Rich Baldinger says Romeo Crennel's D looked confused.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

This is the problem with looking at the game in a vacuum.

This is how the game started. We kickoff. The defense allows a 6 minute drive. The offense goes three and out and then the defense allows a 4 and a half minute drive. Hali makes a great play to end that drive and then Charles scors his TD.

So we're still in the first quarter, Baltimore has held the ball for 10:30 while KC has held it for less than 2:30. But Kansas City has the lead, 7-3.

What you're saying, in essence, is that those two initial drives by Baltimore are the offense's fault, first because they had to punt and then because they scored too fast.

Let's keep going. The third time Baltimore has the ball, they only hold it for 5 plays. But they gain another 40 yards before they punt (oh, I'd forgotten that part of it, by this point Baltimore has 140 yards of offense and 8 first downs, although, fortunately they only have 3 points...). This is barely into the second quarter, mind you. 140 yards of offense and 8 first downs. In just over a quarter.

(But it's all the offense's fault)

At this point KC's offense has begun to move the ball a bit. Believe it or not, Baltimore doesn't have much of a combined edge in ToP for the 2nd and 3rd quarters. About 30 seconds (15:15 to 14:45 for KC). Most of the disparity in time of possession at that point in the game stems from the first quarter, as I mentioned above. They don't score any points, but they do move the football (the only time in the game that they really do so...) and they do take some time off the clock. The defense has some time to breathe.

And they respond, they force a 3-and-out, on Baltimore's fourth drive. This was the punt following Charles' fumble. Their only 3-and-out of the entire game.

The offense holds the ball for another 3 minutes or so, gains 40 yards and punts again. The defense should be in a fairly good position, at that point. Baltimore has the ball on the 20 yards line. So what happens? KC allows an 11-play, 80 yard drive that bleeds another 5:50 off the clock.

This is all before halftime, mind you. That's three extended drives allowed by the defense.

It's a team game. I know it's easier to pick a target and blame it on them, lord knows there's been enough Cassel talk already, but the reality is that it's a team game. And the team did not perform. The defense did not perform at a playoff level. Was the offense even worse? Sure. But that doesn't change the fact that Baltimore just bent the Chiefs defense over for four quarters and had their way, and it started from the opening gun, long, long before anybody could point a finger at offensive woes.

And to add to the bolded ... they allowed Balt to convert a 3rd and 12 deep in Ravens territory. It was a HUGE play. That and the 4th and 1 were the two biggest plays, IMO.