A Levelheaded Review Wk17
 

1. The missed XP & FG - didn't get to see another view of the XP snap - looks like Tommy just flat out dropped the ball. Love the initial effort to just take it in for 2 but when he realized he wasn't gonna get there it got ugly. Maybe Tommy is the problem. Need to figure out the XP/FG thing real quick. That will kill us in the playoffs. The missed FG at half, dunno what to say other that Butker flat out shanked that kick. I watched closely as the ball was snapped. It was a clean catch and perfect placement (laces out) Butker for whatever reason hit it like a parent chasing a child around the house.

2. EZ Interception. The Broncos seem to have figured out how to get Pat to throw picks. 4 total in the last two meetings combined. Disappointed in this one but Pat takes risks and sometimes they don't work out. I did think it was interesting that Pat didn't throw to Pat's side all game. Much respect for the Surtain.

3. Toney PR fumble was just good special teams work. Can't really fault Toney for fumbling - it was a good strip. Chiefs have to know other teams are looking to strip the ball now. Knowing that our guys aren't holding the ball with two hands in traffic.

4. Defense played really well multiple batted balls, couple of Wilson sacks and bottled their O pretty effectively. 2nd Q big 3rd down play with about a minute left. They just found the soft spot in the D, this is a direct result of LB's in coverage. Need to find that Sorenson hybrid LB/DB. Someone with size to play the run and speed to play the pass. Defense really came up big today when it counted and they have improved dramatically over the last couple of games. The addition of Brandon Williams seems to correlate with the improved pass rush and run D.

5. Watson, just when you thought he was done for he comes up with a huge play in the final seconds of the first half. Great catch - absolutely amazed at what Mahomes can make happen with very little time on the clock.

6. The Broncos are a proud organization they know the score and they are going to give us 110% every game year after year. We have to be prepared for that. Especially with the dismissal of their HC. Denver last swept us multiple years in the division from 2012 thru 2014. We have been sweeping them every year since 2016, 14 games in a row, quite the feat. Especially considering a lot our rivalry has been to split the series. They are no slouches and were projected to give the Chiefs a run for their money this year. Their Defense is really good - their offense is okay.

7. Patrick is back to playing the long ball game when it's not there. Gotta take the open stuff underneath. He missed Pacheco wide open in the flat a couple of times. Need to see the all 22 but Juju and Kelce both disappeared through the 1st three quarters. Need to game plan to get them in the game earlier.

8. Sneed wanted that pick 6 pretty bad and got absolutely leveled by Jerry Jeudy. Gotta have your head on a swivel if you are gonna dance around after an interception. Glad to see he is okay after taking that hit.

9. Referees - Pass interference the PI on Sutton was super ticky tacky as was the Williams PI. The 4th and 7th play was incredibly confusing. Illegal hands to the face (which no replay - show me the penalty - I hate them ignoring that) before the interception - 5 yard penalty makes it 4th & 2. The sticks were set up for 1st and 10 but the down marker was 4th down. Didn't matter as Jeudy got a 9 yard pass but talk about discombobulated. WTF was going on with the zebras today.

10. Injuries Thuney and Skyy. Obviously the Thuney injury hurts, hopefully it is just minor and can make a complete recovery before the playoffs.

15 straight. That's mind boggling.

Time to cheer for the BENGALS!!!

3) Toney failed to change hands and the ball was easily stripped. That's on Toney and the staff.

Just hope Sky and Joe are fine

My levelheaded view is the Chiefs need to stop making the simple complicated.

Extra points.

Converting 3rd and 1’s.

Stopping 3rd and long on defense.

I don't get this mentality at all, that's 100% Toney's fault. Everybody tries to strip the ball, his #1 job is to hold onto it.

Turnovers are the great equalizer. I don't care how shitty a team's record is to date.


If we score (even a FG) instead of the INT, hold on to the ball on the punt return, this game is a 34-17 laugher.

Fair enough or he could have gone down with the ball instead of trying to hang on and keep moving forward.

that hands to face was super ticky tack. they showed it for a second and it looked like incidental contact but maybe I missed something there

Thuney for sure.

Skyy Moore is easily replaceable, especially if Hardman returns.

lol Obama was still president the last time the broncos won

Meaning it wasn't easy like a few of Pachecos fumbles have been absolute drops. I compare this fumble to the Kelce fumble from a few weeks back. It happens the other team will make plays we can't just make it "easy" for them.

LMAO that's crazy

That's actually insane

or 31-24 with a XP & FG tacked on

Right play calls at the right time go a long way. Doesn't have to be difficult to win games.

Nice to get the W but concerning that we kept the Broncos in it.

Pats int in the endzone was a terrible throw. He was open, just really underthrew it. Underthrew a few balls today that could have been costly.

I mean their HC was fired, they were absolutely embarrassed last week. I think they were up for a fight. Yeah we kept em in it with a Fumble and a Int but we took those back as well.

11 point swing on special teams in favor of Denver. Thankfully it did not steal victory from the Chiefs, which happened against the Colts with a 13 point swing on special teams.

The 51 yard field goal attempt was tipped at the LOS.

Also, Townsend marked the snap on the inside of the hash mark, but placed it on the outside. The laces were placed well, but the ball wasn't placed where he marked it.

The Chiefs, like every other team has strengths and weaknesses. Success has a price of drafting at the end of ALL rounds. It's really difficult to get a top EDGE rusher that late and while they will try to trade for one, it's a position that's highly valued by the teams that have them.

You can beat most teams with an elite QB and adequate defense. When you run up against another team with an elite QB and elite EDGE rushers, it gets a lot tougher. Especially when those teams drafted a lot of talent at the top of each round.

As far as the kicking goes, if the holder is the problem, find someone that can do the job because it's going to cost the team. If you can't trust the kicker, then start going for it on ALL 4th downs.

Mahomes needs to stop trying for the big play when it isn’t there. Take the damn points if shit isn’t there.

No need to try to go viral doing stupid shit

I feel like the long ball was there a lot, he was just missing.

Ok.. but just this once..

I wondered about that - but of course no replay so I had to go with what I saw.

Watson may just have really bad hands in the cold

There was an obvious no-call DPI the play before PMII's interception. I wondered if the OPI on Sutton was a make-up.

I didn't see that - I thought the Williams PI call covering Jeudy was the "make up call" for the OPI on Sutton.

Stop fumbling on punt returns & kick returns. It puts the KC defense in a horrible spot and it robs the KC offense of a possession. That’s a brutal double whammy.

Plus turnovers and penalties at bad times.

IF, IF, IF !

Andy Reid has been bitching about that for over half a season and yet it still continues.

If it can't be stopped before the playoffs, we likely lose early.

Talking heads brought it up during the game; KC has been dreadful on the first drive of the half to start games and after the half. Shockingly, in spite of the potential value of passing plays, those points haven't translated to the scoreboard. It's almost like running the ball could be valuable somehow.

Will say it til I’m blue in the face. We gotta upgrade at WR. Juju disappears in stretches because he’s not a WR1. None of our guys are. And we shouldn’t let CB1s flat out take away our top WR target. Is it even debatable anymore?

Mvs is not on the same page. Some is on mahomes today but the guy is just awful at playing the ball in the air. If hardman comes back I’m not sure how you can justify giving Mvs quality reps at this point. Mahomes doesn’t look like he trusts these guys and who can blame him?

In the meantime keep at it with this efficient offense. but in the offseason give him a reliable weapon and bump every WR down one spot.

Anyone besides me notice that Courtland Sutton spends a lot of time complaining on the field?

You would think that every DB in the league he plays against is constantly holding him or committing some sort of penalty?

Turnovers: The great equalizer.

It's been true all year. It's bitten this team twice. If this weren't Mahomes under center, this would be a 10-6 team. (IMO)

They are what they are. Either overcome or die.

He shouldn't have even fielded it inside the 5 to begin with, really.

It happens so often, it's tempting to believe it's being coached. Such a simple concept that none of our returners can grasp.

Could have but one major fundamental in football and basketball is to keep the ball on the opposite side of your body so the defender has to go threw you to get to it. It should have been a minor issue but since he fumbled that should be pointed out in the film room.

Still better than butterfingers Moore. :p

Lolz, the bitching is delicious. Game was never really in doubt, in spite of the offense kind of going reerun for the 3rd quarter. Remember, these last four games were going to be pretty vanilla all around, so not that surprising that our opponents could make it look more competitive than it actually was.

Spoiler alert: next week will be just another vanilla game that KC will still win without much drama. And not a lot of fireworks either.

It was a total bailout call. Looked like his hand barely brushed the facemask of the WR as he was breaking inside. I guess it was a makeup call for that ticky tack offensive PI call on Sutton. I hate it but I have to be fair. That was a shit call and I'd be pissed if they called it on the Chiefs.

News Flash - Pat Surtain is a Pro Bowler. So far this year he has played 918 snaps with 63 targets allowing 30 Completions for a competition percentage of 47.6% and 2 INTs

We can’t afford to play “vanilla” against the Raiders next week

They’re already beating the 49ers.

The Williams DPI call was garbage. There was nothing there

Also - I forgot to mention - Mahomes seemed really apprehensive running the ball. Dunno what that was about but seemed really un-Mahomes like.

Well, that's interesting, but I'm not in charge of game-planning for KC. Just telling it like it is.

Oh, come on. It's 17-14 at the half. Not sure we should be panicking about LVR just yet.

At the end of the day, we scored more points than they did. When you do that, you win the game. "W" is all that matters.


Chiefs Kingdom, LET'S RIDE!

A botched hold on an XP, partially blocked FG and a punt return fumble kept this from being a breezy 31-17 W. I don’t expect any of those things to happen often, so color me unconcerned.

Basically agree on WRs. I'd say Toney is going to be fun and frustrating. Maybe not a WR1 every game but a guy who will have those games if he stays fit. Kinda gutted for Moore's drop after a solid start, looked promising. MVS I just don't get. Fine, use him to stretch the field, and yes he has some clutch plays but he's frequently anonymous/covered. Not all on him today but still. JJSS it was just a game we really didn't seem to play to his strengths. All in all some bad QB play made the group look worse today but man could it do with an elite WR option.

Aside from that it was another odd game. Normally those "how did we win that?" games have a simple answer. Because Mahomes. Not today, but even "bad Mahomes" and misfires everywhere remains enough to beat dross like the Donks.

Honestly, I'm not saying it's rational, but f**k Toub now. I get it, he can't catch the ball himself or make the kicks but when there are this many bad plays does nothing come back to him? It's not just bad plays, he's been outfoxed on kick offs too and when interviewed he always says they're going to stay aggressive on e.g. PRs. Your job isn't to be a hero Dave, it's not to **** us in the a**e. He's had plenty enough of "his guys" in the past. This feels like the year he hasn't got specialists onto the roster and he's had to get rotational guys coached up...and it's been atrocious, and it feels contagious. S***ty execution then bleeds into the rest of the team.

Pass rush remains horrible, Thornhill is pish etc but can't hate on the defence too much. Joshua Williams seems to have regressed through the year which is a shame, but other elements have some promise. I know the coverage of our LBs is so-so but I think better safety play helps that. Man Sneed was important today.

Phew. On to the next one I guess.

sure but today is a reminder of what happens when you have to rely on everyone else. Our other WRs right now aren’t good. Toney is the only guy that seems like he has any clue how to adjust to the ball. We’ve gotta get Mvs off the field sooner vs later. Watsons ok but he’s a back end WR. And I like juju but it’s not the only time he’s disappeared for large stretches. He’s a guy you play off a WR1.

The uncomfortable reality is that our offense has looked like this for much of the second half of the season so it’s not just surtain doing this.

I think it was on Toney. Its also easy to see why Toney is injury prone. He wont go down and contorts his body in harms way way to often. When its not there you need to realize it.

Thanks Obama

I agree with almost everything in your analysis. This isn't a knock on what you wrote, just a difference of opinion.

The Toney fumble was due to his bad technique. For one he failed to switch the ball from his left arm to his right. This exposed the ball to the defender. This is something you are taught in peewee football. Secondly his ball security itself was lacking. The scrape across his arm would not have led to a fumble if he were carrying the ball high and tight. If the defender had drove his helmet through the ball I would certainly agree that this was just a good play, but in this case I believe he was mainly at fault.

One addition I would make is I thought the offensive line held up very well in pass protection today. Usually if Mahomes was flushed it was after his second read or later. He really seemed comfortable with his pocket today.

Good and fair writeup.

1. The missed XP & FG - didn't get to see another view of the XP snap - looks like Tommy just flat out dropped the ball. Love the initial effort to just take it in for 2 but when he realized he wasn't gonna get there it got ugly. Maybe Tommy is the problem. Need to figure out the XP/FG thing real quick. That will kill us in the playoffs. The missed FG at half, dunno what to say other that Butker flat out shanked that kick. I watched closely as the ball was snapped. It was a clean catch and perfect placement (laces out) Butker for whatever reason hit it like a parent chasing a child around the house


Not really on Butker

The first was on Townsend

The 2nd Townsend actudlly put it on the wrong spot. And it was partially blocked

Did anyone notice on the first TD drive they kept showing EB he looked upset about something.

guys, it's really this simple.

A dumb INT in the endzone, a missed PAT, a missed FG, and a fumble on what, the 10?

Then a couple of questionable calls like the one on our INT, and you've got a tight game. Much tighter than it should have been.

It's the NFL. The margin of error is slim, even against bad teams. There's like 5 or 6 things that had to go the way they did to make it tight, or we'd have blown them out.

Sure we should be concerned, but it's still really up to The Chiefs. Minimize the self-inflicted wounds and they beat anyone.

Make stupid mistakes, win stupid prizes.

You are correct. Even the games we lost it was more about our mistakes costing us the game than the other team taking it from us. However, the Chiefs have shown a propensity to continue to make these mistakes. It will catch up with us again if it is not corrected.

Yep.

But it's not a 'we're not good enough' problem, it's a 'focus' problem.

When you think about it, we play like three more games a year than most teams, and every single opponent is totally focused on beating us. They still rarely do, but man, it's got to be tough to maintain that 100% focus every snap, 20 games a year.

I think they just have mental lapses sometimes, I really do.

Not an excuse, just an explanation for what often seems unexplainable.

It's all right there in front of them. After all the gnashing of teeth, the chances of a 1 seed are within reach.

the chiefs gave up way too many ****ing yards rushing

clean that shit up and the drops NOW

Looks to me that the missed FG at half was slightly tipped

Went in the statbook as blocked. Still Butker and Toub's fault though.

They could have defended Wilson better for sure. He had 30 of their 117. Had 4 sacks and missed on two others that were certain but he wriggled away.

Kelce has even said during the podcast that it is difficult to maintain gain focus for 17 games. Hopefully we can get locked in soon.

I didn't see that

I mean Toub is in charge of special teams. How many special teams mistakes are we allowed in just about every phase of special teams before we point at the guy in charge?

Lol, what exactly should Toub have coached there? "Kick it 3 inches higher?"LMAO

He's in charge of the blocking scheme.

If this was just an isolated special teams incident, fine, shit happens. But special teams has been horrible all year. Either he's coaching like shit or he's not holding bad players accountable.


It's like an O-line coach. Sacks happen, but when they are happening at a ridiculous level, it goes back to the coach.

How many kicks have been blocked this season? How many since Toub became ST coach? I mean if this is some kind of epidemic that should be reflected in the stats, so show me some facts.

He's not just the coach of unblocked kicks. He's the coach of special teams. A group that's failing at basically everything. When mistakes are happening at every phase, then it falls on him. It's not just 1 player struggling. It's also not players not executing tough plays. It's the simple shit that keeps breaking down.

But hey, I guess since this is a new special teams **** up, it's not his fault.

Well that’s why I don’t agree that many think efficiency is a long term strategy. It’s a great idea for what we have. But it magnifies every small mistake. You can’t drop passes. Miss on an overthrow. Because we have to sustain long drives with lots of third downs. And we find ourselves in so many 3rd and shorts which isn’t our bread and butter. i just don’t know that this kind of constant perfection of execution is in our dna.

Toney had ball on defenders side when he fumbled....has to change hands with ball there. Toneys bad.

Also just to be a broken record, why does it feel like our WRs never fight for the ball? The best WRs are pushing off and hand fighting. It feels like our WRs don’t attack the football. They wait for the ball to get to them. Just me?

You don't really have a choice.

We had Tyreek Hill, the deep threat of all deep threats and defenses just sat back in deep zones and made him a possession receiver.
Juju has a higher ypc this season than Hill had last year.

It's not like we just decided to be a ball control passing attack, it was and is an adjustment to how the NFL was defending us.

That's not going to change.

And the outlet pass to the back is STILL there all day long, we just don't always take it.

The other guys get paid too, ya know.

I wouldn’t blame that single mistake on him. But overall, the special teams have been atrocious all year and have strongly contributed to our losses. With as many mistakes that have been made non-stop all season that has to be attributed to a failure in coaching.

9 new players on ST this season. Most in Toub's tenure, so 22 years?

Really, the only ST vets are Winchester, Townsend and Butker, according to the depth chart. Everyone else is new/rookie. Winchester has been about normal, but one of his snaps today was a worm-burner. Townsend muffed the hold on one. Last one the DEN player was just too tall. If his mother had conceived him with a shorter man, we're not having any conversation about that last FG attempt.

As for the season, well, if we're honest at all, everyone has a down year. This season is not indicative of Toub's career by a wide stretch.

But CP's gotta find something to bitch about, i get it.

Carry on.

I chalk up A LOT of this year's issues to two things:

1)growing pains with a very young roster, especially defense

and

2) fatigue.

It was the right adjustment. But it’s too extreme of an adjustment. We’ve gotta be somewhere in between. Mahomes is too good of a qb to ask him to be Alex smith. Toney isn’t even elite but he continues to show that we can still be aggressive with the pass with a WR capable of doing it.

Today is a great example. Mahomes wasn’t at his best. But our WRs continue to kill drives. If you want efficiency we can’t have WRs who are so mistake prone or who need perfect passes. Every missed play is magnified in an efficient offense.

I 100% get and approve of us rebuilding and that we’re not gonna have answers this year. Our strategy makes sense for what we have and its plenty good. But we can’t rely exclusively on efficiency and owning no part of the intermediate sidelines.

Just FYI: MVS was 2-for-7 today, receptions vs. targets. 28.5%.