to open the game and got a field goal. They got the ball and moved a bit but we got them to punt. We now have the ball again at about mid-field yet the Texans have thoroughly stuffed Kareem Hunt. They're actually tackling him, doing a good job on the initial push and wrapping him up.

Thing is, J.J. Watt and another of their significant defensive players have been injured and may not return. Watt messed up his knee on a simple rush with little contact. The Houston stadium has that ugly artificial tar-bit-peppered field, which I think should be outlawed. Any artificial turf field just makes it too likely somebody like Watt is going to having something awful to a knee or something.

Aside from our running game being stuffed our passing game is fantastic so far. It isn't just because of those Texans' defenders being absent. Smith has been making terrific connections all game long, converting a number of tough 3rd downs with laser sharp passing.

Halftime. Chiefs 23-7. The Texans' ability to get their running backs deep into the 2nd level is disturbing. They just had a drive in which they got down the field just running the ball right at us. Our D-line isn't doing the job and our linebackers are being stressed. That set up an easy touchdown pass from Watson to Hopkins.

We did get a nice drive that concluded in a Smith-to-West touchdown pass, and have dominated time-of-possession.

On our side of the ball Travis Kelce is having his way out there. Right at the end of the 1st half he made more big plays getting us deep into Houston territory, on one deep catch he got the penalty flag after some Texans D-back did a helmet-to-helmet. He's then had to go into the concussion protocol, though, so that isn't good.

We finished the half with another nice touchdown catch for Charcandrick! This was all him, taking the swing pass at about the 10 and weaving around to get into the end zone.

And how about the Standing-Line-Pointing Play! On one play half of our O-linemen were standing with their fingers pointing at defenders but perfectly still to be set, then the ball is snapped to Smith who swings a pass to Hunt who runs for a 1st down. All Andy Reid...

3rd qtr. Chiefs 23-13. Houston scored another touchdown on some nifty Deshaun Watson improvisation close to the goal line.

Just as the quarter closes here, though, Tyreek Hill makes the play of the game so far when on 3rd-&-16 he catches a bomb from Smith barely getting both feet inside the sideline.

So we're deep in Houston territory as the 4th opens, still a ball game, and while I must say our offensive proficiency is really really good tonight especially with the pass, our defense is being not-as-stout as it should be. Our D-line isn't getting the push it needs and our linebackers aren't a shut-down unit tonight. Our D-backs are holding their own but Houston hasn't been throwing the ball down the field and they haven't even had the ball a whole lot to begin with.

Notice we did not score at all in that quarter. A lot of that? Travis Kelce has not returned. This is definitely a concern.

End of the game. Chiefs 42-34. This was too close until...

Andy Reid and Tyreek Hill happened.

When it got toooo close at 26-20, Andy Reid turned on the jet sweep stuff and it all finished up with a nice De'Anthony Thomas sweep touchdown.

Then our defense put up their standard 4th quarter resilience forcing Houston to punt, right to Tyreek Hill who made the first tackler miss and after that --

See ya!

Really, the thing that got us all these points was our offensive line giving Alex Smith splendid pass protection so he could perform his marvels. Tonight was a showcase night for us all to behold the real talents Smith has when he has the fine coaching, the exceptionally skilled players around him, and the time to make things happen behind the line.

To our defense's credit, Houston's touchdowns came with amazing plays made in spite of fine coverage. One of their touchdowns was a bomb that Hopkins snatched in the end zone with our safety Ron Parker swatting it away only to have it drop right back into his hands.

Finally, when are the injuries going to end. More Texans went down, and we even lost Chris Conley to an ugly looking calf injury on a Texans on-side kick recovery in which, yes again on this turf, no one laid a hand on him.

So yeah, with a lot of other issues I have with the NFL, you can add my deep desire that they get rid of this turf thing, everywhere. They even said at the very end of game that Justin Houston has some kind of calf injury.

Good thing we're 5-0 because our schedule doesn't get any easier. I like it, but I'm concerned about our injuries to all these Chiefs players... really, to all the NFL players. I know there are other factors besides the turf, but there are things that can be done.

It can be made right, it can.
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Chiefs Current Circumstances - October 2017

I just have to add this brief post because I was thinking of something kind of weird. It isn't totally weird, but just one of those weird thoughts that I have to put in a special Chiefs Game Today blog post.

If you've been one of my readers, of whom I am always extraordinarily appreciative, you may know that I was born near Kansas City where many of my closest relatives have resided and still do reside, but I grew up in the San Francisco area. I still reside in California.

My favorite team of all my sports teams is the Kansas City Chiefs, but my second is the San Francisco Giants.

Tonight was this year's rendition of the National League Wild Card Game (won by the Diamondbacks), but last year this game was won by the Giants on the merits of a thrilling 9th inning home run. This was quite the illusion, however, as we promptly fell to the Cubs in the NLDS, sadly a better reflection of our ferocious 2nd-half-of-the-season collapse.

This year was a continuation of that collapse.

My Giants finished with the worst record in the major leagues. Yeah -- uh-huh, just three years from their third World Championship in five years...

The Giants are the worst team in the major leagues.

I bring this up because, um, ahem, um...

Guess which team right now is being lauded as the unanimous best team in the NFL?

Did you guess, ohhh...

The Kansas City Chiefs?

Right now the Chiefs are the talk of everyone, everywhere. They're 4-0, the only remaining undefeated team in an NFL that has seen the craziest game results in a long time. And it isn't just because they've lucked into a handful of wins. As you Chiefs followers know...

Alex Smith has been having not only a career year but an MVP caliber year. Their rookie running back Kareem Hunt has been obliterating the record books. Travis Kelce is playing in his prime. Tyreek Hill has been used effectively, and while he has yet to make any major spectacular plays, defenses know he could and he has been messing them up with just the possibility.

Our defense has been phenomenal in light of Eric Berry's loss. They have picked it up big-time, being stout on the line and smothering in the defensive backfield. All of this is especially pronounced in the 2nd halves of games, even 4th quarters, when they step it up and outlast opponents.

Andy Reid is doing his best genius play calling yet. The overall coaching has been superlative. And they have been doing it against teams that so far have been considered the better quality teams in the NFL.

We do have some weaknesses -- I think the most pronounced is on the offensive line, but that unit too is coming through when needed. We play a fine Texans team this Sunday in Houston, I really think that'll be a true test. Can we keep up this extraordinary run? Are we for real? There is still a lot of football left, I know.

But the point is this Chiefs team is actually pretty good.

Indeed, in the opinion of many, quite justified, the Chiefs are the very best team in the NFL.

Except that, what does that have to do with the pathetic Giants?

Well, here it is. In this post right here. Go ahead, click these words.

Go back to my post of October 29, 2012, just five years ago. Yeah, that's the weird thing.

Back five years ago, October 2012, the Giants were on their way to a World Series title -- the best team in major league baseball.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs? Do you remember 2012?

It -- was -- abominable.

The Chiefs were, at that time, really, the worst team in the NFL.

How weird.

What a switch.

I found this kind of weird too. See, the Giants had the worst record in major league baseball this year, finishing with 98 losses. They were indeed the worst team in the majors, but they shared that distinction with another team. Did you happen to catch which major league team also had 98 losses?

The team they played in the World Series that year, the Detroit Tigers.

Sports is very weird. Things can be really good, then be really bad. Sure enough this is precisely why I'm just enjoying this Chiefs run right now.

It is a lot of fun.
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Redskins at Chiefs - Week 4 - Record: 4-0

I'm going to blog post this game during the game. I regularly don't do this, but sometimes I do. I work early tomorrow morning, and while these primetime games are wonderful, they do go late even for me here on the west coast.

As of now we're getting our butts whupped. We really are. Last week I wrote about how inadequate I feel our offensive line has been, and tonight they're proving it more. Injuries aren't helping, already Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is out with some serious leg injury, and we already don't have Mitch Morse. I'd even seen that Eric Fisher was iffy for tonight's game.

Bottom line, we're getting smeared up and down the field by both their lines.

On offense? Ha. Kareem Hunt had a nice run, Travis Kelce has had a couple of nice receptions, but that's it. We're almost to the end of the first half and we have zilch. Zero. The main reason is Alex Smith YET AGAIN looks harried hurried and harassed back there on every single play. He has no time to let things progress, and for someone who's had issues with that before, this isn't helping... offensive line...

Washington's defense is faster, stronger, and easily reading everything we do.

Funny though, they just flashed a stat saying the Chiefs have a 7.5 average run-after-catch, highest in the NFL. Thing is half of that is Kareem Hunt's run-after-catch for a touchdown against the Patriots. I'm exaggerating, of course, but all we've had are those couple of big plays. Yes, I like big plays that get us wins as they have in the first three games so far. But as I've always said, I get nervous when we have to rely on big plays.

We may have to do that tonight, with some chance still to win since we're only down 10-0 with about three minutes left in the first half.

And whaddya know. We're moving the football. When Alex Smith has at least some time he can make nice connections, like right there to Chris Conley to take it to their 17. We should get at least a field goal to get on the board, with a brand new spankin' kicker in a guy with the name Harrison Butker, picked up when we just flat-out released injured Cairo Santos so we won't have to pay him millions of dollars next year.

We won't be able to see him kick a FG now, only a PAT, because Smith finally got a big pass play to Kelce for the touchdown! Very nice.

Chiefs have the ball again, and oh -- gutsy play by Alex Smith to scramble down into Redskins territory with about half-a-minute left. Why don't they use his legs more often?! All the times I see him go down in the backfield I wonder, why can't they arrange a play specifically to draw the defense into the middle of the backfield and he just takes off around the edge. Make that a design? Huh Andy Reid? How about it?

Now Butker is in for the FG. And he barely misses it. That's nice. Something like a 40-yarder. It looked really good, but as it always seems for the Chiefs, it may look good but still misses.

At halftime here I just have to point this out. I'd noted a while ago that the Chiefs have only lost once to Washington, ever -- in 1983, the year the Redskins went to the Super Bowl. All the other games the Chiefs have played against the Redskins they've won, all eight of them, many of them against those good Redskins teams. I'd wondered, is there any other head-to-head matchup that has been more lopsided? I looked and looked, and couldn't find one until I saw that the Patriots have the same record against the Ravens, 8-1. I should add that the Patriots are also 7-0 against the Jaguars, but the Jaguars are an expansion team and the Patriots have been dominant for years.

I did, however, find there is one head-to-head record that is even better. The Jets are 10-1 against the Buccaneers. Turns out the Bucs simply cannot beat the Jets for some reason.

As of now, the Patriots against the Ravens and the Chiefs against the Redskins are the second best won-loss records in head-to-head matchups in NFL history.

The Chiefs' vs. Redskins record in on the line now. So far we've skated through the first half only down 10-7. I don't know how. The Redskins have easily outplayed us in every facet of the game, especially on the line. It has actually taken Alex Smith's activity late in the half to keep us in this game. When he's had time he's thrown the ball well and scrambled beautifully.

Chiefs are now moving down the field to start the second half, Alex and Kareem playing well. Thing is, that stout Redskins defense is hurting. They've already had a couple key guys injured, including their studly D-back Josh Norman.

And what a play for the touchdown! From their one yard line Alex Smith with the read-option, faking everyone out -- I even thought it was going to Kareem Hunt and Smith walks into the end zone. Butker drills the PAT and he does look good except for the barely missed FG -- he's been booming kickoffs.

Will our standard 2nd-half surge carry us to the win tonight?

Nkay, back and forth a bit, with the Chiefs doing the standard Chiefs things. Since the 1st quarter the Chiefs offense has had the ball for most of the time.

Smith is throwing nice passes enough but getting sacked some more. Kareem Hunt is being phenomenal with the run, he's got to have 100 on the ground by now, or close to it. Add to that a nifty Andy Reid weird play that works great: Kelce in the wildcat running for a 1st down.

With about five minutes left we get the ball deep into Redskins territory but can't get the TD. Butker comes in for a 32-yarder and now we're ahead 20-17.

Will our standard late-4th-quarter surge carry us to the win tonight?

AND WOW. The Redskins had it. They had the touchdown catch to put them up with under a minute left. Receiver in the end zone with the ball in his hands, and he can't hang on to it. So they tie it with the field goal, it's now 20-20.

We get the ball with :47 left.

Redskin defenders are still coming off the field injured, what's with that?

Can we matriculate the ball down the field to get a game-winning FG with a brand spankin' new kicker. Aaagh!

And Albert Wilson with the medium deep-ball sideline catch on a pass from scrambling Alex Smith! How nice is that! Yet another big play to get us a chance at the win! And Albert Wilson! How about that -- he's caught everything thrown his way tonight.

Now we're into Washington territory with :33 left.

Will it come down to Harrison Butker?...

And it does.

Here he is, 43-yard attempt. They signed this kid on Tuesday. Does he have ice in his veins?

He does drill his first attempt, right down the middle, but the Redskins called timeout a nanosecond before the snap.

Now the snap ----- the hold -----

AND HE GOT IT. Right down the middle.

We're up 23-20.

:04 left. They have it at their 25. Rarely rarely rarely has a team done the whole lateral-lateral-lateral play to win a game late -- I think it was successful only once in NFL history. Will it happen here? Errrrrghhh...

And they try it, Washington lateraling it everywhere, until Justin Houston picks up one of the errant laterals and takes it into the end zone. How goofy. We win 29-20. The announcers just said the Chiefs were 7 point favorites, so they cover the spread.

And so we take care of business again. We get the job done late.

Speaking of late, I've got to get to bed. An entertaining game for sure, and a Chiefs win to boot. Literally, to boot.

Now four weeks into the regular season, guess what?

The Chiefs are the only undefeated team in the NFL!

As heart-wrenching as these games are, definitely enjoying it so far.
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