Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501 (Post 7177644)

You also aren't going to win many games when your offense goes 3 and out on their first umpteen possessions. How many teams has the defense bailed our offense out when they haven't performed well?

The defense is responsible for this loss. But you can't go down by 14 points and then go 3 and out. And while the Chiefs were down 21 points, I believe that if you score a TD on that drive turning the game to 21-7, the defense walks onto the field with a different mentality that "hey, maybe if we hold these guys, our offense can bring us back to within a TD." Instead, he took a sack that took them out of field goal range. The possession after that, he fumbles the ball in scoring range. Cassel was brutally bad in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th possessions of the game. You can't just throw your hands up and give up when you're down a few scores. We'll never win a playoff game with that mentality.

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501 (Post 7177644)

You also aren't going to win many games when your offense goes 3 and out on their first umpteen possessions. How many teams has the defense bailed our offense out when they haven't performed well?

The defense is responsible for this loss. But you can't go down by 14 points and then go 3 and out. And while the Chiefs were down 21 points, I believe that if you score a TD on that drive turning the game to 21-7, the defense walks onto the field with a different mentality that "hey, maybe if we hold these guys, our offense can bring us back to within a TD." Instead, he took a sack that took them out of field goal range. The possession after that, he fumbles the ball in scoring range. Cassel was brutally bad in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th possessions of the game. You can't just throw your hands up and give up when you're down a few scores. We'll never win a playoff game with that mentality.

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2 (Post 7178233)

And the reason the Chiefs offense couldn't keep pace was primarily the fault of the lack of a running game.

Originally Posted by PGM (Post 7178256)

Teams can and have overcome slow offensive starts many a time. They do not overcome surrendering 4 straight TD's to open a game on the road.

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2 (Post 7178233)

And the reason the Chiefs offense couldn't keep pace was primarily the fault of the lack of a running game.

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2 (Post 7178233)

And the reason the Chiefs offense couldn't keep pace was primarily the fault of the lack of a running game.

Originally Posted by PGM (Post 7178256)

Teams can and have overcome slow offensive starts many a time. They do not overcome surrendering 4 straight TD's to open a game on the road.

Originally Posted by milkman (Post 7178270)

It becomes more and more difficult to overcome slow starts game after game, after game.


The Chiefs have been notoriously slow starters in the last season and a half.

Originally Posted by Marcellus (Post 7178380)

We are going to have to come out and start throwing successfully early in the game on those 9 man fronts to get the defense honest.

Teams are stacking the box and it has been discussed by Haley. I wouldn't be surprised to see some early play action or something like that Sunday.

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501 (Post 7178356)

And that's not on the offense to break up those 4 TDs? When an offense is red hot, it's the job of the other offense to cool them down. Keep them off the field. And let the defense know they have their back. Instead, the Chiefs went 3 and out on the second drive. In the third drive, they wasted an opportunity to put points on the board because Cassel held on to the ball for an eternity.

The defense is responsible for the loss. But again, Cassel is the guy who put the game out of reach by not making plays on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th drives.