Exactly.

This. All of the back, and forth about whose fault this is, is absurd.

The Whole team got it's ass kicked. There were some individuals who won battles, but the units as wholes got bitch slapped on both sides of the ball.

Our pathetic offense kept the defense on the field for nearly 80 plays. Not only that, but had the offense done ANYTHING at the end of the first half, the defense would have held the Ravens to 3 points in the first half.

This is dumb to even talk about.

This is the problem with looking at the game in a vacuum.

This is how the game started. We kickoff. The defense allows a 6 minute drive. The offense goes three and out and then the defense allows a 4 and a half minute drive. Hali makes a great play to end that drive and then Charles scors his TD.

So we're still in the first quarter, Baltimore has held the ball for 10:30 while KC has held it for less than 2:30. But Kansas City has the lead, 7-3.

What you're saying, in essence, is that those two initial drives by Baltimore are the offense's fault, first because they had to punt and then because they scored too fast.

Let's keep going. The third time Baltimore has the ball, they only hold it for 5 plays. But they gain another 40 yards before they punt (oh, I'd forgotten that part of it, by this point Baltimore has 140 yards of offense and 8 first downs, although, fortunately they only have 3 points...). This is barely into the second quarter, mind you. 140 yards of offense and 8 first downs. In just over a quarter.

(But it's all the offense's fault)

At this point KC's offense has begun to move the ball a bit. Believe it or not, Baltimore doesn't have much of a combined edge in ToP for the 2nd and 3rd quarters. About 30 seconds (15:15 to 14:45 for KC). Most of the disparity in time of possession at that point in the game stems from the first quarter, as I mentioned above. They don't score any points, but they do move the football (the only time in the game that they really do so...) and they do take some time off the clock. The defense has some time to breathe.

And they respond, they force a 3-and-out, on Baltimore's fourth drive. This was the punt following Charles' fumble. Their only 3-and-out of the entire game.

The offense holds the ball for another 3 minutes or so, gains 40 yards and punts again. The defense should be in a fairly good position, at that point. Baltimore has the ball on the 20 yards line. So what happens? KC allows an 11-play, 80 yard drive that bleeds another 5:50 off the clock.

This is all before halftime, mind you. That's three extended drives allowed by the defense.

It's a team game. I know it's easier to pick a target and blame it on them, lord knows there's been enough Cassel talk already, but the reality is that it's a team game. And the team did not perform. The defense did not perform at a playoff level. Was the offense even worse? Sure. But that doesn't change the fact that Baltimore just bent the Chiefs defense over for four quarters and had their way, and it started from the opening gun, long, long before anybody could point a finger at offensive woes.

Thank you.

This.

They probably looked confused because they were thinking
"Don't most teams have an offense??????"

:bravo:

And to add to the bolded ... they allowed Balt to convert a 3rd and 12 deep in Ravens territory. It was a HUGE play. That and the 4th and 1 were the two biggest plays, IMO.

That 4th and 1 may have been the most important play of the game.

After that, we just collapsed. NOTHING went right, on offense or defense.

Bob Fescoe just reported that Todd Haley called all the defensive plays after the half.

Nothing went right for the offense all day. Even the early flea flicker was a busted mess.

Our struggles on offense had nothing to do with the flawed scheme on defense and that's what Baldinger was pointing out.

Maybe the defense wasn't as bad as the offense, but that's the thing about a shart, it's not a huge steaming pile, but if you do it while your sleeping you still shit the bed.

Haley took the play calling duties from Weis because he was pissed about the pizza always having anchovies on it.

The KC D is in desprate need of another safety. Not having a base safety tandum that can play run and pass got us killed this year.
vrabel is so old its a joke and studebaker plays outta position so thats a huge amount of field for an offense to exploit.