Ten Reason's why The Chiefs Lost

[jjchieffan]

With my apologies to GBlowfish, I have my own 10 things list that I would like to share. Because there is plenty of blame to go around. I present, 10 reasons why the Chiefs lost…Again (Other than because Chiefs, that's obvious!)

10. Defense unable to make a stop. I would like to start by saying that the defense did well at keeping the Pittsburgh offense out of the endzone. Holding them to 18 points should have been enough. But it wasn’t/ The fact remains that they forced one punt the entire night. One! That is unacceptable. They force one more punt and the final score is 17-15 Chiefs and we win. So the defense is partly accountable.

9. Still on the defense here. Justin Houston on Antonio Brown?? Really??? You would think that Sutton would have realized that was a bad idea when Ben to Brown resulted in the longest play of the night in the first quarter. But not Sutton. Hey. I have a great idea. The game is on the line. Let’s try that coverage again. Surely it will work this time. SMH. Sutton has done well this year with covering losses to 4 of our front 7 to IR, but he deserves his share of the blame for this loss.

8. No pass rush. Dee Ford was tearing things up until Houston returned. Houston looked like his old self for exactly one game this year. He should be over his injury. VonDouchebag stepped up when it mattered for the Donks. Our passrushers were no where to be found. Unacceptable. They too share in the blame.

7. Special teams. This one actually belongs at number 10. They didn’t make huge mistakes, but they didn’t make any plays either. We have got arguably the best returner and best special teams coordinator in the league. Pittsburgh is known for not very good special teams. But it sure didn’t look that way in our failure of a game. Hill only got one chance at a punt return, so there’s nothing to say about that. But when he tried to return kicks, our blockers got blown up. He never made it to the 25, so every return was a net loss. With the way our offense was playing, we needed every bit of field position we could get and the special teams failed to deliver. Therefore, they too share in the blame. A much smaller share, but nonetheless a share of the blame is theirs.

6. Officiating. Again, a very small portion of the blame goes here. I hate to blame officiating at all, because it’s more excuse making than anything else. Good teams should be able to overcome it. That said, the refs sure weren’t doing us any favors. Pittsburgh was blatantly holding all night and never gets called, but we get called for a ticky tack hold to negate a game tying 2 point conversion? I call BS. Then there were 2 blatant DPI’s in the 3rd quarter that it is just unbelievable that the ref’s could just ignore them. Once again, we were capable of overcoming that. We did, in fact. A couple of times. But not nearly enough. So, even though I hate the excuses, I also award a small share of the blame to the officiating.

5. Travis Kelce. Kelce is a stud. Believed by most to be one of the best tight ends in the NFL. But dude, you have got to grow up. That 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty was totally unacceptable. Luckily, Smith threw a 26 yard pass to overcome it and get the first down anyway, but those kind of things are hard to overcome, and we needed every yard last night. Kelce also had 1, maybe 2 critical drops last night. In the biggest game of his career, he let his team down. Travis Kelce, you too deserve your share of the blame.

4. The offensive line. For most of the first half, Smith was under constant pressure. The hit on Smith as he threw the ball resulting in the interception was completely on the line. Fisher may have had his worst game of the year last night. Maybe his hold that negated the 2 point conversion doesn’t get called 99 times out of 100, but it got called and it cost the Chiefs the game. They also were horrible at run blocking. There were no holes for our running backs all night. Offensive line., you too deserve your share of the blame.

3. Alex Smith. I am mostly neutral about Smith, but tend to leaning more in favor of him than against him. I’ve seen him step up and play like an elite quarterback, but those instances are rare. And that’s what frustrates me. I know that he is capable. But he just doesn’t do it enough. Last night, he was great on the opening drive. That drive was executed to perfection and gave us all hope for the night. But then he disappeared for the next 3 quarters. Granted, he was under a lot of pressure, but the franchise quarterbacks make some of their greatest plays under pressure. Smith did finally move the ball in the 4th quarter. He made some nice throws, like the 25 yard pass on 3rd and 25 after the Kelce screw up. And let’s not forget about delay of game. In the end, he didn’t do enough to bring us the victory, and he too deserves his share of the blame.

2. Drops. If I remember right, we had 5 drops last night by 4 players. And most of those drops were game changers. We have some real playmakers on this offense. This was their time to shine. One or two of those drops get caught, and we’re likely preparing for New England instead of next season.

1. Andy Friggin Reid. Ugh! I am so frustrated with Reid right now. I could almost do a top 10 just on how he cost us the game. Where do I start? Let’s start with his play calling. Pittsburgh has an inexperienced secondary that is vulnerable to the deep pass. We have Hill, who is a legitimate deep threat. Yet we never even tried one deep pass the entire first half! Why?? Because of the pressure on Smith? Call it anyway. Once they see that we are willing to go downfield, they will have to respect that. Then the short yardage stuff will open up. Notice how we moved the ball downfield when we started going deep in the 4th quarter? If Reid had done that sooner, we would have won this game easy. Ugh! So frustrating. Speaking of the 4th quarter, don’t get me started on the 7 minute drive while trailing. While on the subject of time management, we blew 2 critical timeouts in the 4th quarter. Both of them I believe to avoid delay of game. We are the Home team!! That is supposed to happen to the road team. Could you not get the plays in quick enough? Totally Unacceptable. Then there was the decision to kickoff deep after the last touchdown. I know that the onside kick is a low probability kick. But when we had force only one punt all night and there we sat with 1 time out and 2:43 on the clock(again, thanks to poor clock management), stopping them was also a low probability. If the onside kick failed, well we gave up field position. They only needed one first down to ice the game anyway. Everyone deserves their share of the blame. But Andy Reid deserves the lion’s share.

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by O.city

My dad summed it up best yesterday.

"It was the chiefs annual January groin punch. You don't know when it's coming, but in your nuts, you feel it and know, it's coming".

I prefer to call it the Five Year Rochambeau....

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

I prefer to call it the Five Year Rochambeau....

I'm expecting Dorsey to leave in the next month.

[notorious]

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by RunKC

was wide the **** open for a clear TD that Alex ****ed up because he threw it back shoulder

complete BS...9/10 times that ball GOES to the back shoulder, away from the defender.

just stop.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Loser DNA.

Some franchises win when the game matters, others don't.

This team came out and did NOTHING well on Sunday. Not one goddamn thing. And when I try to come up with players that actually played well, I don't think I can really come up with any of those either. I don't recall Peters or Mitchell really getting beat up. I also can't think of any obvious errors that Conley made.

But otherwise I can't think of a single player that didn't have some sort of key blown assignment or execution error. And that includes Jah Reid who I'm pretty sure played only one snap and blew his block badly enough to create a pick. Just a comedy of errors across the board. And let's not even get into the coaching as I believe that particular horse has been beaten to death.

I'm done having expectations for this franchise. They've officially moved into St. Louis Blues territory - I know they're going to **** it up, it's only a question of how at this point.

This franchise exists to be the bit players in everyone else's story. Loser DNA.

I blame Jan Stenerud.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Why are people upset with Maclin? He made a clutch catch to nullify Kelce's dumbassery and was wide the **** open for a clear TD that Alex ****ed up bc he threw it back shoulder

Smith didn't throw that back shoulder; he threw it away from the DB towards the pylon. If the throws it to the inside shoulder, the DB has a play on the ball.

That was perfect ball placement from Smith and Maclin just didn't get his head turned. That's not a 'back shoulder' throw, it's a simple throw to the outside shoulder allowing the WR to keep himself between the DB and the ball.

Maclin ran a flag route and Smith put the ball exactly where the ball should go on a flag route - directly at the front flag. That's basic route running - if you're headed towards the pylon, look for the ball over your outside shoulder.

I'm not upset with Maclin - he played a fine game (though he absolutely messed that play up). But he didn't have a good season and like I said, I'd be hard pressed to give a shit about anybody they let go right now.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by kcfanXIII

Like call a hot route to Hill when he's got a ****ing linebacker covering him up? Oh, wait, Alice didn't do that.... He didn't even look at Hill.

Didn't even have to call a hot route - they had the play and the matchup they needed.

Smith just didn't look that way. It had to be a failed pre-snap read. I'm at a complete loss as to how that ball didn't come out as soon as he hit his third step.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Didn't even have to call a hot route - they had the play and the matchup they needed.

Smith just didn't look that way. It had to be a failed pre-snap read. I'm at a complete loss as to how that ball didn't come out as soon as he hit his third step.

Because he doesn't trust himself to make a play.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Smith didn't throw that back shoulder; he threw it away from the DB towards the pylon. If the throws it to the inside shoulder, the DB has a play on the ball.

That was perfect ball placement from Smith and Maclin just didn't get his head turned. That's not a 'back shoulder' throw, it's a simple throw to the outside shoulder allowing the WR to keep himself between the DB and the ball.

Maclin ran a flag route and Smith put the ball exactly where the ball should go on a flag route - directly at the front flag. That's basic route running - if you're headed towards the pylon, look for the ball over your outside shoulder.

I'm not upset with Maclin - he played a fine game (though he absolutely messed that play up). But he didn't have a good season and like I said, I'd be hard pressed to give a shit about anybody they let go right now.

If he's looking over his inside shoulder there from the beginning, smith threw the wrong ball. Throw it to the back of the endzone.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by stevieray

complete BS...9/10 times that ball GOES to the back shoulder, away from the defender.

just stop.

Exactly.

Back shoulder /= outside shoulder.

That was not a stop route, not a timing route. 'back shoulder' doesn't come into play. It was the kind of super complicated route you ran in high school - it was a simple flag route (may have been more of a post-corner same concept).

And on that throw, 99 times out of 100 you put it to the WRs outside shoulder because the route is designed in a way to put the WR between the DB and the sideline. Outside shoulder makes it impossible for the DB to get there without going through the WR. If the receiver looks the right way, it's an completion or a PI.

And the ball all but hit him in the shoulder - it couldn't have been better placed.

J-Mac just turned the wrong way. There's no reason for him to have looked to the inside on that route; trying to sneak it inside shoulder with the DB having inside position is upping the degree of difficulty by roughly a metric ton.

Maclin and Smith weren't on the same page at all this year and this was another one of those times. But that's a textbook outside shoulder throw from Smith and if anyone carries 'blame' there, it's Maclin.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

If he's looking over his inside shoulder there from the beginning, smith threw the wrong ball. Throw it to the back of the endzone.

Here's an exercise - run forward, cut 45 degrees to your right and then 90 degrees to your left, now turn your head and look back to where you started - which direction does your head go?

If you try to turn your head inside looking for that throw, it's going to turn your shoulders and flatten out that route. Again, that's why that throw is designed outside shoulder - everything about it is far more natural. If you try to throw it inside shoulder it's going to require one of those jumping/turning acrobatic catches that clearly wasn't necessary given that separation. The throw from Smith was clearly designed to go right at that front flag and Maclins route was taking him right to it. There's just nothing that makes sense about assuming that it was actually designed to go to the back of the end zone but both guys screwed up so it was 12 yards short.

KISS - the simplest solution here is almost certainly the correct one.

[kcfanXIII]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Didn't even have to call a hot route - they had the play and the matchup they needed.

Smith just didn't look that way. It had to be a failed pre-snap read. I'm at a complete loss as to how that ball didn't come out as soon as he hit his third step.

A failed presnap read I made from the upper level of Arrowhead. I was screaming "They gotta linebacker on Reek, throw him the damn ball!" before the snap... I could even see Alice looking over at him. Then snap the ball, and never even glance over there. dump off for a 3 yard gain. Its this shit that allows defenses to load the box with 8 or 9 guys and shut down the run. They don't have to cover the deep ball because it will never get thrown. It's maddening. But by all means, let's replace every one around Alice Smith so they can pick up our 17 million dollar QB....

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Here's an exercise - run forward, cut 45 degrees to your right and then 90 degrees to your left, now turn your head and look back to where you started - which direction does your head go?

If you try to turn your head inside looking for that throw, it's going to turn your shoulders and flatten out that route. Again, that's why that throw is designed outside shoulder - everything about it is far more natural. If you try to throw it inside shoulder it's going to require one of those jumping/turning acrobatic catches that clearly wasn't necessary given that separation. The throw from Smith was clearly designed to go right at that front flag and Maclins route was taking him right to it. There's just nothing that makes sense about assuming that it was actually designed to go to the back of the end zone but both guys screwed up so it was 12 yards short.

KISS - the simplest solution here is almost certainly the correct one.

Maybe.

**** if I know, I'm still just pissed at the whole thing

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by kcfanXIII

A failed presnap read I made from the upper level of Arrowhead. I was screaming "They gotta linebacker on Reek, throw him the damn ball!" before the snap... I could even see Alice looking over at him. Then snap the ball, and never even glance over there. dump off for a 3 yard gain. Its this shit that allows defenses to load the box with 8 or 9 guys and shut down the run. They don't have to cover the deep ball because it will never get thrown. It's maddening. But by all means, let's replace every one around Alice Smith so they can pick up our 17 million dollar QB....

Jesus - I'd hoped it was a blown read. It wasn't - he just refused to throw it.

GIF

Spoiler!

Looked right at him. Had the read right and locked in on Hill. Smith absolutely had to have seen him pull even with a flat-footed Sean Davis, he still tucked and ran.

It was gutless, brain-dead football. Like I said, it was a play that completely vindicated every negative thing ever said about Alex Smith. It was a completely inexcusable play that even SHITTY quarterbacks make with ease. I'm still at a loss.

I get more pissed off the more I watch it. What the **** even caused him to roll out? There was NOBODY THERE!! Sure, Fulton blocked nobody in particular but still, Harrison is too busy trying to put a shot on Kelce. Stand in, make the throw. You probably wouldn't have even gotten hit.

God dammit that play pisses me off. That's the play that will stick with me from this game. The hold means ****-all if he doesn't botch this easy pitch and catch.

Yup - I'm out on Alex Smith. Might not be fair, but I'm done with him. I absolutely cannot believe he didn't let that ball go.

[The Franchise]

He saw Harrison coming at him and bitched out. This is why he will never win us anything meaningful.

****.



That was the game right there.