Chiefs at Raiders - Week 12 - Record: 8-3 - The Take

As I shared yesterday I spent the afternoon with my daughter. I watched the game on DVR later that evening, and, of course, it was immensely enjoyable. The best part, again, is that we meant business in the second half. Our running game was productive, and sorry, Clyde Edwards-Helaire was an instrumental part of that. I do believe getting him involved especially in our short passing game will help the receiver play we've all been lamenting so much.

Rashee Rice had a number of fine catches, one of which he took from some distance out for the score. It is obvious his yards-after-catch ability is exceptional. He really is the one guy who is rescuing the stature of our receiving crew. I would have like to have seen the team finally employ Kadarius Toney downfield more, but he was out for the game -- whupp, hopefully his past injury issues are not afflicting the Chiefs too much now.

Otherwise a nice dominant win for once -- this team is too good for us to have so many uncomfortably close games this season. 

I did mention that I'd gone to see the Taylor Swift concert film with my daughter, and I thought I'd add a bit more about that since I'd mentioned it yesterday.

I am not a big Taylor Swift fan -- it isn't that I don't like her, I just pay no attention to much of anything about her. But it was obvious watching the film she is an extraordinary performer. Her music is actually pretty good, and she is phenomenally talented, as a songwriter and entertainer. Her music is quite seductive, in the sense that her lyrics speak to the lives and relationship experiences of her fans.

Thing is, as a follower of Christ, I was concerned about a number of things I saw, which I did address with my daughter. She was very good about understanding and conversing meaningfully about them. I could mention a number of them here, but the main one is just how devoted her fans are. And yes, it is clear this devotion borders on idolatry.

Really, how much is one's attention to, adoration of, even obsession with a given thing replacing the genuine devotion that should only be afforded to God? I actually only say this because I too can be guilty of this. 

Can I give the Chiefs too much of my emotional investment? I know I can. If you've read some of my blog before you know I can do the very best ugly -- I've ripped Chiefs people new aye-holes far more viciously than I'd like to admit, with I believe Andy Reid and Clark Hunt getting the brunt of my embarrassing ire.

On the other end of this unseemly passion, just as much as Taylor Swift endears herself to millions of devotees, her new beau Travis Kelce can do the same for all of us Chiefs fans. Like Taylor he is smart, committed, industrious, personable, charismatic, and on the field does things that win games. Taylor and Travis are winners, we can vicariously experience the glory of their success over and above the things each of us experience in our lives that are not so glorious or glamorous or gratifying.

It is exceedingly entrancing.

Thankfully God shares with me some things that keep me grounded. Two weeks ago we were privileged to get free tickets from an in-law of a relative who could not attend the Rams-Seahawks game at SoFi Stadium -- ironically the same venue from which all the Taylor Swift concert footage was taken. 

Sitting behind us was a gentleman who was, shall we say, quite a devout Seahawks fan. I mean rather expressively so. It wasn't as much his cheering for his team, one that actually played pretty well on the whole. It was his incessant grousing about every little thing that didn't go right for his team.

Huh.

Sounds like me sometimes with my own emotional commitment to the Chiefs.

And wow, was this Seahawks fan annoying. Just sayin'... I never want to be like that. Elation when we do well? That's great. Disappointment when we don't do so well? Not a good feeling. But when that obsession gets overwhelming it is far too painful than it should be, not just for me but for those around me. This is precisely because my perspective may get wildly out-of-whack.

I have been around some fans, especially when attending live sporting events in-person, who just can't hold a perspective. And it isn't just the scoreboard -- add in all the drinking and gambling and, as Scripture says "jealousy, fits of rage, and selfish ambition," along with whatever other ugliness is in the mix, and you've got a nasty idolatry. (That biblical verse is in the fifth chapter of the letter to the Galatians, by the way.)

So yes, I spent the afternoon with my daughter during an optimum opportunity to spend time with her. It was right at the time of the Chiefs game, and yes, just before the movie started I noted we were ahead 28-17. I did not check my phone again until the movie was over. The wonderful thing was settling in to watch a scintillating concert performance on film that was genuinely enjoyable, except for those things...

The main thing is the time spent with my daughter, the film experience was good and the conversation afterwards was good too. I have the same kind of vibrant interactions with my sons regarding all things Chiefs, all of that is good too.

But to keep all of it from being to destructive to my psyche, I know I must give all the glory for the ultimate victory to God. I humbly but heartily encourage my readers to do so too.

Blessings.

__

The photograph was taken by David Gray at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

__

Chiefs at Raiders - Week 12 - Record: 8-3

I did a very Chiefs thing this afternoon.

I spent the entire time during the game watching the Taylor Swift movie with my daughter.

It was a Chiefs thing! After all Taylor is dating Travis! Right! Doesn't that count?!

Anyway, all I know is that we did win, and that --

We scored in the second half!

I noted we even scored 17 needed second half points to take this one. Wow, awesome.

Just looking at the score, our D stepped up yet again to allow only a single FG in that second half.

So for once, a fine second half performance to get the dubya!

After I watch this on DVR I should put in another post. Until then!...

__

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

___

Eagles at Chiefs - Week 11 - Record: 7-3 - Part II

Just a few more thoughts about last night's joke of a game -- err -- joke of a second half of a game.

First of all we can yell at the receivers all we want, but in some very real ways it gets back to the coaching and front office.

Front office first, for not swinging that trade when we could have actually truly had someone like DeAndre Hopkins. Please, do you really think Hopkins wouldn't have jumped at the chance to play with Patrick Mahomes if we really meant business? Right now he is stuck on a woefully underperforming Titans team.

I do understand, however, Veach's reluctance to make a deal when he could have earlier. Looking at our receivers it really does look like they should be performing way better than they are. This leads to the coaching staff, because failures this glaring for a group of receivers who should be playing better has got to fall a lot on those whose job it is to give them the best opportunities for success.

For now?

1. Get them on the business end of those tossing machines 24-7. Really, in every situation with every kind of throw at every kind of angle... I just can't see how professional pass-catchers making a million dollars a year just to put a projected weird brown ball into your hands aren't doing that. It is your job. So coaches, how come they aren't out there practicing that thing a million times a day?

2. Get those routes right. That's on the coaches. When they aren't out on the practice field catching Jugs throws, they need to be in the film room with you guys.

3. I happened to see a tease for a sports talk show bit that had Kurt Warner telling us Mahomes is scared to throw the ball to these guys. Please. Coaches, if true, you need to drill deeeeply into Patrick's head not to worry about that. Just have him throw the ball. He can't control everything. He's just got to trust his receivers and keep throwing the ball where he needs to. If he overthinks this too much there won't be any passes heading downfield. He also can't be favoring guys too much just to favor them. He seemed to do that with Justin Watson, and while Watson made some fine plays, he also made some dumb ones, with drops and just not making his routes right.

4. Along with that idea, the receivers need to know not to worry about what happens besides catching the ball. It really does seem our receivers "hear footsteps," get freaked, and just blow up at the last -- mostly just flubbing up when that football could easily be caught no matter how they think they'll get hit later. This happened to Skyy Moore at the end of the Detroit game we lost when his catch could've got us into FG range, and it happened last night to Watson on a terrific throw to him at the first down marker on 4th-&-25 that would've kept a critical drive alive.

5. And lastly, coaches, mix things up. Do different things. Set all of them up for success. One thing that would seem to be worth trying is getting Kadarius Toney untracked. Get him downfield more and try throwing it to him there. On kick returns he jukes guys out of their shorts like no one I've ever seen. Why can't he do that to his cover guys on pass routes?

I happened to catch an NFL Throwback episode on YouTube, "Ugliest Wins Ever," featuring teams that sucked throughout the game but still ended up winning. Well, you know?

Last night's game could've been on that show.

The Eagles were, really, when you look at it, kind of sucky. They were sacked half-a-dozen times and were thoroughly stuffed by our defense -- their best receiver was a total non-factor. They got a nifty crazy long pass towards the end of the game setting them up perfectly for their tremendously annoying tush-push touchdown to put them ahead. Mostly they just got blessed by a Chiefs offense that has been absolutely atrocious in the second half for weeks now.

Finally, some history, for what it is worth.

I took a peek at the Chiefs in 1970, the year after their first Super Bowl win. Remember that, when they beat the heavily favored Vikings? Do you know who they played in the very first regular season game after that, there at the beginning of the 1970 season?

The Vikings. And they got squashed, 27-10. Funny, no one remembers that game, and no one will remember last night's game either. Only last year's Super Bowl counts for remembering, really, so keep that in mind when distressed by all the goofy trolling that Eagles fans are doing right now.

Know who the Chiefs played in their second game that season? The Baltimore Colts, in only the second Monday Night Football game ever. They pummeled them 44-24. The Colts, by the way, went on to win the Super Bowl that year. 

Know who the Chiefs played in only their second interconference game ever (sixth game of the season)? (That Vikings opener was the first.) The Cowboys. The Chiefs got spanked in that one, 27-16.

Know what I noticed about each one of those games? Even the Baltimore one?

We sucked at scoring in the second half.

We scored 3 second-half points in the Minnesota game. We scored 13 second-half points in the Baltimore game (after scoring 31 in the first half). We kicked a piddly two FGs in the second half of the Dallas game.

Am I obsessed with looking for poor second-half performances just because of our total second-half ineptitude all year long this year? I dunno, just disconcerting what our team has been doing -- or of course not doing coming out of the locker at halftime.

Just gets back to the coaching, and the thought did cross my mind, it did: that Andy Reid has just somehow gotten back to his old ways of not making the adjustments he needs to make to counter their adjustments, and/or just sitting too comfortably on any lead he has and playing not-to-lose. Errgh.

Hopefully not. Hopefully it really is that receiver core situation.

But that is still a major ::Errck:: for all of us in the Chiefs Kingdom.

__

Eagles at Chiefs - Week 11 - Record: 7-3

Well that was ugly.

Actually, no, the Chiefs first half was terrific. We did pretty well in every phase to go up 17-7.

Then the second half started. We lost 21-17. 

Did you catch that? Did you catch the final score there?

You do remember that two weeks ago we were up 21-0 on the Dolphins at the half, and went on to score zero points in the second half. Annnd do you remember the game before that? When we lost to the Broncos? When we scored zero points in the second half of that game?

Can you guess how many points we scored in the second half tonight?

The math is not hard.

The Chiefs second half tonight featured dropped passes, fumbles, no running game, inept routes, stupid penalties, and just a reverse image of the Chiefs in the first half, or really any time when they play football.

Let's face it, that drop by Valdes-Scantling close to the end of the game was just about the last straw for anyone's patience with this receiving crew. Valdes-Scantling in particular looked lost out there, scampering around wherever, flailing about tracking balls, and of course just not making the play that a Super Bowl-caliber player has got to make.

But he wasn't the only one. Justin Watson made some plays, including a touchdown catch, but he also had drops. Travis Kelce had a fumble in the red zone that, let's face it, really cost us. Skyy Moore has the athleticism to be that Julian Edelman-type clutch receiver for us, but he is about a trillion light years from being that. Kadarius Toney was worked in much more tonight, but he's still not catching passes down the field. Rashee Rice was okay, but he can't do everything.

Bottom line, it was a pathetically inept performance by our offense in that second half, and yeah, it is so crazy that the Chiefs got zero second half points for a third straight game. There was a stat the television broadcast showed, just phenomenal for this team, really brutal, that the Chiefs have an average of 5.9 second half points this season, lowest in the NFL.

5.9. You're kidding. That's not even a single touchdown with two full quarters of football play to get it in the employ of a Patrick Mahomes-led offensive unit.

In fact, I went back over each game this season, just to look at the second halves. In only one game did we score more than seven points and score in both quarters -- that was the Jacksonville game. We did score 14 against the Vikings, but only in the 3rd quarter. Otherwise in every other second half this season our scoring has been wickedly abysmal.

Yeah, really, let's hope there is something that can be done with this receiver situation.

The Eagles got their Super Bowl revenge, but they sure got a lot of help from the Chiefs.

___

Dolphins at Chiefs in Frankfurt Germany - Week 9 - Record: 7-2

I will confess I saw or heard none of this game, and only peeked a few times at what what going on at the web gamecast. A 6:30-to-around-9:30 game is kind of around the time I'd like to be worshipping the Lord, so I was there doing that with a few people at a pretty nice worship assembly. I might add briefly that if you are not believing on Jesus Christ I'd encourage you to do so.

One thing I did see after church was all done was what the Chiefs had going with about two or three minutes left in the game. We were ahead 21-14 when we really should have been ahead something-like 35-14. Anyway, here we were with a 3rd-&-1 and a chance to seal this one by getting one little tiny easy one-yard gain.

Of course, you know what I thought. I always think this when the Chiefs are in this situation.

We are so going to fail here. We always do.

And you know what? We did. Looking at the replay later Mahomes went back to pass and... and... had to throw the ball away.

For the 5,809th time when we have a 3rd-&-stupifyingly-short-yard-to-get --

We sucked.

You have to know, any time I watch any other NFL team in any other game and they have a 3rd-&-short, I'd say they get it, ummm, something like 99.93719% of the time.

When the Chiefs have 3rd-&-short, that rate -- I'm pretty sure -- is around 0.0027001502% I'm pretty sure, you can look it up, but I'm pretty sure that's it. Or pretty close to that, pretty close to reliably suck.

I don't know what it is about that except Andy Reid just has some kind of brain fart when it comes to having the right play to get that yardage. It just has that very palpable feel to it. It is almost like whatever it is the Chiefs plan to do on any 3rd-&-short, the other team just somehow by some psychic ability knows what to do to stop it. And they inevitably do. Do you feel that way too?

What saved us, really, was after Miami got the ball back and started easily matriculating the ball down the field on us our now-quite-reliable D managed to hold them to a 4th-&-10 at around our 30 yard-line when their QB could not handle the snap. Good thing too because we were blitzing and they had guys breaking open downfield.

::Whew::

There are any number of things I could write about here that I later happened to catch about the game, but the one thing that needs mentioning is the splendid defensive play we made just before the 1st half ended. We're up 14-0 and our good friend Tyreek Hill took a swing pass that our CB Trent McDuffie gets all over. He's very good at stripping the ball, and he did here. Mike Edwards picked it up yet was immediately grabbed by Hill, whereupon he flipped the ball to Bryan Cook who streaked down the sideline for a super-spiffy Chiefs score.

Very very fun.

Not so fun is our offense, and our now-getting-more-and-more suspect receiving crew. Rashee Rice was still okay, scoring a nice touchdown this morning, but everyone else -- at least from what I heard -- still: ::Yikes::

We have a bye next but then we face the Eagles. I'm not so much as worried about them as I am the Ravens. They absolutely crushed their opponent for a second straight game. This Chiefs team should be doing that -- I mean it looked like we were today but then...

Uggh. That 2nd half today. Zero points -- zero. From anyone, offense, defense, anyone. Fortunately our D held the fort, but what is going on with a team that has Patrick Mahomes? Come on guys.

__

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

__

Dolphins at Chiefs in Frankfurt Germany - Week 9 - Record: 7-2 - First Quick Take

Whew we escaped with a win, after going up 21-0 just as the 1st half ended. Then our offense went dead and we didn't score another point the entire rest of the game.

What --- is --- with --- that.

Very busy today but I should be able to carve out some time today to put a few more thoughts down here. Until then...

__

Image is from Andrew Mather at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

__

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!

__

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.

__

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

__

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.

__

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

__

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.

__

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

__

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.

__

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

__

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.

___

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

___

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.

___

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.

___

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.

__

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

__

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.

___

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

___

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?

__

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.

__

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!

___

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.

__

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!...

__