Quote:
Originally Posted by keg in kc
I think they're further along than we realize and were playing possum a bit on Sunday. I'm not saying that they weren't trying or anything goofy like that, they do need to work on execution, but I think they closed the playbook once the game was out of hand. Which was basically after we scored TD #2. It was clear very early that Jacksonville wasn't going to do anything on offense.
It won't be like that Sunday, and I would not be the least bit surprised to see things opened up against Dallas. Whether it works or not is another question, that's a much better secondary, but I don't think they're going to play not to lose, at least not more than Alex Smith already inherently does.
Looking at the calendar I don't see a whole lot of games where they could afford to play passively and hope to just do enough to win (which, frankly, I think is a terrible philosophy, but that's another discussion...). There's a lot of teams that can score a lot of points on their schedule. Obviously Dallas, Philly, NYG and Washington all have potent units, as do the Texans, Colts, Broncos and Chargers. The Titans and Bills are sort of a mystery right now, Oakland looked better but still not good, and the Browns looked like crap, but that's about it. I think the O's going to have to perform, and perform right away, because a good game for the defense against some of those offenses will be holding them down around 20 or 24 points. Certainly Dallas, Philly and the Giants in the next 3 weeks are not what I would consider the kind of games where a Martyball approach will work all that well. Because they're all teams that can score quickly, so ball control and time of possession can come back to bite you in the ass. I'm not saying get into shootouts, the Chiefs offense does need to play with a mentality of protecting the ball, but they also have to move the chains and score points. If they're punting 10 times in these games, they're most likely losing.
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I think if they play mistake free football, it'll be good enough against Dallas. They won't have to show all their cards. Dallas isn't great against the run..so I could see that being a big part of the game plan.
I almost think it would be a mistake to open it up against the Eagles. Playing a nice slow even paced running game with some passes mixed in to give the defense time to catch thier breath is my knee jerk reaction to that non-stop offense. Being away, I think the game plan will be to score fast and early and then to burn clock.
No denying that against the Giants they'll have to throw more, but it can be a balanced attack. I think the defense will be good enough to keep Eli in check.
I don't expect much from either the Titans or Raiders, but The Texans will be a real test.