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

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

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

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

Mecole Hardman.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He nailed it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not.

Instead he threw a pick and that was it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Should've easily been a PI call against Davis.

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

So typical.

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

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

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

So very typical.

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

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

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

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

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

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

First down.

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

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

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

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

Wow these Chiefs. The Kingdom.

I like it.

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

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

Patrick Mahomes Patrick Mahomes Patrick Mahomes Patrick Mahomes.

Travis Kelce Travis Kelce Travis Kelce Travis Kelce.

Brett Veach Brett Veach Brett Veach Brett Veach.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thing is, our defense held.

It held.

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

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

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

Next week, though...

Da Bills.

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

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

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

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

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

"These guys are just too good."

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

Then there was this one:

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

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

But yeah, what a statement about our Chiefs. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chiefs at Bucs Preview

Just some thoughts I had to pound out in a Chiefs post.

First of all tonight I'm seeing all over the web how the Dolphins QB got severely crunched tonight. I didn't see it and I don't really want to see the replay. Apparently he had some concussive incident on Sunday as well, and the expressed concerns are that he was rushed back out there just four days later to more of a liability to be seriously injured. As I've heard so far they say he'll be okay.

Obviously the NFL absolutely has to do more to protect their quarterbacks. Whatever it is, they've got to do it. It blows my mind that they won't do more to protect players like Tua -- and our own Patrick for that matter, and all of them -- when they otherwise have a snit when a Chris Jones says to the other quarterback "Your momma" after a much nicer sack and the Chiefs lose the game because of it.

Please.

Now I believe the Chris Jones thing was just because the NFL loathes the Chiefs -- it is just one of those things we all have to live with. It was also one of those phenomenally stupid things that often enough seem to pile up against the Chiefs, especially when we play the Colts for some reason.

On my Twitter feed I have absolutely no Chiefs things showing up -- I deliberately make it that way -- but I do follow Seth Keysor who writes terrific things about the Chiefs on his Substack. One of his latest is an inventory of the 31 things that went wrong with the Chiefs offense on Sunday. 

Oh wow, did it ever. It just wasn't hard to see. I noted that Eric Bieniemy said the Colts kicked our butts so we should all just deal with it. Again, that's a fine attitude to take into next week, makes you work that much harder to prepare for the next game, that's great.

But no, Mr. Bieniemy, the Colts should've been smacked 38-20. Had little to do with the Colts. They won mostly because of, yes, the incredible legion of stupid Chiefs things.

Over and over and over again it seemed something weird or silly was happening with the Chiefs. Whether it was a ridiculous late ref's call or a goofy missed assignment or Mahomes just plain making the wrong throw or awkward scramble or the shadow-then-instant bright sunlight to mess with our vision a number of times in the 4th quarter -- over and over and over again.

31 times by Mr. Keysor's count. That's unreal.

This week we are at the Buccaneers place for a rematch of Super Bowl LV, again at their place, yet all week a massive hurricane was bearing down on Tampa. They'd actually made contingency plans to have the game in Minneapolis, but the storm ended up going a bit more south and devastating Fort Myers. The damage was pretty intense there, but it wasn't so bad in Tampa so they'll have the game there after all.

But yeah, wow.

Thing is, if you remember, the most famous major downpour regular season NFL game ever -- and no, I'm not exaggerating that it is indeed the most famous -- was in December of 1979 when a monsoon hit the game in Tampa between the Bucs and -- wait for it -- the Chiefs.

Go figure.

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Chiefs at Colts - Week 3 - Record: 2-1 Part II

Forgive me but I simply must put up another blog post, really, in defense of Chris Jones. My son has texted me telling me that, certainly, the media are going to go insane blaming this loss on Jones. And sure enough, in my original post for the game, here it is written just a few minutes ago, I put down that it was a pretty ding-dong thing for Jones to do.

But really.

Please.

The replay showed that Jones was getting up after being part of the would've-been game-sealing sack for the Chiefs. Then he looked at the Colts QB Matt Ryan and said something. Then the flag went into the air. 

Excuse me, but [you-know-what] to that.

The NFL does have a taunting rule and players can be penalized for it, but even the rule itself is a questionable one. Why have it unless the player is going to physically assault another player in some dramatically demonstrative way? If a player twerks and jumps up-and-down right in the face of another player and does it for some extended period of time, then yeah, I'm barely okay with making that call. Barely. And only because I do believe that there should be some measure of decorum among persons together enjoying a nice Sunday outing of sorts.

But please. It doesn't matter what Chris Jones said, the magnitude of the penalty does not in any way match the offense. It doesn't matter what-he-said, period. Could he have said the nastiest things about what he'd do to Ryan's mother? Unacceptable, yes, and Jones could be liable to be fined and have some kind of talking-to by his coach. I'm fine with that.

But please. Don't tell me players don't generally say those kinds of things on the field anyway, all the time. The entire Chiefs team should not be punished in a football game where individuals are raking the heads off other individuals throughout the endeavor.

Do you remember that Chiefs-Raiders game a long time ago, I believe it was 1970? It was the one when Len Dawson ran for a 1st down to seal the game, giving the Chiefs the win and a nice little edge to make the playoffs. Right after he was down, play over, finito, done deal, Chiefs win -- Ben Davidson comes barreling in and spears him. A Chiefs guy then goes over and shoves Davidson defending his QB.

Personal foul on both teams, offsetting penalties, replay the down.

Of course: Are you effing kidding me?

On the next play Dawson and the Chiefs do not get the 1st down, the Raiders were able to get the ball back, march down the field, and kick a game-tying field goal. That kept the Chiefs out of the playoffs that year.

The reason I bring it up is the NFL has obviously changed the rules about this, making those kind of dead-ball fouls less likely to impact games, essentially ensuring they do not negatively affect any plays in which players did nothing against the rules related to the play itself. Good call.

So here's the good call here: Modify this rule. Again, unless the "taunting" is so demonstrable that it is truly unbecoming, then keep the penalty flags in the pocket. Later the NFL can deal with any player one way or another, that's terrific.

You can screech Chris Jones is the biggest lout in the history of the multiverses, you can say that he should have kept his mouth shut, you can say he single-handedly destroyed the Chiefs Kingdom forever and ever, but the fact is that call should not have been made.

As much of a craphole Lucas Oil Stadium is and as much as our special teams schklurped and as much as Patrick Mahomes misfired like crazy today, we can't neglect to point out that the officials' piddle call on a tremendously stupid rule did ruin a really pretty good performance from our defense, an effort that by itself really should have won us the game.

They did their jobs. They got off the field when the Chris Jones thing happened. But then they had to stay out there gassed and just unable to keep the Colts from scoring that TD late. It is stultifyingly aggravating thinking about it, but it wouldn't have been an issue if it wasn't for...

No, not whatever it was Chris Jones said, but for

The stupid rule.

The Chiefs are good about getting over this and moving forward. They know who they are, that's cool. Again, we'll have losses like this -- this was just a really hard one because of so many things that were just not hard to see coming today, they just weren't when you knew they were playing at that place.

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

I dread any time the Chiefs have to go to Indianapolis. The Colts do indeed have the stadium from hell, they really do. Obviously we lost that playoff game in January of 2014 in part because of the inordinate number of injuries we suffered throughout in this hellhole. 

Today our special teams had to endure all the ridiculous conditions related to this stadium.

For one thing the footing is wretched. A number of times I watched our runners, in whatever situation, special teams or not, trying to get going but unable to really get their footing.

Then there is the lighting. The way the windows are configured it allowed for weird volumes and angles of light to stream in messing with our receivers. There was one play when Kelce had a pass right in his hands in the end zone, except for the blinding light. He dropped it. We had to try for a field goal, and our injury replacement kicker missed it.

Earlier our punt returner dropped a ball when he had to look up into the glaring light coming through the roof window. And then there was the fake field goal that should've been good for the surprise 1st down, but sure enough our punter barely misfired on the pass to the receiver and yep, there was the blinding light in the eyes of that guy.

Finally, something about this field just seems to make it more likely players will suffer injuries. In this game there were two key guys for the Colts who suffered the worst of it, their good linebacker and a good D-back. I don't even know what this stadium does to other Colts players, but I did see they were missing some people they could have had out there.

Then there's just the evil stupidness that killed us. Just the general all-around stupidness that can so easily afflict this team. Late in the game we had the Colts dead-to-rights after a huge sack, setting up 4th down and a mile, and then they got Chris Jones for saying something mean to the Colts QB.  Unsportsmanlike. 1st down and new life for the Colts. They marched on down the field for the game-winning score.

And then, sure enough, there was the animosity between Mahomes and OC Eric Bieniemy. We had time on the game clock at the end of the first half to try to at least get down to get a field goal, and we just kind of half-way matriculated the ball down the field instead of really making something happen. Mahomes blew up at Bieniemy.

I'm sorry, but I'm sick and tired of people not recognizing this situation. I can't say it won't have an impact on the spiritual and emotional constitution of this team as it moves forward. This cannot just be blamed on this horrific Indianapolis playing field situation. I really think it impacted Mahomes' overall play. Today he really looked off, not making the passes he should, not getting his throws on target -- his worst was the last one that got tipped and picked to keep us from getting a game-tying field goal.

It was clear in this game that the Chiefs were far better overall than the Colts. But the stadium and its evil stupidness, a whole bunch of crazy-ass unlucky things happening to us and crazy-ass lucky things that happened for them, and the very uncharacteristic poor play from our special teams did us in.

The best thing is we've got our loss out of the way. Now we can concentrate on learning from this, making sure we keep our heads in the game so we don't do stunningly ding-dong things like Chris Jones did, and probably the most important thing...

We're leaving this Lucas Oil Stadium hellscape behind and hope we never have to play another game there.

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

Well that was scary. At the very end of the game the Chargers are down 27-24 with a minute left and they've got to onsides kick it. They do, right into the waiting arms of sure-hands receiver Justin Watson who promptly allows it to slip right through his grip. 

But ::whew:: Noah Gray is there to recover to seal this one. Oh my.

Into the game progression:

We were moving the ball with our first drive but a sweep run by Hardman on 3rd-&-short was snuffed. This was just one of a few really questionable vanilla play calls by Reid. The Chargers defense was looking good tonight, however, you've got to give them credit.

Our pass rush really needs to step up. Herbert got very little real pressure early tonight. Our poor D-line or their much improved O-line?

I don't know why the Chargers didn't throw to Mike Williams on every play. The Chiefs tried Rashad Fenton and he was miserable, just because he's just not got the physicality to guard the guy. We then went with Jaylen Watson who's got a bit more size but is still very inexperienced. Then we went with probably our best cover guy, L'Jarius Sneed, and he was victimized by an amazing Williams TD catch.

In the middle of the first half I was hoping Reid would put in McKinnon and Pacheco to make things happen in the running game. They did and it made a difference. A bit later CEH went back in and did nothing. I still have hope for CEH but I'm beginning to doubt he can really handle the quickness and strength of an NFL defense. One time later he did make a super nice play on a catch bouncing off guys, however.

The Chiefs first-half touchdown was one of the best MAHOMES THE GREAT MAGICIAN performances ever. We're in the red zone, he's back to pass, then starts to scramble right. He jukes and jives and jukes some more, totally escaping the grasp of a very close tackler when he threads the needle to McKinnon for the score. Can we say Whah-ow! too many times? His second TD was an absolute strike to Justin Watson -- more and more and more Whah-ows...

Mecole Hardman made some pretty good plays, and I can't not give him some cred here because yet again the Arrowhead Pride guys still can't stop hating on him. He got injured and struggled a bit after that, still working hard to be in there and play well.

Towards the end of the first half the Chiefs had the ball with a couple minutes left, plenty of time for Mahomes to matriculate the ball down the field for at least a game-tying field goal. Joey Bosa rams into Mahomes legs causing him to get up gimpy putting a fright into all of us. Flag on the play. Definitely roughing the passer. 

The ref calls the penalty on us. "The tackle dragged Bosa into Mahomes." Holding. That was their call.

Then we all got to see the replay.

Indeed, it was an absolutely horrific call. Andrew Wiley barely grabbed Bosa's jersey and in no way did Wiley's action pull Bosa into Mahomes. It was all Bosa. When the Arrowhead fans saw that replay they loudly expressed their displeasure. Not only did that keep us from a chance to get points, but way worse is he almost crippled our QB.

Our offense was just not up to the physicality of a team like the Chargers. The Chiefs did pick up as the game wore on, but the word is the Chargers went out and updated their defense in a big way, and our offense was just getting manhandled by their guys. Our extraordinary 3rd down proficiency last week against the Cardinals was nowhere to be seen tonight.

As far as our defensive guys go, good thing we've got Nick Bolton in there. He's a stud and he's only going to get better. That's a nice Chiefs thing for sure. There was an amazing pass rush sequence for our boys that utterly smothered Herbert, leading to a punt from the back of their end zone and terrific field position at their 35. Must add that we found out a bit later that two of the Chargers starting O-linemen suffered injuries.

As the 4th quarter started rookie Bryan Cook got a really stupid unsportsmanlike -- erggck -- rookie stupidness. He's going to be a good player, but he's got to learn. How about this switcharoo, though. Right after the Chargers marched down the field to within a couple yards of a TD, another of our rookies, the aforementioned Jaylen Watson, picks Herbert right at the goal line and houses it. Oh yeah.

As the game wore on Herbert seemed to wear down. He was getting hammered in the backfield and that may have been because of their weakened O-line. Herbert almost threw a pick when trying to squeeze the ball into Williams, and after the Chiefs got the ball back CEH got the handoff, got facemasked (they called it), and rambled deep into Chargers territory to get us the field goal putting us up 27-17 with about three minutes left.

Justin Herbert is a gamer even though he's still growing, learning. As mentioned he'd gotten roughed up and it looked like he was seriously injured, but on 4th down with the game on the line he threw a bullet to get his team to the five and then a couple plays later, I believe it was 4th down then too, he threw a touchdown pass to make the score 27-24.

A difficult game to watch for the Chiefs early, but they made adjustments, played a little better later, made it an exciting win with the help of a stupendous break when Herbert threw that pick-six.

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

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Chiefs at Cardinals - Week 1 - Record: 1-0

Standard notes about this opener, our eighth straight opening game win, how about that.

First the concerns, and you know that always relates to the big question we have every year: Do we have a chance to get to a point of being an elite defense? As it is we've got all those rookies on the roster, we think safety Juan Thornhill is finally fully healthy, and we're hoping filling those holes on the D-line will get us some more wins in the trenches.

On the whole I feel we were too bendy for my tastes, we were just not pursuing with the laser-focus we need, and our tackling really does need work as far as wrapping up runners. As far as a first game we're okay, and our young guys can learn. It was also obvious that quite a few of our stops were really the Cardinals just not being in sync. Their QB Kyler Murray has tremendous physical talent, but there were too many instances when he just looked flummoxed. That may indeed be a credit to our scheme and the pretty good play overall by our boys.

Offensively, what more can be said. Mahomes was on. Nuff said. The one egregiously bad mark was Smith-Schuster's fumble, but otherwise he was good, and all our receivers got open and made plays. I also don't know why we don't hand the ball to Jerick McKinnon more often -- this dude gets into the open spaces. And whoa, what Isiah Pacheco did in garbage time to chew clock. Very nice.

Harrison Butker injured his left ankle on the first kickoff after our first touchdown, and Justin Reid came in to do the kicking. He did okay, especially on kickoffs, but missed a PAT. Butker then came in to bang through the PATs and even kicked a 50+ yard field goal, all of which he did by taking half-step towards the ball and just slamming his good right leg through the ball as hard as he could -- he's so strong he made everything.

Our defense did well enough, but our offense looks like it is even better than it has ever been. If so, if we can keep that up, I mean -- zowie. We have a true test Thursday night against the highly touted Chargers, in what I believe is the first game ever broadcast on Amazon's Prime Video -- that should be interesting.

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The image is from Ric Tapia at the official Chiefs site, thank you.

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Chiefs Season Preview 2022

I'm just a humble blogger who puts up a post after every game. I don't get many readers, but I do want to do the very best with my takes on Chiefs football play, and have done so now for almost 17 years. Sometimes I've written about other things related to the Chiefs, simply offering my observations and perspectives on things that affect Chiefs success.

This post will be no different.

You see, I could pound out the standard "We've got this guy and that guy and we can hope for this thing and that thing to happen" kind of post -- nothing wrong with that. I like reading those kinds of things, makes this time of the year the most hopeful.

Instead I'm going to continue making the statement about the state of professional sports that afflict Chiefs chances for success. Very few are saying these things. The Chiefs are sadly already part the institutionalized requirements to spew the racialist hysteria ("Advance social justice"), bilge the sodomist insanity ("Celebrate Pride"), and blap about how much people must take lethally dangerous drugs so they can be the very best virtue-signalers ("Get vaxxed or else!") All of these things not only derail Chiefs success, but a million times worse they destroy the health of the community and the nation.

Now I'm seeing all kinds of things about how the Chiefs have signed on with whichever online gambling operation has appeared the most respectable. It is a thoroughly wicked endeavor, yet the little I've seen or heard is that this is some kind of positive thing. I did not catch the details of this formal arrangement, so I do not know the names of these rackets, but "Draft Kings" and "Fan Duels" seem to be the most prominent. Please do not get me wrong, I am saying in no uncertain terms: these operations are evil beyond evil, and it is tremendously grievous that the Chiefs are joining just about every other professional sports enterprise and embracing this ugliness.

Yes, I am pulling no punches here. All of this should be summarily and comprehensively against the law. And yes, it does affect the Chiefs chances of success. As I've shared in my posts after the ridiculous loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game, I'm convinced Chiefs leadership and management were told implicitly but firmly to take it easy on the Bengals. Don't make it a blowout -- and every indication of what we saw on the field was that they complied. This isn't just an instance of my whiny complaining as a Monday-morning quarterback or Patrick Mahomes just having a rare bad day.

It happened.

And I'm convinced it happened because of the connections the NFL now has with organized gambling. I can't help but reiterate that the week before Super Bowl IV,  back in 1970, Len Dawson (God rest his soul) was being excoriated because of an assumed relationship he had with a single gambling figure. Remember that? Remember how crushing it was, the weight of having to deal with that, of clearing his good name -- all just before he had to perform in the biggest game of his career?

Today that kind of illicit relationship is not only celebrated, but officially formalized.

I've come across an article that speaks to the rottenness of this gambling thing. Interestingly the take intimates that it has the seeds of its own destruction sown into its own business model. The problem is unless there are enough principled people to step up now to vigorously push against it and to encourage addicts to be disciplined enough and make other lifestyle choices, it will continue to thrive in some form.

One of the other major reasons for why this is so horrifically debilitating is another thing I've shared several times before, but hear very little about from other sources. I am indeed very sad about that, but much of that is because there are too many fans who just don't care. "Who cares if I put money down on some players or games? Get outta here with your Puritan sentiments. Shut up, no one wants to be around you, killjoy."

I still like the Chiefs. I still want them to win. I still hope the best for them and cheer them on. I still have a good time watching what they do on the field, win or lose -- and it has indeed been a glorious time for Chiefs fans with the Veach-Reid-Mahomes troika doing amazing work for the Chiefs Kingdom.

But they have their work cut out for them. And you know why.

It is because they are simply not a New York-Los Angeles big-market media-darling team.

As I've said before, it is harder for the NFL to do what major league baseball is doing, but you know professional sports leagues do it. Look at major league baseball right now, look at the standings here as of Saturday September 3. The Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees are running away with their divisions. That teams like the Astros and Braves are decent doesn't take away from the fact that every year the New York and Los Angeles teams will always be at or close to the top of their divisions. They are essentially permanent members of the "Premiere League" of major league baseball.

And they must be if professional baseball survives. The majors realized that in 1994 when they arranged things so the Yankees and Dodgers will never go long without winning. This idea is simple, and perfectly rational if wholly duplicitious: If you're a Twins or a Pirates you yourselves do want to win, but if you don't win, you want the Yankees and Dodgers to win. As long as they win, the league and your chronically poor performing franchise wins because you stay in a league kept solvent because the huge NY/LA fanbases are supporting their teams winning.

Those teams are then given distinct advantages to ensure they are more consistently successful, and no one else minds because that's how the whole enterprise thrives.

Makes sense. Doesn't make it any less deceitful.

What about the Chiefs? Again, I am convinced Brett Veach and his team have to work that much harder to field a team that must battle the forces that really don't want them being as successful as they could be. It is not hard to see how much teams like the Cowboys especially get the lion's share of attention in media coverage and so forth. Sad to say the NFL as a whole suffers any time the Chiefs go far in the postseason. To be fair it is my consideration that the popularity of players like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have given the Chiefs a certain gravitas the NFL likes. But it wouldn't have nearly the impact if Mahomes and Kelce were on a team like the Jets.

We'll see. This is a season preview. Again I could write about this or that player, blah blah blah -- great stuff mind you and I am indeed really psyched about the players on our team -- but you can get a lot of that at Arrowhead Pride or Arrowhead Addict. I like both sites, and I also like looking at Bleacher Report's Chiefs page for all the latest posts about Chiefs things. As far as I know those are the best, and links to each are in my "Links" feature in this blog. 

Thing is, this season preview is just a heads-up to see what kinds of things might just be in the mix to afflict the Chiefs in some unjust way. Wow, there are so many -- this gambling travesty just one of the more vicious.

Let the drama begin.

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The posted image is from the Kansas City Star. Thank you.

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Chiefs Legend, Pro Football Legend

Len Dawson passed away this morning.

Everyone everywhere, not just in the Chiefs Kingdom, are mourning his loss today. He was such a major presence in pro football, not just in guiding the Chiefs to many winning seasons but as a very accomplished broadcaster for years and years after he retired.

Michael MacCambridge had a terrific take:

"Len Dawson was my first hero. He was also—in attitude, comportment, and stature—unsurpassed as a team leader. He wrote the book on how quarterbacks should act (unflappable), relate to teammates, and move through the world. He exuded confidence, yet all the swagger was submerged."

So much more could be said.

Just wanted to post this here, the Chiefs take on the Packers tomorrow in their final preseason game before the regular season begins two weeks later. For the past several years I'd occasionally wish I could hear Len Dawson's color commentary. He was so good -- so honest, even if ruthlessly so. It is what made him great. We all got to enjoy hearing in his voice the qualities that made him such a good football player.

Anyway, not sure how much of a preseason preview I'm going to pound out. In some ways you could encapsulate all the preseason prediction pontificating in four words:

We have Patrick Mahomes.

Yeah, when you think about it, just as good as when we had Len Dawson.

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Somebody put together a great composite in the posted image. It was in a Patrick Mahomes tweet.

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Chiefs Draft Overview 2022

A couple weeks ago the Chiefs did their draft for 2022. I never look at the post-draft "grades" pundits across the galaxy give teams because they always just make me mad. Either we get high grades then the players generally suck, or we get low grades and those players still suck.

I did see, however, that the Chiefs draft got generally rave reviews, and when peeking at bit at the reasons I could see why our draft ranked so high. The main reason I'll get to in a moment, but first...

I saw a post somewhere that said Pro Football Focus, which gets a lot of cred for ranking players, had our 21, 29, and 54 picks ranked at 10, 11, and 22. Those guys are Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis, and Skyy Moore. In fact when they drafted a wide receiver with a name like Skyy Moore, a dude I'd never heard before, I just about flipped. 

A while back I'd implored Veach et al in my blog -- not that they'd read this but still -- to draft defense like madmen. I dunno, maybe they did read me! Awesome, because they did get D. Outstanding. Karlaftis is that edge we so needed and if he comes through then Veach did his job. He did pick up Chris Jones to make up for the Breeland Speaks disaster, so hopefully that insight will keep paying off for us.

We also got a nice haul of D-backs, with an emphasis on the physical defensive playmaking. Hopefully this will help force their QB into holding the ball a bit longer for our pass rushers to make the play. We also got a nice linebacker, Leo Chenel, with a rep for physical ferocity to compliment Bolton and Gay.

Excellent.

Thing is, any draft even one as promising as this one can only be most accurately evaluated after the players have been three years in the league, at a time when we can look at their current impact and future promise from that point. It is really nice to project splendidly wonderful things for a spiffy draft class, but these kids have to learn the NFL game and Andy Reid's playbook. It takes a while.

So yeah, real quick before expanding more on the Chiefs for 2022, who was in that 2019 draft class? This is the one, really, the one from three years before that should really be the foundation of any team. Sure there are other players from other years that are essential (remember the one guy from the 2017 draft? Nkay...)

Here it is, in the order of the picks with commentary:

WR Mecole Hardman - He's a keeper and a player that gets way too much disrespect in the Chiefs punditsphere. Yes, I confess I have had to get over my still-a-bit-simmering disappointment that we could have had DK Metcalf instead, I'm still great with Hardman's contribution and potential.

S Juan Thornhill - Sadly I can't say I believe he'll overcome the ACL from end of his rookie year. Before that he was stellar. After that he's barely been average. It is why we signed a veteran safety in Justin Reid and picked up a decent looking strong-safety type dude in the draft.

DT Khalen Saunders - Buried in the depth chart, don't know how much he's in the Chiefs plans.

CB Rashad Fenton - The Chiefs are high on this guy, expect him to contribute, and has at times delivered as a role player. I've always liked him as we've watched him improve, let's see if this year he shows he's regularly playing at that NFL level.

RB Darwin Thompson - Shipped off to somewhere else.

OT Nick Allegretti - When filling in he's exceeded expectations and makes for a solid backup on the O-line. 

So we've got three, maybe four solid players if Thornhill can progress, from that draft truly contributing? That's a good draft, really. Not great but a good one, especially considering we didn't have a pick until No. 56. What is the grade from that draft pro football pundits? That's when the grades should be handed down. Yes we are all excited about what people think about this draft, but again, it just doesn't matter until we see what these guys have done to get to three-year quality NFL play, and where they fit into the team's plans for sustaining Chiefs football excellence into the subsequent two or three years.

Taking all the recent drafts and where the team is now I think we can confidently say the best thing about this Chiefs team is the work Brett Veach and his staff have done. It is truly phenomenal. Everyone screeched about the Tyreek Hill trade, but please. It has worked wonderfully. Hill may be awesome for the Dolphins, we all wish him the best as long as it isn't at the expense of the Chiefs.

Otherwise, Veach's trade allowed us the cap room to sign veterans RB Ronald Jones from the Bucs, WR JuJu Smith-Schuster from the Steelers, and WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling from the Packers. That's a haul right there. But then we got three more draft picks this year (and I believe two next year) for Hill to flesh out our roster with promising young studs. In the later rounds of the draft we snatched up a couple more cornerbacks -- let's see what they can do. We also grabbed the fastest running back in the class -- how'd that happen? 

Probably the most stunning development was after the draft we went hard and heavy after a player no one else seemed to want -- Justyn Ross, who was a baller at Clemson a couple years ago and a considered top-ten overall draft prospect before injuries scared teams away. Can you imagine what the Chiefs will look like if he stays healthy and regains any of his early college playing form?

Often you hear teams facing a drafting choice of "Best player available?" or "Player to fill a need?" I don't know how he does it, but Veach seems simply to do both, have you noticed that? Somehow, someway, Veach got the WRs he wants, but he was also able to go bananas getting those players who should contribute mightily on defense.

See, I just think Veach knows about a truth I've been sharing in this blog for eons. It is simple. For the 57th time.

NFLers still really don't want Chiefs to win.

It is great that the other teams in the AFC West have stocked their rosters with better players, with an almost maniacal ferocity. The Broncos traded for Russell Wilson to be their QB. The Raiders gave up the farm to get the Packers super WR Davonte Adams. It is terrific that the schedulers gave the Chiefs their first eight games against winning teams from last year -- a first in NFL history. It is even better when the position ranking pundits regularly tell us that Patrick Mahomes has regressed and is now, something like the sixth or seventh best quarterback in the league.

All of this just inspires the Veach crew to work that much harder because the Kingdom is always under assault by the NFLers. They have to. They're definitely up against it in more ways than a few.

So yeah, check back in three years, and let's see what this draft has brought us.

It does look pretty good for now, and it is a lot of fun to continue to have the highest hopes for the Chiefs Kingdom.

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More About the Something That Is Going On

It blows my mind how much Chiefs fans have their heads deeep in the plastic-refuse-covered sand. Right now at the time of this blog posting they're all wondering how Brett will work the cap to get Tyreek back for another four years -- please, not an issue. He's stellar with that. No worries at all.

What is mind-blowing is how few see what's really going on to derail the Chiefs future chances, and it has nothing to do with whether or not we have this guy or that guy. It also affects the chances of every team not the Cowboys or Patriots or other heavily favored team among any of those who have richly established the privilege of deciding who gets what success in professional sports leagues.

Here's a simple way to put it.

The NFL absolutely HATES that Patrick Mahomes did not end up on the New York team, whichever one.

The Jets, for one, are an interminably mismanaged train wreck, but wow, what if Mahomes were on that team -- and what lucre that would mean. As it is he's on that annoying podunk Midwestern team getting a pittance of the coverage they'd get if there were way more fans tuning in.

It is that simple.

For one, look at how insane the whole Mahomes family personal life coverage has been. Sure that stuff appears pretty crazy -- what with brother Jackson and wife Brittany doing this or that -- the real insanity is that whatever it is is spilled out and about on social media or wherever it is is supposed to be any of our business. So Jackson wants to be a TikTok star and is failing miserably. So what? Rumors fly about how distracting they are to Mahomes' success -- ahh, so that's what caused his poor play in the AFC Championship Game. Riiight...

Still, all of that crap makes the NFLers very happy. I think I'll just employ that epithet for all of them so it is clear of whom I am speaking. The NFL execs, the advertisers, the various other marketing interests, and especially the powerful gambling and identity politics interests. They're the "NFLers."

And they have absolutely no interest in having the Chiefs appear in playoff game after playoff game after playoff game, let alone any playoff games. Other fans, even my beloved fellow Chiefs fans, continue to blow this off. It'd be nice if there were a few who'd look around.

Once again, Clay Wendler and/or whoever at the Chiefs Kingdom Editorial Board actually did look and wrote about the tension on the sideline in critical playoff moments. It was veritable, palpable, and ostensibly counterproductive. Damn, just look at that second half of the Bengals playoff game. Really. Please. Yet Wendler felt forced to remove the piece. "Let it go. Fughedabouddit. Don't make a big deal of it. It's over. Move on."

Erggh.

To try to deflect, the Chiefs went ahead and rehired Eric Bieniemy. Huh. I just wonder. I must emphasize I don't have anything against Bieniemy, I just don't know enough about him and them and there are so many things other things adversely affecting our team -- more in a moment. Thing is I'd heard they'd brought back Matt Nagy as QB coach, who worked with Mahomes in his early days. The word is that this was a move specifically made to take the heat off the Mahomes-Bieniemy issues, give Nagy a bit more of a say...

I'd really like to think this will help. As a fan I will hope it does. I always do hope. I always do root and cheer and believe...

Above all I always hope Brett et al will kick ass in overcoming what is up against them.

As in, this. Here it is, a link to a piece that lays out precisely how patently evil that gambling connection is. I'm sure there are others, and I'd like to think there are some out there who courageously and articulately get deep into how the gambling thing absolutely destroys the competitive integrity of the sport. Absolutely. Yep, I'll cheer for my Chiefs, I really will.

But as much as I do my head too will be stuck reeeally deep in the soot-smeared sand, just as much as every other Chiefs fan's head.

I guess I just can't figure why reasonably observant people can't just get, among all the other things gambling associations mess with, is the simple fact that ten million New York team fans betting is faaar better to NFLers than a million Chiefs fans betting. And this fact alone makes it so somehow, someway, Chiefs brass is told in no uncertain terms no matter how profoundly implicit that message gets to them that they really better not beat the Bengals in a widely televised playoff game by the 56-3 score they would have beaten them had there not been those particular "protocols" in place.

Here's the other thing that drags the the bruised and bloodied body of integrity all up and down the yard. I've included a screenshot of an image Seth Keysor posted to make the football-oriented point about the critical play that should have been a touchdown but was a strip-sack-fumble -- fortunately recovered by us but forcing Butker into a something-like 78-yard field goal attempt, which he did make to tie the game. Keysor deftly went over the play, doing a fine job as he always does, I mean, you can see it. 

Besides having a wide-open field to the right for wonderful scrambling activity -- something I'd mentioned myself in an earlier post -- Mahomes has got McKinnon breaking free in the flat on the left, he's got Kelce with a nice seam there in the middle, if he does scramble to his right he's got other options opening up... Otherwise... just a photo of abject aggravation, truly. And it isn't even Mahomes just enduring a bad play. All the great ones have bad plays, even at the worst times. We all forgive him for that.

No, the worst thing in that photograph is what is written across the back of the end zone. 

Yet again it'd be nice for people to step up to the plate and call this shit out for what it is. I've shared this several times before and I can't emphasize this enough: The spiritual and moral dynamic does play a prominent role. It just does.

Sure the Bengals and the other NFL teams have that stuff splashed all over their fields and uniforms and so forth, but here it is pretty boldly displayed at Arrowhead.

The Chiefs are not without their culpability in it.

This "social justice" thing has nothing to do with justice. In fact is is truly injustice. Much of it has to do pronouncements -- in this case from the Chiefs and NFLers -- against people they do not know regarding how racist they are presumed to be. Let's call it what it is, please. There is nothing wrong with seeking just and moral behavior among those with whom we have to do, and that includes ensuring people are not suffering discrimination for inconsequential differences.

This is not that.

I'm just not going to get into all the details of an issue that is wrecking the social fabric of our country right now (here's a place to look at it a bit more). Yet the NFLers are all aboard the woke locomotive. They believe they are very well intentioned but all it is is powerful rich people virtue-signaling out of their rear ends, and plastering that stuff on places like this doesn't do a lick of good for the people who they think they're helping, it just doesn't.

Again, it is just manifest spiritual dissipation on the football field that negatively impacts game events. And for those who think I'm just moralizing and being judgmental and all that, please remember that when something happens that they don't like, they are all over that. Remember when Kareem Hunt was considered to have abused a young lady and lied about it? I'm not saying it didn't happen when I use the word "considered," the point is those who considered Hunt did a bad thing were all over him, and he was severely disciplined. Released, even faced charges, all the rest of it.

How is that judging any different? How is any way people dismiss or censure Chiefs-oriented people for the things they don't like any different? Seems to me a lot of people are ripping Jackson and Brittany new aye-holes, every day it seems. Again, I could detail the ways identity politics is truly the evil that it is, let's have that conversation. 

In fact, it appears the NFL has actually done a lot of backtracking on its identity politics showcasing, a lot of that certainly because many fans really don't like being called racists. Some might be racists -- great, let's work at ending it. But to put the words that were painted onto the back of that Arrowhead stadium end zone means you are making grave assumptions about things you simply cannot make.

Well, I'm getting too deep into making the case. I urge you to look deeper into what is really going on here, and I'm hopeful the Chiefs and the entire NFL will go much farther at ending this travesty. I don't know if they will because there are still too many racialist voices out there pounding away at this, making too many powerful institutions feel the pain of not formally acceding to their unrighteous demands.

There is a lot of it, it can be overwhelming. 

And there is so much more, so much we aren't seeing, and it does go far beyond a simple game on a field. As I shared in a previous post, I'm afraid the NFLers have turned the game into WWE wrestling. I actually do wonder how many pro wrestling fans believe what they're watching is not scripted, that it is real. Seriously, how many? Might there not be a few?

::Sighhh::

I can't say I don't feel the NFL is now completely scripted in some fashion.

So what's the point. 

Just riffing a bit on things I feel, that's all.

Guess there's that.

Maybe some will actually take to heart the value of conversing about truthful things.

Maybe.

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The Something That's Going On, Addendum

Yesterday the Chiefs Kingdom Editorial Board, the same group that effectively went to bat for Tyreek Hill a few years ago to dispel all the crap assumed about him and his domestic life essentially saving his pro football livelihood, put up an investigative piece that claimed the poor coaching job by Chiefs Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy is what truly cost the Chiefs the AFC Championship Game. It cited several instances of player-expressed objections to his too-frequent inept play-calling and habitually poor relational skills.

It concluded by claiming that it really wasn't the NFL doing something to derail the Chiefs chances, it was just the Bieniemy inadequacy. The article made special note of the pronounced antagonism between Bieniemy and Mahomes, with Mahomes' screaming "Call the f***ing play or I will" getting some attention.

Well, the CKEB has since removed the article, because they claim they wanted to get it right. That's cool, I hope they get correct anything they missed and post it again. (You may look around at "Medium" type websites and their references about it yourself, they're there.) But another stated reason was because the CKEB didn't like that people were posting in the comments section what they said were racist remarks. I have no idea what kinds of things were said there, so I'm not going to surmise.

But I do believe, still, that there are things happening in all of this that certainly does mean the NFL and any other significant Powers-That-Be are thrilled the Chiefs are enduring this -- they've worked to make it happen. This, even though the CKEB piece felt it had to emphasize, right there explicitly at the beginning of the article, that the NFL had nothing to do with the Chiefs wildly improbable collapse in that game.

Not. 

They did.

Indeed the whole thing stinks to the heavens and it goes far beyond a coach just messing up a few plays. Once again what happened on that Sunday almost three weeks ago was unfathomable. Yet another epic Chiefs playoff game collapse -- especially this one -- can be the result of only two things. Either the Chiefs people involved whoever-they-are are that incompetent -- and sorry, you simply can't get that far into the postseason with that much talent and in one single half of a game have that much incompetence vomit all over everything, or it is the second thing...

There is brazen duplicity going on.

Just look at how much the CKEB has felt so fearful of posting their piece. Why? Whose feelings are they trying to protect? Whose involvement are they trying to hide? Maybe it is nothing on their part and they are, indeed, just wanting to get their story straight. Again, make it honest and trustworthy -- totally fine, fully expected, nothing less.

But I'm afraid there is something in all this that is way more insidious, I really do. Still.

Something is going on.

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The Something That's Going On

I really don't want to do this, but I have to endure the Super Bowl on the TV. I'm with family and it's a quasi-Super-Bowl party, so I really should be here with them. Believe me I've stepped out conveniently a number of times. The most notable was going on a brief walk after a particular commercial was shown, more on that in a minute.

But briefly, I cannot neglect to put in a word about this game. Already the Bengals have benefitted from a number of awful calls going against the Rams. Surprised? For review, the Rams are about 78-magnitude better team than the Bengals. Annnd at that they should now be ahead by a score of around 78-3. I'm pounding out this post with about five minutes left in the 3rd quarter, and, yes,

The score is very close.

It doesn't even matter who wins at this point. The Scorecasting factor is fully in play. Please, nothing against the Bengals themselves.

Everything against the NFL, however, and more.

It could easily be said that I'm just a jealous Chiefs fan. Yeah yeah. That I don't have to pay attention to it, leave us alone with your stupid conspiracy theories. Yeah yeah. That's fine, I'd rather not give a single second of it any cred -- I'm with you. 

I'm not surprised by any of the buy-in for this crap. My goodness, look at how many gazillions of people have allowed themselves to be schlurped into this Covid frightfest.

So yeah...

To this one commercial.

It had some Chucky Cheese animated characters who went into a quite miserable retirement -- never mind that I'm pretty sure the Covid fantasy bleating closed down the real Chucky Cheese establishments -- but they had their reason for living restored by, ahem,

Oculus.

Well, really, virtual reality tied to the metaverse, where you can interact with anyone anyway of your own making.

This whole thing is just a metaphor for the NFL.

So many just thrilling to the WWE wrestling version of professional football. Yes, including me thrilling to it, I know, I get it -- you're right. I've written about Chiefs things for years and years now -- it is indeed a nice distraction from the difficult things in life. Lately it has been a blast with our team doing so well, and I have been convinced we've done so well in spite of the NFL's loathing of our success. I could be wrong about that too. Why aren't the Chiefs just as much unduly favored when they win?

I got you. If they are it doesn't make it any less reprehensible.

So all I can add is to conclude by asking if you'd consider The Truth. I'd written about Him two posts ago, and really, now's a good time to just share about Him again. There is a lot of wrangling going on out there about this thing freedom, and yet when we believe the big lies, we aren't really free at all. We may get some good-feels for a while, but they're still lies. This is precisely why I am just so repulsed by all that virtual-reality metaverse stuff.

So if you've read this far, and you've kind of gotten a bead on what I'm sharing, even a little, I'm blessed, and would hope also that you'd take a look at the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters of the letter to the Romans. There you can get an idea of the thing, or the person, to whom you are enslaved.

It is something.

Or again...

It is someone.

Or it can be the One Who Loves You With His Life.

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