Ten Things About Today's Game Week 9: KC 37 Brownouts 21
 

Ten Things About Today’s Game: Week 9: KC 37 CLE 21

10. It was so nice to be able to sleep in today on a wet and cold KC November morning. I went up to my favorite neighborhood diner, the Englewood Cafe, got some carry out breakfast, settled in and watched the game through a fog of Vicks Vapo-Rub, the voice of Mitch Holthaus on the radio and the nasty NyQuil hangover from the overnight. We’ve had a lot of weird games in Cleveland. We've lost crazy overtime games there, we had the Rudd Helmet Tossing Game, and I was afraid this might be a classic “trap game,” with the "Win One For Dorsey" factor. Gregg Williams is a dirty coach, so I was afraid a bunch of our guys -including Mahomes- would have targets on their backs. Except for a foot injury to Sammy Watkins, looks like it was Cleveland that had the injury problems. Their entire defensive secondary was on a conveyor belt to the locker room. That just made things extra easy for Mahomes picking apart Cleveland’s backup secondary, as he threw for 375 yards, his eighth straight 300 yard game.

9. This team may be immune to trap games, as Andy seems to have established a formula that works. We win the coin toss, defer, stop the other team’s first possession, score on our first possession, then make the other team play catch up until they make mistakes that seal the deal. Except for the Pats and Denver game in Denver, that’s been the script, and it works. It’s hard to be picky when the team is 8-1, but there’s a lot of things that can be improved, and really must be improved, if we’re going to make it to the Big Show this February.

8. First big problem is penalties. KC has been Raideresque in their penalties this year. Just too many, and a lot of them have been stupid unsportsmanlike penalties. And it’s been affecting both offense and defense. Today was 11 penalties for 86 yards. That's three times as many as the Browns had. The Chiefs offense had three penalties on ONE PLAY. Defense had Cleveland in a 3rd and 23 at a critical point in the game, made a play and had the Browns stopped to force a 4th and long. Hitchens had to lose his mind with an unsportsmanlike penalty, gives the Browns a first down which allowed them to score. Look, the Browns are a dumpster fire, that’s obvious. But they have a decent offense. If we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot by having double digit penalties, that’s going to be a killer in the playoffs against a good team like the Steelers or Pats. We must get some penalty discipline, and get it soon.

7. Second big problem is tackling. Chubb broke tackle after tackle after tackle. He didn’t make 100 yards but was close enough with 85 yards and a TD. Cleveland averaged over four yards per rush. That’s not good. A team that can stop the run should hold that to three yards or less. We spent a lot of money to STOP THE RUN. C'mon Grandpa Bob, may have to mix in some run blitzes on first down.

6. Third big problem is pass coverage. Defense gave up two passing TDs, and got burned especially on passes to Johnson out of the backfield. Defense gave up just under 400 offensive yards to Cleveland, so once again, the KC offense had to put up big points to run away and hide. One thing I will say, Nelson showed me some heart. In the fourth quarter he got toasted on a bomb to Callaway for 38 yards. After giving up that play he picked Mayfield to kill the drive. Except for his boneheaded unsportsmanlike penalty, Hitchens gutted it up and played with bad ribs - and tied with Nelson for most tackles. Chris Jones got a gift sack when he blew through unblocked with a straight line to Mayfield. Other sack was on a blitz by Lucas, which was his only tackle in the whole game. Kudos to Grandpa Bob for dialing that up. Dee Ford was neutralized, he had one tackle and no sacks. Speaks blew a pass coverage that gave up a first down, but otherwise had some nice plays including stopping the Browns final attempt on fourth and two. That stop sealed the game.

5. Final big problem is clock management. The Chiefs scored on every first half possession except the freaking fiasco at the end of the first half. How can you get an intentional grounding penalty on a spike? I don’t know if that mess was on Mahomes or on Andy or on Bienemy, but if we get in a tight game where we need every point we can get, we can’t be knocking ourselves out of field goal range on something self inflicted like that. And if you’re going to throw a pick on the last play of the half, why not go full Hail Mary? Mahomes can certainly reach the end zone. Run Harris down there and let him go jump ball. Luckily, we got the ball right back to start the second half and drove down and scored seven, so in this case, it didn’t affect the outcome. Again, don’t mean to nit pick, but these are all things we can improve on.

4. This game statistically was pretty even. Chiefs had about 100 yards more total offense. TOP was within a minute on both sides. First downs were basically even, turnovers were even. Chiefs had a lot more penalty yards. Browns missed all three two point conversions. Both QBs were sacked twice, Chiefs were a little better on third down conversions. Williams blocked punt was the turning point in the game. Once that punt was blocked and KC scored another TD immediately afterwards, you could see the air go right out of the Browns sideline. Kudos to the special teams, as that was a big contribution at that point of the game.

3 Today was a great example of how players love to play in front of their hometown friends and family. Kareem Hunt bought 110 tickets to the game for his old high school football team in Cleveland to attend the game. He responds with 141 all purpose yards and three TD. Kelce -who is also from Cleveland- was a dollar short of a Benjamin and scored 2 TDs. Special nod to Spencer Ware, who had a couple of nice catches to sustain drives on third down. Ware reminds me of a back the Chiefs had back in the 90’s named Todd McNair, who was a great back on third down. You could run him between the tackles, or throw the ball to him in the flat. Mahomes and Mayfield both did a nice job of distributing the ball to multiple receivers.

2. Kudos to the offensive line, which was four Cleveland castoffs and Fisher. Fisher only gave up one sack to Garrett, who’s arguably the best pass rusher in the NFL. Mahomes had all day to throw for most of the game. When we get Morse and the Canadian Doc back -IF we get the Doc back- This line should be just fine. No Berry, Dirty Dan or Houston again this week. Hopefully we’ll see at least one and maybe two of them next week. I’m convinced we’ll be lucky to see Berry until sometime in December, if at all.

1. So, 8-1 is fabulous, and at the time of this writing the Bolts are in a tussle with the Seahags. The Fade is a giant sewage pit -like their stadium. Donks are losing to the Texans and they’re done as well. Right now the focus is to try stay ahead of the Pats for a number one seed in the playoffs. If we can get a first round bye, and make teams come to Arrowhead in January, we may have a fighting chance. We have a QB that doesn’t check down and miss wide open receivers 30 yards downfield now. We need the same kind of focus next week as we received this week, as we don’t want to overlook Arizona. I know that’s tempting with a trip to Meh-i-co then the bye the week after, but if things keep rolling we could hit the bye at 10-1. The Holidays could be extra jolly this year, and extra expensive. Better start stashing away some playoff bucks now. You’re gonna need them in January.

Hey man, Kissel is stealing your schtick.

IN!

He's the Mister Pibb to my Doctor Pepper...

Hichens got baited.

Then end of half fiasco may have been on the refs. They were the true dumpster fire today.

Where's MeeshMeesh?

Like Andy said, nobody is going to push us around. But he's gotta be smarter there. Show him the scoreboard.

Na man. You are a nice, cold, refreshing Sprite.

He's napping right now, but thanks for asking.

Way harsh on the defense today. 21 points is nothing. Penalties handed them 14.

If Mahomes can play like he did today, it can cure almost all other ills. He was outstanding and made it look so easy.

I actually thought the defense was better today than usual. They made some big tackles and didn't have many horrible defensive lapses. Today they played the role of a below average defense instead of a horrifically horrible defense. I think we can work with that.

Great write-up otherwise and hope your recovery is going better than Berry's. :)

That intentional grounding penalty on the spike was dogshit and the wrong call

The replay later showed the playclock running when the snap happened

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XDFCL5Oiqk0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>


ROFL

Play clock running, game clock was not - correct call, and on Reid/Mahomes.

Great reading, as usual, g - hope you and the Mrs had a great weekend!

Thank you for sharing your writing and observational talents.

FYP

Vicks and NyQuil... sorry to hear the weather still has ya down, get well soon

I'm honestly not mad about anything other than the refs today, for all intents and purposes the game was in hand midway through the 3rd

The defense did just about as well as I expected, and we won handily by 16... four points better than my predicted score of 34 - 26

We took care of business on the road, full stop

Stopped on all three two point attempts..this is a good thing and shouldn't be taken lightly.

^ you’re so very right on point about all that right there.

Great read, as always!

Great read. I think when we get some players back on d we will look better but tackling is the big thing wrap up those guys and we'll be fine.

It's funny...the game was never really in doubt for me because Mahomes. But...I found myself getting mad a a defense that allowed 21 points on the road to an actually pretty good offense. I guess it was the penalties. I was never worried about losing THIS game...but I keep thinking of the playoffs when we will NOT be facing a piece of shit like the Underwear Stains...We just need to be better on defense. They show signs from time to time, and it's not been enough to hurt us this far, but...come the playoffs...I just hope they have their collective shit together.

Great write up as always Georgey boy. Hope you feel better soon.

#7 was all about Cleveland not being able to match offensive paces, they cant feed Chubb for 100+ yards when trying to match our scoring onslaught

Mahomes makes 5 - 10 yard runs irrelevant

Not telling you anything didnt already know, gb... just loving the idea that running teams cannot match us bing for bang

I understand it was the clock needed to run off at least one second before the ball could be snapped. Ticky tack if you ask me, but that’s my understanding of it

I think we should sit Morse. He's always hurt

I would hate to think of this crew umpiring a cricket match.

Is this a Yogi Berra quote?

No.
Per item 3:

"player under center is permitted to stop the game clock legally to save time"

If the clock isn't running, then therefore the player is not legally stopping the clock to save time; e.g. intentional grounding is the correct call.


The Browns got a penalty to stop the clock on the previous play.

The spike by Mahomes was not to prevent time from running off the game clock, BECAUSE THE CLOCK WAS NOT RUNNING AT THE SNAP - instead, Mahomes says he snapped and spiked the ball to save time on the clock from the field of play and to save the timeout...which in that instance, per the rules, the QB has to throw towards a receiver or leave the pocket and throw toward the LOS, or it's IG.

The clock has to be running in order to line up and spike the ball to save time, or its not a legal spike.


Mahomes says he was trying to stop the clock and save the timeout at the end of the half...and that Full Reidtard didn't know he couldn't do that.

:facepalm:

That's on Reid for not knowing the rules.

Reid needs to b given some slack. He had a triple stack waiting for him in the locker room.

Great write up George. I’m going to bask in the glow of 8-1 on the way to 9-1 and maybe 10-1.

Cleveland just missed another two point conversion on the way to KCI...

They played in Cleveland.

Steak N Shake?

^ I think the game was played in Cleveland. But, they maybe traveling, who knows?

Shows you how how many Chiefs fans were in the stands; they thought they were at Arrowhead.

Then they realized all those Chiefs fans were in Cleveland and turned around, missed another 2 pter.

It was a special that sonic does for him. Bowe turned him onto it.

What kind of triple stack they got in Cleveland?

I've heard of the triple stacked Steamer from Cleveland...but...

Shit, I bet Bowe owns a few Sonics in Cleveland.

He could certainly buy 3 or 4 franchises for every catch he made as a Brown.

1st layer is spaghetti, hot dog and cheese then you do that stack 2 more times. The steamer you speak of is the shit lasagna.

Great job as always. Here are my thoughts on on your thoughts.

#10 - Dirty Gregg Williams probably received a few more Head Coaching offers during the game. Not only is he dirty, but in every interview that I saw this week he seemed smug and full of himself. I hope that whoever Dorsey hires isn't named Gregg Williams, and fires Gregg Williams immediately after accepting the job.

#9 - I think that even if we lose the coin toss, teams are going to have to choose to possess the ball first instead of deferring. The only team that may choose to let us have it first is probably the Rams.

#8 - The personal fouls and unsportsmanlike misconduct have got to stop. Ultimately, Reid is responsible for getting the penalty situation under control, but most of these types of penalties are on the defensive side of the ball, and to me is just another knock on Sutton. He often stands on the sidelines looking clueless, but I have seen DCs rip their squad for making senseless mental/emotional mistakes like Hitchens did today.

#7 - At one point I thought that Cleveland had figured out what Denver couldn't in two games, and that's to just run the ball down our throats. I hate hearing Reid after the game say that Sutton made good adjustments as a way of explaining why the other team just stopped running the football.

#6 - Speaks did not blow a pass coverage. Saying he blew the pass coverage suggests that he was capable of pass coverage in the first place. I have said it many times this year: There isn't a single offensive skill player in the entire NFL that Speaks can cover in pass coverage. I will forever condemn any defensive play call that has Speaks responsible for a TE or RB in pass coverage.

#5 - After seeing it a couple of times, it kinda looks like Hill could have made a play on the ball, but was surprised when he the ball went over his head. Maybe he thought that Mahomes was throwing it away and was then caught off guard when the ball was in play.

#4 - It's just semantics again, like #6, but saying there was a turning point in the game suggests that at some point in the game the outcome was in doubt. I hate to keep saying this name, but if Alex Smith was under center, I would have felt that a loss was a real possibility, but Mahomes has finally cured my constant apprehension and doubt in games against lesser opponents.

#3 - Mahomes definitely spread the ball around today. Having an offense, in which every eligible receiver is a threat to catch the ball, is fun to watch. But, speaking of eligible receivers, there were a couple of things that really irritated me today. Harris needs to spend an extra hour or two every day after practice catching balls from the jugs machine. He should drill starting right at the machine and work backwards away from the machine in five yard increments. And I know that Hill and Watkins are explosive, but I am really tired of watching our receivers catch the ball and run backwards. Today, on multiple occasions, we caught the ball and lost yards running backwards towards the sideline. Sometimes you have to accept that there are no more yards to be gained, and just protect yourself and go down. It's the receivers equivalent of a QB learning when to throw the ball away to avoid loss of yardage.

#2 - I always knew that Alex Smith put extra pressure on the offensive line to block longer, but it must have been much more pressure than even a Smith hater like myself could have imagined. I think the play of our offensive line, especially with all the injuries, has been one of the most impressive things I have seen this season in the NFL.

#1 - I think that Mahomes is finally the QB that can solve Reid's playoff coaching deficiencies. Now, when Reid, and the Chiefs, have a double digit lead in the 4th quarter of a playoff game, and Reid has abandoned the running game, our QB has enough swagger, and is dynamic enough to force the issue when needed, instead of throwing a 4 yard pass on 3rd & 8.

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

The refs started the clock, the ball was snapped before a second came off. If the snap came a second later it would not have been an intentional grounding. Per the ref announcer guy.

Good read George.

I was in and out of the tractor a lot and missed a lot of the game. I appreciate your succinct reviews on days like today.

The unsportsman-like penalties have to go. I obviously didn't see the plays, but it's hard for me to believe that a shit ass horribad Browns team with a new head coach have THAT much more discipline in their execution than we do.

I know I say it a lot but I really can't believe how good Mahomes is after 10 games. Just truly amazing.

ROFL

I was watching highlights of the game today....
His first 4 or 5 throws to Kelce are flat out insane. A few of them might rank as some of his best throws of the year, and that's a very high bar.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2mtxy2p7gvw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

One thing about Mahomes is he may be starting to feel more comfortable in the pocket when it collapses on him. That was his best game by a mile in terms of sliding around the pocket, and he made some really big league throws. He has a tendency to bootleg wide instead of stepping up. If he adds that to his arsenal, whooo baby!

They put chili and onions on that?

Excellent!

I don't give a **** what the ref announcer said.

The PLAY CLOCK started.

25 seconds.

The GAME CLOCK was at 9 seconds, and due to the penalty by the Browns on the previous play, would not start until the ball was snapped.

MAHOMES said he thought he could spike the ball there, and Reid didn't know he couldn't either.

The rules states clearly that the QB can only legally spike the ball FROM UNDER CENTER and SPECIFICALLY TO SAVE TIME ON THE GAME CLOCK WHILE THE GAME CLOCK IS RUNNING.

The QB can ONLY spike the ball to save time on a running GAME clock.

the refs set and ran the PLAY clock.

It's in the rule book :

. https://nflcommunications.com/Docume...20Rulebook.pdf

Mahomes admitted that is exactly what he tried to do, and that he didn't know that he couldn't do that...and neither did Reid.

So the refs called it 100% correctly and so Reid screwed the pooch.

It's sad that I know that rule better than the announcers AND the coach.

We're having the best streak of weather anyone can ask for and I was in the woods with a backpack, dog, wife and was barely receiving a full set of bars to pick up Mitch on the QCountry app.

I'm throwing caution to the wind fellas!!!

Well, are you insinuating if it were a running play, or if the back stayed in to pass block, Speaks would have been extremely effective?

But the part that it seems your post isn't taking into consideration, is that defenses don't actually KNOW if an offense is running or throwing...or if they are throwing, who knows which side? Deep or short? Rollout? They may have lined up in that run formation fully intending to run...but then Mayfield changed it to a HB wheel BECAUSE Speaks was over there!? What was Speaks supposed to do - rush the QB and let the HB go completely free? Or ****ing TRY TO COVER HIM!?

I mean, no one was bitching when Reid brought Reek into the backfield and got him isolated on a LB that he TORCHED down the sideline in NE, and I'm sure that no one thinks BB planned to cover Tyreek Hill with a ****ing LB, neither - Reid is good at that shit, getting mismatches. It's called 'the game within the game'. ROFL

Jesus ****ing Christ, are you ****ing trolling me with this ignorant shit, or do you just not know how football is played??

Cool, free timeout, no reason to even think about using your timeout or needing to save it for later, cool.

Now can we be friends?

One other thing, why’d the ref start the play clock only and then run like his hair was on fire?

#meeshmeeshwatch2018

I know exactly how football is played. It was clear that Speaks was responsible for the back. And no, I am not suggesting that if the back had stayed in to block that Speaks would have been effective.

If the back had stayed in to block, it just means we got lucky. Last week he was beaten on a play almost exactly the same, except the back did stay in to block, and Speaks left his assignment because he thought he had a chance to get to the QB, but the play broke down, and the back leaked out and Speaks was 6 yards away when he caught the ball.

Either way, Sutton put Speaks into a situation where he could not possibly be successful.

Do you ever watch the all-22 film? If you did, you would see that Sutton puts his linebackers in no win situations far too often. If you look at Speaks' skill-set objectively, it is very clear that dropping back in pass coverage, or shadowing a running back, is not one of his skills. I was expressing my frustration with Sutton for not understanding his personnel.

I don't know you, but you are obviously are a football coach, or get paid professionally for your football knowledge. Good for you. I would think that any coach, no matter what level, would say that their job is to put their players in a position to win. That includes winning in the film room and winning every individual snap.

A huge key in putting your players in a position to win every snap, is knowing what that player can, and can't do. If you put them in a position that requires a skill they don't have, you have failed.

I respect that you have a different opinion than I do, but I don't respect you, or any other member of this board that has to resort to peacocking and name calling just to make yourself feel better about your own opinion.



Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

It's Bob Sutton's fault that Houston, Zombo, and Smith all got hurt and Speaks is all that's left, and that Hitchens and Ragland have basically dogshit?

O'Daniel kinda got caught out of position/got beat today, too...but Sutton has to play who he has.

The LBs, except Ford, have been garbage.

Good offensive coaches will exploit any weaknessess.

Gonna be tough sledding against Gurley...but it won't be because Bob Sutton tells guys to run slow or take bad angles or use pisspoor tackling techniques. That's like blaming Reid for Conley's 1st qtr drop.

Yeah, definitely friends - gotta go to bed.

Read this thread to answer your questions : https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=318636

Injuries are obviously not Sutton's fault. But his inability to adapt his scheme to fit the players he has available to him is definitely his fault.

We mocked the 49ers for trying to cover Watkins with a linebacker. Offensively, we manipulate the defense into a position that creates such a ridiculous mismatch. But any time we start a play on defense with Speaks responsible for a TE or RB in man coverage, we have done the offense's work for them.

Speaks is listed on the depth chart as a ROLB, and his weight is listed at 285 pounds. Allen Bailey is listed on the depth chart as a RDE, and his weight is listed at 288 pounds. In college Speaks was a defensive tackle and defensive end. 285 pounds makes for a massive linebacker.

Speaks' 40 time is/was 4.87, and Bailey's was 4.77. So, their weight, and speed are very similar, but no one expects Bailey to cover anyone in man coverage. So why does Sutton put Speaks into a situation with such a low chance of success?

I am not saying that Bailey and Speaks are not capable of dropping off the LOS and playing a little zone coverage a few yards deep, but if either are matched up one on one with a TE or RB they are going to lose that match-up.

So, if the defense Sutton calls for a specific play or offensive personnel package requires someone to cover the RB, why is that player Speaks, and not Tremon Smith or even DOD? There is a much higher chance for success if either of them are covering the RB instead of Speaks.

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

No doubt, I finally got to see the game as I was watching my daughter doing gymnastics like a linebacker at an all day meet...What I saw were some phantom calls...The strip sack especially...Ummm did anyone see a flag or was it that Ford got there so fast that they saw it as an unfair advantage for KC to have impactful defensive plays or was it Mahomes isn't allowed to start an offensive play that to close to the end zone? How about the 3 different holding calls from 1 official, thinking if I call a bunch, surely someone will agree with at least one of them. I mean seriously it appears that they are coming up with new rules or digging up ones from when they had to manually wind the play clock for the intentional grounding. Could the officiating crews get together and decide if they need to call equalizing calls for less equipt team. Or might there be a fringe group of overly active buffet going officials that get tired of running up and down the field with the boys.

Your talking the Clevelander Hi-Boy now.

Good read as always, George. It's always the 1st thing I read after a game. Just to echo a couple things you said.
Andy has to get the penalties under control. That unsportsmanlike on Hitchens was just plain stupid. You can't give any team that many chances in the red zone and expect to go very far in the playoffs. That said, the zebras seemed to be extra vigilant watching our guys. Ford's offsides that negated his strip sack was a prime example. I watched that replay 3 times and I think he was close, but not in, the neutral zone. If you want to watch Ford, check out the guys mugging him on just about every pass rush.
The O-line performed pretty well. Like you said, if we get LDT back for the playoff run, we ought to be pretty solid. I'd like to see us get a real LG (calling Big 10 linemen) and, if we keep Morse, both Devey and Reiter given a chance to compete for the C job.
Getting both Sorensen and Houston back soon should help that tackling problem, I'll hold my breath on Berry.

Don’t, you’ll die.

So, blame Veach for drafting Speaks and calling him a ROLB.

Who else does Bob Sutton put over there? Again, if the defense is playing run, and Speaks is out in the 'Tank' subgroup, and the QB calls a hot read right at Speaks...

Well, is that really Sutton's fault? Or Veach's?

Or did he draft Speaks in anticipation of making him a 4-3 end next year?

Idk.

Both starting safeties are out, as well...so it's "plug and play" at this point. To blame Sutton and the 'scheme' is ludicrous. He didn't draft Speaks and is most likely being told to get him as much playing time as possible...

Sutton answers to Reid and Veach.

Conveyor belt of a injuries. Hahaha. Nice.

I thought so too. But our game management at the game still frustrates the shit out of me. I don't know how many times Reid has to do this in a career because he wisens up. Many games this season we have been flat out unstoppable and let teams climb back from way behind. If it works in the 3rd quarter why not keep doing it into the 4th. Yet in half of those games we find teams climbing back from huge leads where we're putting the game in doubt in the last 5 minutes. Once we hit the 4th quarter and we're winning, Andy always wants to run out the clock. We shouldn't do that shit with the qb we have. It worked yesterday. But it's not something I want to test against great teams in the playoffs.

Andy absolutely needs to challenge that shitty spot for the Browns in the first quarter. I don't get it unless the TV view and the closeups were way off.

And the whole spiking the ball thing- we had 3 timeouts and the clock was already stopped- why didn't Andy get the play in?

Andy needs to tighten this shit up. This is the stuff that helps the Pats win games. We can't make these kind of mistakes against good teams.

Meesh is going to watch the game with me tonight. We DVRed it.