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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Really neat to see him honored at Arrowhead today.

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

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

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

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

Okay okay, we all got that.

But, yeah, ahem...

This receiving core.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where are those WRs breaking open for him?

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

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

Look forward to seeing how this all plays out.

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

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

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

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

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

Phenomenal work. Well-deserved touchdown for the Broncos.

Thing is...

That touchdown never should have happened. 

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

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

It just isn't happening.

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

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

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

Well guess what.

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

They told them about it.

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

Just -- glory be...

Getting.

The Call.

Right.

How about that. What a concept!

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

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

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

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

And then Justin Watson came through.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wonder how many Chiefs fans are getting a bit exasperated with watching right tackle Jawaan Taylor mess up. He's actually not done terribly with his play but it just head-scratching the whole thing with his line positioning getting penalized (which didn't happen tonight) and his getting other penalties like the facemasking call tonight that resulted in a safety for the Jets. He also had an almost crushing holding penalty late when the Chiefs were driving to try to score and put the game away.

That safety was a huge momentum turn-arounder. Forgive me, I don't know what to call it except that. 

The Chiefs owned the 1st quarter, surging out to a 17-0 lead and well on their way to the blowout everyone thought this would be. But then early in the 2nd quarter Taylor got enough of the Jets pass rusher's facemask, barely at the goal line, to get the Jets two points.

Shortly after that it was 17-5.

Then 17-12.

After a Chiefs FG they got a TD to make it 20-20 at the half.

Um...

Thing is, Zach Wilson was actually playing really well. Everybody was hoping for a miracle as he was forced into playing regularly when Aaron Rodgers went down for the season in the very first Jets game. In fact we were all hoping to finally see that Rodgers-Mahomes matchup. I think to some extent the fact that everyone knew Taylor Swift was going to show up again made up for that -- for many people it definitely made this primetime affair well worth tuning in.

As for the Jets quarterback play, again for most of the night Wilson was throwing darts. If anything his receivers were messing up a bit too much by dropping too many balls. The main issue with Wilson was one single play that really gave the win to the Chiefs. These games can really turn on those kinds of things.

With about eight minutes left in the game and the score still tied, the Jets had the ball at close to midfield. Wilson was in the shotgun and as the snap came to him he looked up too soon, and dropped the snap. The Chiefs recovered, and the Jets offense never saw the ball again.

Penalties on both teams made the last eight minutes or so go on forever. The Chiefs had 3rd-&-long twice but the Jets committed penalties on both, you know, those holding or illegal-use-of-hands calls that give the offended team five yards and a first down.

The Chiefs then ran the ball well enough to get those other critical first downs. One of those runs featured Mahomes running free to the end zone but... you know the new strategy... don't score a touchdown. With a new set of downs at the Jets one-yard line you can now run out the clock without letting their offense have the ball removing any chance for them to do anything.

Final score in this very weird game: Chiefs 23-20.

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The photograph of Isiah Pacheco is by Mikayla Schmidt at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.

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Bears at Chiefs - Week 3 - Record: 2-1 - Second Take

Everyone is abuzz about the main thing related to the Chiefs game yesterday, besides the Chiefs quickly regaining the top spot in the AFC West standings for yet another time.

You know what it is.

The Taylor-Travis buzzorama.

I am not going spend more than about four seconds mentioning it. It is all over the place in replays, reviews, remarks, and the ginormous number of memes spewed into the cybersphere.

Thing is, as splendidly splendid as all of this is, I don't know what is going on with Kelce and his now stratospherically elevated stature. It was pretty high before, but this is ridiculous.

The main thing that gets me is he recently appeared in a Covid "vaccine" advertisement, encouraging people to get this wretched injection. He is now just one of the most celebrated parts of the narrative this Covid thing and that Covid thing when all it has done -- the whole thing, the lockdowns and the shots and the distancing and the flat-out discrimination -- is utterly wreck people's lives and livelihoods.

I could add volumes and volumes about the actual true real reality of the Covid situation, and it is indeed heartbreaking to see Kelce hawking this snake oil.

But you know? For one, he is just a prominently featured member of the whole NFL thing, and the NFL thing is just as much a part of the hegemonic mythology makers as anything. It may be reasonably assumed that just about every footballer got the shot or else they'd face the NFLers' wrath, and those few conscientious objectors like Aaron Rodgers wouldn't have been treated like a such pariahs. 

So what of it? Kelce is just a part of the System.

For two, it indeed makes me wrestle with my own emotionally-packed commitment to my own fine young football team, I've said this a number of times, there is a very unhealthy and hopefully very small part of my psyche that genuinely feels I don't care if he's a convicted serial killer, I hope he scores a hundred touchdowns for my team.

Of course, right now there are too many who don't give a rip about the drug, they just want to wallow in the Swiftie spectacle.

This is kind of amazing: just now I saw a television commercial at the two-minute warning of the Rams-Bengals' first half, here on the Monday Night Football game.

It was for -- oh my, it was for the power of institutionally influenced tobacco addiction. The showcased group was "Undo," with the website undo.org I believe it was -- simply to let you know about how much you should break yourself of the habit of smoking or vaping or whatever those things are.

Meanwhile all the Covid protocol poisoning is perfectly fine. All the utterly wicked gambling activity fully sanctioned by these sports leagues -- perfectly fine. All the racialist filth about how intractably racist you must be, that's all perfectly fine.

The irony.

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The photo of Travis Kelce is from the AP website. Thank you. The cartoon was just clipped from the wonderful "Memes to Make Your Day" page over at Off-Guardian.

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

With about seven minutes left in the first half, the Chiefs had the ball at around their own 15, and Patrick Mahomes took the snap, ran around a bit, and just before getting plastered flicked the ball 40 yards downfield dropping it right in the breadbasket of a laser-focused Justin Watson right at the sideline.

40 yards down the field.

It.

Was.

Amazing.

Go ahead, go back to your DVR'd copy and look at it again. We can talk all about the no-looks and behind-the-backs and the dipsy-doodlidoos or whatever incredibleness we see from the guy. This one will likely get lost in a blowout game we all knew was inevitable, and lost in the endless highlight reel of Mahomes' plays, but wow. Maybe it won't be recognized as much, but maybe that's not such a bad thing in that the dude is, just like they called the NBA's premiere slamdunker Dominique Wilkins, the human highlight film.

It is just what it is.

And we can just always enjoy it, over and over and over -- we are indeed too spoiled right now in the Chiefs Kingdom.

As for a more full examination of this one, it was that blowout and everyone was in on the fun, and I'm really not going to get much more into it. We had a family event for most the afternoon and evening, and it is late right now and I must work tomorrow. I'm hoping to remark a bit more tomorrow, hopefully. I wanted to add some remarks about other Chiefs things that transpired this week, things that were quite notable. But that's for later.

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The photo of Skyy Moore is by Mikayla Schmidt at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Jaguars - Week 2 - Record: 1-1

This was easily quite the ugly win, what with the turnovers and penalties and just too many mess-ups. We didn't score a point until about a minute left in the first half. But here are some of the good things that earned us the 17-9 win.

We converted on two clutch 4th-&-very-short when it seemed like the Chiefs couldn't do squat in those situations. You absolutely have to give some cred to CEH who never gets any cred these days. On a 4th-&-short in the middle of our first touchdown drive late in the first half he caught a poor Mahomes pass right at the marker and muscled his way not only for the first down but for ten extra yards. Please, don't be dissing this guy.

Our defense was stout. A really pretty good Jaguars team, one that really gave us two tough games last year (regular season and divisional playoff game), did not score a single touchdown. Jacksonville moved the ball on us, but when we needed clutch stops, we got them.

Patrick Mahomes would not let us lose. Especially in the second half and especially on that final game-clock chewing close-out drive, he matriculated and matriculated and matriculated that ball. 

Last year the NFL Network showcased its top 100 players, you know, the ones voted on by the players themselves, and while Mahomes was No. 1, of course, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones made the top ten. Well, you know what I'm going to say here, naturally -- they were both back in there today after missing last week's game. And yes, they did make a difference. Kelce caught some passes, including one for a touchdown, and Jones had two sacks and was his standard disrupter self.

But again, just a kudos to a defense that has shown its mettle in the first two games of the season, and may just be not only the second-best strength of this team but emerging as one of the best in the NFL.

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The photo is courtesy of Mikayla Schmidt at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Lions at Chiefs - Week 1 - Record: 0-1 - Addendum

Just had a couple of thoughts, that this game reminded me of three different games in Chiefs history. Thought I'd share them with you now. In chronological order:

1. 1972, Eagles over the Chiefs, 21-20. It was a home game, in fact the third game ever at Arrowhead and after three home games (of six games altogether) we still had not won a game at our brand new state-of-the-art stadium. We opened the season with a home loss to, yes, the eventual undefeated champion Dolphins.

But this particular game, just the score. It was exactly the same score as last night's game, and one of the Eagles touchdowns that mid-October day was ridiculously silly. The Eagles QB, the immortal Pete Liske, threw up a deep duck that was a certain interception, going right into the hands of our D-back. He not only muffed it, but he let it drop right onto his foot, upon which it was booted right into the hands of their receiver who took it to the house.

We had no business losing that game -- we were actually a pretty good team that year finishing at 8-6. For their part the Eagles won only two games that season, one of them this one -- double ouch.

2. 2017, Chiefs over the Patriots, 42-27. The Patriots had just come off a Super Bowl season and they were having their banner reveal night, and believe it or not, it was not just a Thursday night NFL opener but it was also on September 7th, the same date as last night's game.

The Chiefs led by Alex Smith with a young Patrick Mahomes taking it all in from the bench, destroyed the Patriots and it was thought the Chiefs would take over as the AFC's dominant team. Well, the Chiefs stumbled midway through that season and lost a heartbreaker to the Titans in the playoffs, while, sure enough, the Patriots went on to yet another Super Bowl.

Maybe the Chiefs' loss to the Lions was good for the NFL, keep people watching. People like seeing Davids beat Goliaths, though it is not unusual that every fan wants their team to win every game 84-0. The problem is if the Chiefs did that no one would enjoy the great Chiefsitude we want everyone to enjoy. On the other hand I know we all like a good game, I get it, but I'm sorry I hate losing close games especially like the one we lost last night.

But then my point here is that, I do think the Chiefs could blow out every opponent. They still looked really good last night even without Chris Jones and Travis Kelce. They just did tremendously stupid things that cost them.

So take heart that perhaps just like the Patriots of 2017, one game does not a season make. In fact remember, we did the same thing to the Patriots in 2014, blowing them out at our place where the fan-noise decibel level reached a record for loudness, remember that? And sure enough, after all the postmortem talk about Tom Brady and the Patriots, they went on to win the Super Bowl that year and they won two more after that. Brady himself even won three more.

I think we're pretty good with Mahomes at the helm.

3. 2022, Colts over Chiefs, 20-17. This was just another game we had no business losing, one that featured just so many stupid things happening to the Chiefs to make it hurt.

The reason I mention this one is because the Colts just somehow got a late touchdown drive to put them ahead and it was very much like last night's late Detroit touchdown that put them barely ahead. Thing is, again, in each of these games, there was no reason to believe we couldn't then matriculate the ball down the field enough to get at least a field goal. But yeah, ughh, stupid things happening.

Again, one game does not a season make. Even the best teams have dumb things happen in some games, even the undefeated 1972 Dolphins endured barely squeaking out some wins that year. Ultimately the only way this Chiefs team isn't as successful as they've been over the past five years is if they themselves mess things up as they did last night. With Andy and Brett reviewing everything this week and Patrick making sure everyone stays hungry and positive, we'll be just fine.

Even with a silly loss to the woeful Colts early in the season, let's see if I can remember... who won the Super Bowl last year?

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

Okay okay okay, I guess we should all confess right now.

Preseason games are meaningful.

Really, I don't know if there have been many NFL football players in the history of NFLitude who have had a more rotten game than Kadarius Toney did tonight. He was barely at practice for all of training camp because of a nagging injury, and he did not play a single snap in a preseason game -- everyone was wondering if he'd be ready for opening day and the Chiefs always said "We really think so."

And boy was he ready.

He was all ready, set, and well-prepared to play absolutely atrociously.

If I remember correctly he had three targets, and he dropped them all. The first was thrown right on his numbers and he let the ball bounce right off them and into the hands of the Detroit D-back for a pick-six. We were up 14-7 and playing pretty well. Now it's a ballgame when it really never needed to be.

The second was a drop that may have been affected by Richie James crossing in front of him. We were deep in Lions territory and had to settle for a FG. That may have been on the coaching staff, and ya know? It was kind of that way all night. Kind of a clown circus show out there among our receivers, did you get that feeling? I think the seven-deep WR room may be a bit problematic if you ask me.

The third was when it was very late and we were down by one with the ball at around midfield. Ideal Patrick Mahomes conditions! Mahomes throws a strike right at the numbers of the jersey on the gnat camped out there between the numbers on Toney's jersey.

Drop.

We imploded from there and Detroit ends up winning 21-20.

This was a very tough one to take, even though, really, we showed we were still a pretty good team. We just had a number of dumb things happen, the exact number of dumb things that lose a team a game like this. 

It was only the first game of the season, however, so it may actually be not-so-bad because these guys will have a good ten days to look at what happened and fix it. And yeah, I know I'm being redundant, but please guys, get that receiver situation fixed. I mean, it was just ugly out there.

Oh, and did missing Chris Jones and Travis Kelce have any negative impact? Actually, I don't think so. Having them back in there would be really really really good, but our defense played pretty well, and tonight Noah Gray was a capable fill-in there at tight end. Blake Bell even caught a touchdown pass.

A couple more things. Those interminably hating on Clyde Edwards-Helaire? Sorry but the dude balled out tonight. He's not Jim Brown or Gale Sayers, so back off already. Let him do well with what he's got.

And our very short-yardage game. Still really ugly. That play on 3rd-&-very-very-very short on our second-to-last possession was extraordinarily ugly. We make that and we could, really, if we scored there, pretty easily have salted this one away.

We've got a good Jacksonville team at their place for our next game, so let's hope the wake-up call that was this game will get us ready for that one.

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Chiefs in Preseason Games, Part III

Right now the Chiefs are playing the Browns, and yes I'm peeking in a bit every once in a while to see how things are going. I just saw that Shane Buechele is in, so I'm figuring Patrick won't be playing and that's very good. No injury worries.

It is interesting that in some sense the Chiefs do have a quarterback controversy. Will the backup be Buechele or Blaine Gabbert, both of whom have played splendidly in their times in there this August. Andy Reid has always wanted a guy who's been around awhile, even started for other teams in the past, but I can't see how we can keep leaving Buechele hanging on so far in the back for so long. He does look really good, and always has in his limited time playing exclusively in preseason games.

We'll also get an idea soon about who'll make the final 53, which we all can't deny is kind of a fun thing to vociferously ruminate about. Again, in a week-and-a-half we'll get the Lions to start things off at Arrowhead.

I just wanted to share a few quick things about my post from last time. For each item you'll get the idea of why I'm sharing it.

1. The Reality Show Nonsense. I'd written last time that I'd started to pretty much fast-forward through anything related to Patrick Mahomes' personal/private life in the Netflix series Quarterback. It is simple: it is just none of my business. I'm sorry but watching Brittany Mahomes swear with a very annoying squealing voice is just something no one should have to endure. It is nothing against her, she is likely a wonderful person.

But none of that stuff is any of my business.

In fact, one of the main problems with it is reality shows are never really reality. Anytime the camera and microphones are present around anyone, the way people behave is altered. This is the case even when people are holding up their cell phones with the video app whirring! Especially that! It is like a Hollywood Heisenberg Principle, if you know what I mean, those of you acquainted with physics a bit. We can never really know what these people are really like because Hollywood will always do what it will with that filming and editing to alter things so it can never be truly real. The cell phone camera use and video posting is always taking cyberbullying to newer and newer heights.

2. The NFL does its own judging like madmen. I'd mentioned some of the very ugly things the NFL promotes, which makes me not only not watch any of it except Chiefs stuff but moves me to actively say something about it, at least here in my blog. My point is, wow, I know I'd get a lot of pushback for my open censure of the sodomist stuff (rainbow-colored items showcased to demonstrate support for sexual immorality as represented in all the LGBTQ stuff) and racialist stuff (the gross presumption that white people are all racist resulting in slogans all over the place along the lines of "black lives matter").

Don't be so judgmental! is what I hear so often, but it isn't about being judgmental, it is about a large number of pro football fans being at least a little bit okay with those things.

The reason judgmentalism has nothing to do with it is the NFL goes crazy making sure its players et al are keeping their noses clean. As judge, jury, and "executioner" in a certain sense, it is a government all unto itself, and it comes down hard on players or any other stakeholder who does things they don't like.

I could give any number of examples, a lot of them, but a good one simply for our purposes here relates to the Chiefs new defensive tackle. He got a six-game suspension from the NFL for doing something very bad in a domestic dispute, I think. I'm not sure what it was (again, in a very real sense it is none of my business), it may have been a very bad thing indeed.

Thing is, why isn't this gentleman being prosecuted by legitimate law enforcement if it was so bad? If not, why then is this player being "cancelled" for much of his livelihood?

I've written about this in previous posts, I believe in writing about the Kareem Hunt and/or Tyreek Hill episodes a number of years ago, so I'm not going to get into all of that now. The main point is simply...

People judge. None of us can help it. Anytime any of us opens our mouth we're making a judgment.

So yeah, it does seem that the NFL has been quietly backing away from too much engagement with those sodomist and racialist forces, which is good to see at least in that regard. I'd like to think they are doing so out of deep moral conviction, but I really think it is because they realize too much of their fan base is really not on board with any of it.

Oh the law is a mean taskmaster.

3. We can never keep that law anyway. I can't help but share the solution to all the Hollywood-style deceitfulness and wicked self-indulgence, all of which we all immerse ourselves in some way or another. I can't condemn anyone, some of why again I'm not crazy about looking into athletes' personal/private business. All I can do is hold up the thing that does condemn, and that is the law. I don't think for two seconds any given individual does not see what they do and how much that law condemns them. I am no different -- I too am under its veritable judgment.

The real question is will that given individual go to The One who died to take the penalty for what each of us deserves -- the true and righteous judgment for our deeds, things that have tremendously hurt others, seriously wounded ourselves, and was an offense to our very Father in Heaven who loved us enough to create us, give us life, and put us in a world that if we took decent care of it we'd actually enjoy things.

So yeah, I can't neglect to share Christ even with my readers here. If you already believe on Him, blessings to you. If you don't, please consider it, think deeply about believing on Him and only Him for your deliverance and salvation. Know that He is the narrow road out of all those things I often rail against in my Chiefs blog here, whether is it pro football related or overall society related that weaves its way into our Chiefs/pro football purview.

You are more than welcome to email me too! I'd love to interact with you about those things, here is my email address.

Bless you, and go Chiefs!

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Chiefs in Preseason Games, Part II

PART TWOOO, "Chiefs in Preseason Gaaaames!" Being sarcastic, there with the fake flourish, trying to make it all seem more meaningful. (Part One was just me yesterday saying all I really care about in the preseason is seeing that Patrick Mahomes got through it injury-free, that was it.) 

I mean really, don't we all want to make great regal pronouncements RIGHT NOW about what's going on with the Chiefs? I do admit it can be fun, though, but let's face it, it is all not really any big deal. 

In fact, none of what we all observe and pontificate about at any time regarding the Chiefs is any big deal. Even the Super Bowl is just part of the entertainment showcase, nothing more. Is there some grand transcendent meaning to any CHIEEEFS SUCCESSSS? I can't say there isn't, really. There are indeed many good things about Chiefs things and rooting for them and sticking our noses into what's going on with them as our heroes demonstrating great feats of daring-football-do so we can get that feeling of greatness and wonderfulness vicariously through their exploits because - yeah - ahem -- our own lives can be pretty blyechh.

I just felt like blogging a bit to add some thoughts related to this whole sports thing. I've been peeking at a book called Easy Money by Ben McKenzie and I love it, simply because he gets deep into the very truthful veritable transcendent ontologically provable truth that anything crypto is just a wickedly fraudulent scam. I'm an economics teacher and I like this kind of blistering truth-telling, good for him. I've always taught my students that Bitcoin is just a bunch of computer numbers that too many people want to make seem like something of value when they are not, and that all Bitcoin holders are doing is trying to hoodwink others into thinking they're something so they can make out. Crypto-hustlers anybody are simply engaging in criminal racketeering, nothing less. 

Not going to get deep into all the arguments for or against it now, my point in sharing this is because this book Easy Money shared with me a pretty horrific thing that major league baseball did related to crypto. I'd never known about this thing because as I've shared a number of times before in this blog effort, I don't pay a lick of attention to anything sports except Chiefs games. That's it. Once again, some things certainly get picked up by my sports radar, and I do peek in a bit more when one of my fave teams does well, such as when the basketball Warriors won it all year-before-last, I went ahead and watched much of that.

Other than that, for the most part. I know nothing. So I picked up this little fact about baseball, that the umpires had advertisements on their uniforms, in great big fat letters: FTX.

Oh my. I did not know this. Sure enough, I peeked around and there they were, all of them sporting an ad for basically a criminal operation. FTX by the way was the crypto exchange that collapsed after being exposed as one of the worst Ponzis in the whole thing. Now they are all Ponzis, every one of the crypto enterprises especially Bitcoin is, don't get me wrong -- it is just right now too many powerful people somewhere are convincing enough people they aren't. Again, lots of things to be said that just aren't right now.

But that major league baseball went so long with this FTX advertising going, and what is so ironic is that the ads were on the umpires. These are the very people holding the honor and duty to be objective and fair and just and righteous and true and all the rest of it.

What does this have to do with the Chiefs?

Sadness is what it has to do with it.

The Chiefs are just as much a part of all this crap as major league baseball umpires. I've already written about how much they've joined everyone else in promoting all this horrific sodomist and racialist stuff. I've already called out the unabashed relationship the NFL has with its gambling syndicates like Fan Duel and Draft Kings.

Really, doesn't NFL football have advertising connections with anything crypto? I have to say I've far too often seen that commercial with film star Matt Damon plugging crypto amongst all the brave adventurers through history. There is even a basketball/hockey arena in Los Angeles called "Crypto.com" Those naming rights are worth millions of dollars. Ahem, whose money is that?

What does this have to do with the Chiefs? This isn't anything new to share or anything, it really isn't. I will always love my team, and the game they play. Big-time organized, and yes televised sports is a good thing for ___, ___, ___, and ___. You can fill in the blanks for any of the fine legitimate reasons we can enjoy those games.

But wow is it contaminated, and in writing about it here, I'm just calling it out -- just riffing with some what-I-do-consider quite meaningful things for everyone to consider. Yes I do hope 100 million people read these things, stop buying into the crypto crime syndicate, and the full integrity of pro-sports-anything including Chiefs things can be restored.

I happened to see there is a Netflix feature on the baseball steroids thing, and I don't have an opinion one way or the other about it, but what I did think about was this:

Me: Get on board with abandoning crypto as a rip-off scam so it won't poison professional sports.

Someone else: Stop your moralizing, don't be so judgmental.

Me: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens should be in the Hall of Fame. 

Someone else: Whaddya mean? They did a bad thing!

Me: Who's being judgmental now?

See, a bazillion people have been told, "Be judgmental about steroids." Maybe that's legit, that's fine. But in the same breath they are told, "Don't be judgmental about crypto and if anyone is they're just mean." Again it is exceptionally reasonable how rotten crypto is, as well as how rotten are the gambling connections and the sodomist and racialist promotions that smother us as we watch these affairs. What is objectively true about these things? Can we indeed judge righteous judgment about those things, as Jesus says we can in the seventh chapter of John's gospel?

The other reason I mention the Netflix steroids show is that I'd imagine it would get deep into the personal life of someone like Barry Bonds. Huh. This started to concern me when I was watching the Netflix series on the NFL quarterbacks, one of whom was our own beloved Patrick Mahomes. I was watching this thing and realizing that, while it may have been okay for Mahomes to officially sign off on allowing us all such open access to his personal life, I was not okay with that.

It just got to a point when as a viewer I became very uncomfortable watching the things he did privately with his wife, family, and friends. Sorry, but none of this is my business. I felt like a salacious voyeur -- wow here's my football hero PATRICK MAHOMES and I get to be his really good friend and be like his good buddy right there with everyone hanging out and listening to his wisdom and and and...

And it just wasn't right.

All the actual football game stuff? That's cool. What he did in games and on the sideline and what he blurted and all of that, I really don't think that was any big deal. But always showing his family reactions and what they did in and around anything Mahomesesque, not so cool. A little bit of that is okay I guess, such as when a young major league hits his first-ever home run and the camera pans to his mom and dad for their reaction, that to me is barely okay, but then again, why should I even see who they are? For anything? Why should a bazillion others, many of whom do not have any of these people's best interests in mind -- why should they see who these people are and what they do? Really?

I know for decades this has really been the reality of a televised society, I get that. It is even worse now with web and cell phone and social media technology. With super-fast information processing and super-advanced graphic imagery that many foolishly call "A.I." it is virtually impossible to escape having everyone everywhere know who you are are where you are and all that.

It is extraordinarily frightening.

And very much why I do take this forum, for however many will come across it, to share some things related to morality and decency and respect that can be attached to this really neat thing we call the Kansas City Chiefs.

Why not? Why not speak about them? Why not make our Chiefs fandom and whatever it is related to Chiefs success something that is ultimately, transcendently, and eternally respectful and meaningful? That all of these people really actually in their hearts and souls actually stand for good things, for the benefit of anyone who tunes in however they do?

Some may say, "Hey, how can you say you don't want to see into their personal lives but then rail against gambling and crypto and all those other things? What if they choose to do that in their personal lives? You wouldn't know about it if they do it, right?"

I get that, I do. I've said before that my own Chiefs fandom gets the best of me sometimes. I just want the Chiefs to win, and a running back could be a serial killer as long as he scores 100 touchdowns for us. Yeah, I confess, that I'd even think that is disturbing. But that is much of the point, right?

The key difference is that the NFL and all the entities associated with it, like the Chiefs, do make pronouncements about their affections openly. Most of those things are fine -- "Maybe you'd like to consider driving this very nice touring vehicle." Some of those things, however, are rotten. 

Sure I could just cut out the whole thing -- why watch? Why say I enjoy it when there is the objectionable ugliness? Again, I like the Chiefs and football. But let's face it, there are those things that make for integrity and character and good things that anyone and everyone expect from these people. That today's information technology world makes that whole thing so crazy now does affect what we think and do with it, and I confess I struggle with it, sure.

This doesn't mean we can't hold true to good things, lift them up, share their meaning especially in forums like a simple pro football blog. All of this, really, does make all the musings about who our backup quarterback is really going to be something that is authentically enjoyable.

I can't deny that there is much, much fun in trying to figure out who makes the 53-man roster and where they will succeed most. It is amazing what Brett Veach and Andy Reid have done to form this football team. Indeed you can read about all those things much more at places like Arrowhead Pride, which I think is a terrific site except I really don't like how much too many of the AP people so unjustly disrespect Clyde Edwards-Helaire. But then, that's their take, I get it.

Maybe some of them will get on board with making happen the substance of my takes. That'd be cool, for the Kingdom, and for much more beyond just pro football.

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Chiefs in Preseason Games

Just a quick heads-up for my faithful readers, thanks for you readership first of all, and second of all I'm just not that interested in writing anything about preseason games. 

Well, except for one thing. It is the only thing I examine whenever I peek at anything that happened in a Chiefs preseason game.

Did anyone of note get injured?

And yes, most specifically, did Patrick Mahomes make it through the game without issue in this regard?

Tonight he did, so we're still good. It seemed like everyone else did too, so that's good.

From what I've gathered from previous third preseason games, I get the idea that none of our key starting players will be in this upcoming and last one.

Tonight we beat the Cardinals, next week we play the Browns, then in a week-&-a-half on Thursday night we kick off the NFL season against what-I'm-told is a somewhat improved Lions team.

Okay, so until then!...

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The NFL Still Does Not Want the Chiefs to Win, Except How Great Is This: THEY KEEP WINNING

Last year on December 19 right after a far-too-close win over a woeful Texans team, I wrote a blog post about how much the NFL simply does not want the Chiefs to win. I have written endlessly about that because this fully unethical duplicitous activity distorting genuine competitive integrity is typical of the standard operating procedure of all the major North American sports enterprises.

Make sure the big-market big-revenue large-draw high-ratings teams win often enough.

I mention this because, well, the Chiefs went on to win the Super Bowl. I understand the thinking: How could the NFL not want the Chiefs to win when they have Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, two of the most popular players in all of professional sports? The new 2023 schedule came out and the Chiefs are showcased in seven prime time affairs! What's with that?

The reality is that it is harder to hide this in the NFL, but please know that all the powers-that-be -- I've been given to calling them the "NFLers," anyone who benefits in some way, especially financially, from other teams not the Chiefs winning -- all of them would much much rather have Mahomes and Kelce on a team like the Patriots or Cowboys or Giants. I promise you every NFLer is squirming inside their gut that they are instead on the Chiefs and not on one of those other teams.

Everything I wrote in that piece, and in every other one in which I write about these things, still applies. Even though the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, The Fix Is In factor is still in play, the Scorecasting factor is still very much alive and well.

You could, however, see it much more profoundly in NBA basketball and major league baseball.

You may know I'm also a Golden State Warriors fan and I've always reveled in those times we can be successful. And we have been -- getting to the Finals, even winning a few of them, several times over the past years. The truth is, in the same vein, the NBA does not want the Warriors to win.

Last night we lost our playoff series to the No. 7 seeded team in the conference. No No. 7 seed ever really does anything in the playoffs...

Unless you're the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the series the Lakers were handed every advantage in the book, particularly in the one major area Scorecasting identifies as the key reason a given team will win by virtue of the desires of the NBAers: the officiating.

I actually watched very little of the series because I knew my team was hosed from the very beginning for these very reasons, even though man-for-man the Warriors were the better team. What very little I did watch was an early part of Game 4. I saw a tough basket made by Andrew Wiggins during which he was hammered under the basket. No foul was called. Another play at about the same time featured LeBron James going to the basket while very loosely guarded by Gary Payton, and a foul was called. Right after a replay of that particular play the announcer said, "That was not a foul."

I was done. I turned off the game and didn't watch another minute for the rest of the series. Turns out the free throw discrepancy in favor of the Lakers was eye-popping. Please know I'm all for that not being any big deal... except in this instance. I wasn't the only one who noted it.

The Warriors players definitely recognized it and you could easily sense their abject despair in post-game interviews knowing that they really didn't have a fair chance to compete. Of course they can't say anything because they are so beholden to the NBA enforcers who'll rip them brand new aye-holes if they complain about it.

How about this other major factor: the ways people like LeBron James and Anthony Davis even get on the Lakers to begin with? How on earth do those things happen? When did LeBron in his prime ever consider joining the Portland Trailblazers, I mean Damian Lillard is an excellent player, LeBron could've won some titles with him for sure. When is Anthony Davis, now in his prime, going to join, say, the Charlotte Hornets? They have a pretty good baller in LaMelo Ball, how about that?

Nah. Those teams simply aren't the ones the NBAers favor. Indeed, just wait a few years. Those extraordinarily exceptional ballers, the Ja Morants and the LaMelo Balls who'll soon be in their prime prime years -- any of them who are a true cut-above your run-of-the-mill excellent players -- they will end up on the Lakers at some point later. None of this happens by accident.

With major league baseball it is just as pronounced.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are now starting the season yet again in first place in the NL West where they will likely finish again for an 11th time in 12 years. Oh, and that only time they finished second? They still won 106 games and in the playoffs they still beat the Giants the team that finished first that year.

This Dodgers thing isn't just happenstance. It was made to happen. I've made mention of it before, I'll share it briefly here again. A number of years ago the Dodgers were okay, a decent team and still a winning team, but it wasn't good enough for the MLBers. So the majors took the unprecedented step of forcing the sale of the team to major league baseball who then sent it to an ownership group that would ensure they would be even better winners and gain all the accompanying advantages of such a move. 

Sorry, but this would never happen to a Diamondbacks or a Tigers or any other non-NY-or-LA team. Needless to say Dodgers have made the playoffs every year since 2012, and except for a scant four times the Yankees have made the playoffs every single season since 1994. That's 24 times out of 28. That doesn't happen by accident.

Maybe there is some divine intervention against this wretched duplicity because since 2012, after all those playoff appearances by those two teams, they have only one World Series title between them, and that was the 2020 Dodgers' in a ridiculously silly shortened Covid lockdown season.

I have to add that browsing in the bookstore last night I saw a book, How to Beat a Broken Game, about that 2020 Dodgers season, and right there on the inside cover, right there at the top, was a statement about how the Dodgers winning that year's World Series crippled baseball. Crippled baseball! Peeking in the book it seemed the reason the author gives for the game being worse is because of all the stark dehumanizing statistical elements that have woven their way in the game play and decision-making. I personally think much of the reason is the implementation of all the phenomenally idiotic new rules they put in place at that time.

The real reason, however, is that the majors have gone too far to make it so easy for the Yankees and Dodgers to win too often. Do they win all the time? Of course not, that would be too stupid.

But I discovered a long time ago that if a team can't have their own team winning it all, they really do want the Yankees or Dodgers to win it all. I've realized it is sadly much more the case that these major sports leagues require those teams to win for them to make it the most lucrative they want it all to be, bottom-line. Look at the history of both the NBA and major league baseball and you'll see there has never been very long at all between times featuring a Lakers or Celtics in the Finals, or the Dodgers or Yankees going to the World Series. 

Go ahead and look. It is actually kind of astounding.

In fact I can't neglect to share this -- just riffing here in my blog to vent about the Warriors loss -- but let's just look at major league baseball. 

In 1948 the Indians beat the Braves in the World Series, way back there just after World War II when the Braves were still in Boston. Then, from 1949 all the way to 1966, a total of 18 years, at least one New York or Los Angeles team competed in the Fall Classic. Every one of those 18 years! Of those 36 spots in the World Series during that time period, a New York or Los Angeles team occupied 25 of them. One of them won 14 times. The streak was broken in 1967 when -- ::gasp!:: no New York or Los Angeles team appeared! It was St. Louis and Boston.

It didn't stop there. The Amazin' Mets won it all in 1969. They were barely a .500 team in 1973 when they went to the World Series again. The Dodgers showed up there in 1974. The Yankees were there three straight times from 76 to 78. In 1981 a strike shortened the season and to ensure both the Dodgers and Yankees were in the playoffs the MLBers decided to split the season in halves so the "first half winners" could qualify for the playoffs. Guess who led their respective divisions at that time? Sure enough they both made it to the World Series yet again.

The Dodgers barely missed getting in in 83 and 85, but won it all in 88. The Mets won it all in 86. I should add that the Boston Red Sox are really just as much big-market big-revenue large-draw high-ratings, and they've recently had a huge amount of post-season success. If it isn't the Yankees from the American League, then the Red Sox will do just fine.

What does all this have to do with the Chiefs? It is simply there are too many obvious components that go into regularly shoving the bigger-market bigger-revenue larger-draw teams to the top of their standings. All the NFLers and NBAers and MLBers do work very hard to hide them, and if you point out those things you'll be wholly marginalized or if it comes to it dismissively tarred as some kind of sour grapes conspiracy nut. It doesn't make it any less criminal to take fans' money and deceive them about their team's chances to be competitive for any period of time when eventually championship spots must be handed to those favored teams.

Once again even though the Chiefs did win the Super Bowl and the Warriors did win last year's NBA title (Yay!) (But against the Boston Celtics -- there you go), all the things I wrote about in that post still apply. The ever-expanding gambling interests that are now officially connected to these games make it worse. These leagues could have officials in the booth actually getting calls right (even in the NBA!) but they won't because it removes that key Scorecasting advantage they embrace.

As for the Chiefs, we are blessed to have a general manager who absolutely kills it in assembling a competitive team for Mahomes to thrive. In that sense, he must be as laboriously productive in the competitive duplicity environment he must confront. In a very twisted way that whole thing has forced Brett Veach et al to work that much harder to succeed.

In this year's draft it seems as if Veach has done pretty well, indeed doing the one thing I think he should do, get front-seven guys. His first pick was a fine-looking edge rusher, and he even picked up another one in the later rounds. He got a nose tackle that looks like a monster. That safety we got looks like a real baller too. He also snagged a pretty decent looking wide receiver to help out Patrick.

And what about last year's draft? Wow. It was incredible -- of the ten players taken, every single one of them contributed something of substance to our 2022 success -- except for the tackle, Darian Kinnard, but he just didn't get playing time. The least notable of them, Nazeeh Johnson, did fine special teams work for us. Every single one of the others were terrific contributors to Chiefs Kingdom wonderfulness in this splendid Super Bowl year, at some time in some measurable way. And if they did that well then, think about their potential for the future as they get even more experience.

That is, if...

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The first image is of the Sports Illustrated cover for Super Bowl LVII, and I must say I really like it because it refers to the Chiefs as "Kansas City Kings," which was the name of the NBA franchise in KC for a number of years in the late-70s and early-80s. At that time they moved to Sacramento and in the early-00s they had an excellent championship-caliber team that was indeed a victim of arguably the most notorious officiating hose-job ever, in 2002 losing to the you-got-it -- Lakers.

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World Champion Chiefs! - Take Two

Thought I'd add a few thoughts about our wonderful Super Bowl victory from exactly a week ago. Right now things are moving into off-season stuff, so I thought it'd be good to put down a few more hopefully not completely last words about the conclusion to our championship season. What fun it has been to see and hear at all the great Chiefs stuff and enjoy the victory parade this past week.

A few more things I've thought about.

1. Even before the game I thought, huh, don't we have something of an advantage in having Super Bowl Steve Spagnuolo out there running the defense, the very same guy who throttled the invincible Patriots in the Super Bowl a number of years ago? I don't think Spags has been given enough credit for holding off the Eagles in this one even with their QB Jalen Hurts playing like a Superman out there.

2. Did anyone notice Creed Humphrey's shotgun snaps to Mahomes? I mean, Creed's blocking was spectacular matching the exceptional play of his fellow linemen, yes, but half his snaps were abysmal. Did you notice the ones Mahomes had to pick off his feet, or snatch from his far left, or even a few at the beginning that just got to him a tick late which in many cases can make a world of difference? This was yet another testament to Mahomes' greatness for being able to accommodate and still play amazing football.

3. Winning this game in the trenches did get some mentions, but it should be emphasized. Not only did our O-line stand up their D-line, but our D-line stood up their offense especially to the tune of Bolton-Gay-Chenel doing expert work to keep the Eagles' running backs to 45 total yards rushing. Ouch.

4. Our running game got the job done. Pacheco and McKinnon were gashing especially in that 2nd half. Sorry but it does make me think about how different last year's AFC Championship game against the Bengals would've been if we'd done the McKinnon thing in that game, something I mentioned back then. Here is worked beautifully, but I won't say I told you so here. We're champions this year!

5. JuJu was everything we wanted him to be. Do you realize how many catches he made in those 2nd half drives? A lot. So many that it is another reason why it is so ridiculous to moan and groan about that late holding call. JuJu was torching those Eagle D-backs that eventually it was very likely they were going to hold. So yeah, please, not another word about that holding thing towards the end of the game.

6. Three Super Bowl titles now overall match or exceed 25 other NFL teams. Only six teams have more (NE, Pit, Dal, NYG, GB, SF)  Pretty cool. It may go without saying that everyone sees how high the ceiling is for this team with Mahomes reaching his prime, Veach and Reid still doing what they do, and an organization emerging as arguably the NFL's best. Needless to say the Chiefs are favorites to win it all again next year -- still, I'll say it again, not sure how the top NFLers feel about that.

7. I saw a Chevy El Camino going along the street the other day, and any time I see that kind of vehicle I think of the decommissioned El Camino permanently parked outside the paintball field splattered with paintball art when we were their for my nephew's birthday party in January of 2014 -- the day the Chiefs were way ahead of the Colts and then... I used to think of El Camino's with sadness because I'd then think about that nightmarish day, but now? It's weird -- I like them. I think it is because I think about then, but then contrast that with now and the good-feelings are that much better because of that stark contrast. Does that make sense?

It is the Golden Age of Chiefs Football now, everyone knows it. Watching the Super Bowl on the DVR again, especially everything that happened in that 2nd half, is magical. It is weird in that it feels much more fun watching the replay because I know for sure that we won the game! Does anyone else feel that way?

What a time to dwell richly in the Chiefs Kingdom!

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The image is from Matt Starkey at the official Chiefs site, thank you.

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Chiefs and Eagles - Super Bowl Take - WORLD CHAMPION CHIEFS!

I do believe this will go down as one of the greatest Super Bowls ever, since each team was within striking distance of each other throughout. I believe the largest deficit was the 10-point dip the Chiefs had at halftime -- ha - yet another 10-points in a Super Bowl Mahomes and the Chiefs had to transverse to win it. Another reason this one was a great one -- indeed they'd said teams down by ten or more points at the half in the Super Bowl were 1-26, the only other one that Patriots comeback against the Falcons a few years ago.

I do know that most would consider this the greatest Super Bowl ever if Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense had a chance to try to tie or win it with about 1:40 left on the clock after a sure Butker field goal would've put the Chiefs up 38-35. But on what I believe was 3rd down the Eagles defender was called for holding on JuJu and the Chiefs got a new set of downs to allow them to burn up that time, keeping the Eagles from having a chance to do that. As it was Butker kicked that game-winner with only :11 left.

Lots of people lamented the call, but it was the right one. The guy held JuJu, JuJu said 100% he was held, the Eagles defender admitted he held, the television referee said it was holding, and the referee himself, the infamous Carl Cheffers, put out a notice citing the rule so it was indeed pretty black & white.

With that in mind, I myself do kind-of agree with those who didn't like the call. I do. It could've gone either way, and with those, ya gotta live with whatever the ref says. I've always shared that sentiment even in my rantings about how much the most egregious ref calls could be much better mitigated. It does get really dicey, however, when people say things like "That call shouldn't have been made so we can all see a better ending of a game." Please know, I get it. I'm actually with you. But the call still needs to be correct no matter how much it makes for a slightly less entertaining affair.

Thing is the Eagles themselves aren't complaining, and most thoughtful fans aren't either. There was so much the Chiefs did to deserve the win, and so much the Eagles could've done to win but didn't. Yes it would've been nice to have won the greatest Super Bowl ever instead of one that'll probably go down as, oh, maybe the 6th or 7th, I don't know -- simply because the holding call made the ending just that much more anti-climactic. Not a lot, but enough to bump it down in many people's minds.

It is funny, after that penalty, we faced a situation where we needed not to score a touchdown. A number of years ago, November of 2016, when playing the Broncos, their guy caught a touchdown pass late in the game when I thought it would've been better if he didn't score the touchdown. He could've just stopped and kneeled a few yards from the goal line so the Broncos could run clock for the expressed purpose of keeping the ball from the Chiefs offense so they'd have little time left to try to come back.

The Chiefs did have that time after all, and I believe they tied it and won it in overtime. I wrote about this idea at Arrowhead Pride and actually got quite a few people responding. I titled the piece, "When Will NFL Teams - the Chiefs? - Start to See the Value of Not Scoring a Touchdown?"

Wow. Did that idea pay off for us last night. In the series that followed the penalty one play featured Jerick McKinnon running free towards the pylon on the left side, and it sure looked like the Eagles defenders were trying real hard not to stop him. Sure enough...

McKinnon slid down in bounds a yard short of the goal line.

The Eagles were forced to burn their last time out, and on the next two snaps Mahomes just stepped back and kneeled setting up Butker for the game-winner with only seconds left.

The Chiefs saw the value of not scoring a touchdown.

And it helped them secure the Super Bowl win.

As far as the overall officiating goes even with that reffing crew that has been not-very-good for the Chiefs in the past, they did pretty well, except against the Chiefs there was one pretty egregious pass interference call, also against JuJu, happening early in the 2nd quarter. It did have a negative impact contributing to a stalled Chiefs drive.

The main officiating question was the interpretation of what constitutes a catch. I believe there were poor calls on both sides, but that is much because the NFL has this convoluted rule about how many steps you must take and all the rest of it. Here were the cases in the game:

First the Eagles Davonta Smith made a terrific grab on a deep ball along the sideline as the 1st half was coming to a close. To me, it was a catch. And I'm definitely rooting for it not to be one. But it was. He made this terrific David Tyree-type snatch against his helmet, he had control, he got both feet in bounds -- a legitimate catch. Give it to them.

Nope. They ruled against it. Wrong wrong wrong. Now it didn't hurt the Eagles much because they still got the FG to go up 24-14 at the half.

Second, early in the 2nd half Hurts completely a pass on the right flat to his back who caught it, turned to make a "football move," and was plowed into by L'Jarius Sneed. He fumbled, it was scooped up by Nick Bolton who ran for what would have been his second fumble recovery TD of the game. After further review, not a fumble - incomplete pass.

Not.

Sorry, that was a catch too, overruled by the officials because apparently he didn't make a third step or something silly like that. No touchdown for the Chiefs.

Third, their tight end made an amazing catch at the sideline that was ruled a catch on the field, but the Chiefs threw the challenge flag because it sure did look like he bobbled it before getting both feet in bounds. I believe he did, but sure enough, they ruled it a catch. The television ref said he barely had his foot down when he gained possession.

To be honest, I'd give it to them. This was legitimately a close one, nothing conclusive was seen to overturn the call on the field, really, that's fine.

That's the whole point though. When a player makes a great play and it's close, I'm great with giving them the benefit of the doubt on a catch. Great. But with the Bolton recovery play, that should have been a catch too.

One more note about the game that I think requires mention is the state of the field of play. What a joke. I'd even heard or read before the game that they were experimenting with some putting-green golf course type turf, and sure enough right then and there I'm thinking please no. Please don't do that. That's sounds really dumb. You can't play football on putting-green turf, you can't. This will not go well. Did anyone else think that?

Well, sure enough, players on both teams were slipping and sliding and vocally complaining about it for the duration. Not sure what the Chiefs did but I was told Eagles players changed their cleats at halftime, which in some ways, while seemingly the right thing to do, may have actually messed with their rhythm and game play on the field. 

Now to a few brief notes about the play and the game. Yes we can talk about Patrick Mahomes and his once-again courageous play, awesome awesome, but here're some other things:

Kudos to our O-line who didn't allow a sack for the entire game. The whole team also did really well keeping the running game going, but I think a lot of that was Andy Reid's beautiful game plan that took advantage of the Eagles softness on the edges. We both ran and passed at those edges constantly throughout the game, even scoring our last two touchdowns on routes that took advantage of the Eagles D-backs over-aggressiveness in the middle.

Kudos to our run defenders -- not just the D-line but those key linebackers, Nick Bolton, Willie Gay, and sure enough another rookie who wasn't in all that much before, Leo Chenel. What a great call to stick him in their for meaningful minutes to help shut down the Eagles vaunted running game forcing Hurts to try to hurt us with his passing. Hurts almost did, by the way, with both his running and passing. He played phenomenally well -- we just did enough to contain him to win it in the end.

And just a kudos to our rookie D-backs. Justin Reid and Juan Thornhill played well enough, for sure, but that we had that McDuffie-Watson-Williams-Cook quadrantes needing to do just enough, now besting by numbers that 49ers rookie D-backfield of Lott-Wright-Williamson that helped them win Super Bowl XVI back in 1982.

It was also a very nice disciplined game by our team. No turnovers, no penalties at all in the 2nd half -- in fact the 2nd half game plan by our coaching staff was just terrific. What a blessing it is to have a now extraordinarily experienced Andy Reid who has been known to do a not-the-best job of making the real halftime adjustments that he should make, yet last night, his adjustments were fantastic. Three touchdowns and the game-winning field goals on our possessions - we outscored the Eagles 24-11 in the 2nd half.

The talk now is how much we could be a dynasty, yet right now it is a blast to just enjoy a second title in four years. Mahomes now has two, and I can't help but think that Dawson, Brees, Rodgers, Namath, Unitas, Warner, Young, Favre... for as good as they were on some pretty good teams each had (have) only one. Marino, Tarkenton, Kelly didn't have any. People like both Mannings, Staubach, Elway, Roethlisberger who've had two... Mahomes is now in that stratosphere and as everyone says, he's only 27 with a coach who wants to keep going and a GM who is a genius at plugging in those fine players around him.

I have to add this, that the Chiefs now have a better Super Bowl winning percentage at .600 than the Patriots at .545. Yep! True! How great is that. The Chiefs are now 3-2 in Super Bowls, while the Patriots are 6-5. Boo-yah! I also have to just add this, that finally, we now have the same Super Bowl record as that archrival Raiders, who also have a 3-2 Super Bowl record.

Can this get any better than that? 

Well, of course, when we play again in the Super Bowl next year in Las Vegas!!!

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The first image is from Matt Starkey and the second is from Evan Sanders at the official Chiefs website, thank you.

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Bonus coverage! Just looking around on the web, very much standard practice for some time after days like yesterday, there was this tweet. Too much fun not to post here. There're probably a hundred more like it, but here's this one for now:

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Chiefs and Eagles - Super Bowl Take Preview

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS WORLD CHAMPIONS!

Again! 

I can't post something now because I'm too busy celebrating! But I'll pound out something soon.

To cover in particular: our coaching staff putting a 2nd half game plan together and the players executing it was phenomenal! Our O-line taking care of business on that vaunted Eagles pass rush! Our defense just playing with everything they've got, particularly shutting down their running game with a bit of a softiness to Jalen Hurts -- but that ended up not hurting us! 

Then there was what actually constitutes a catch, as well as what-thuh-**** about that putting-green golf turf they put on that field. And of course how the usually anti-Chiefs officiating was, a few meaningful remarks about that.

Until then!

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The image of Andy Reid winning his second Super Bowl with the Chiefs courtesy of Steve Sanders at the official Chiefs website, thank you.