Quick Thoughts of Loss to Steelers

[Hoover]

1. Ever since the schedule was released I always considered this a Chiefs loss. Pittsburg is a difficult place to play, especially if they are somewhat healthy.

2. Always take the points. I loved the fake field goal, but had the Chiefs kicked a FG before the end of the half we would have been 8 yards away from a tied game.

3. The lack of an actual passing attack makes the Chiefs easy to defend. People figured us out mid-season, which is why we struggled in the second half of the season.

4. Left guard may be the biggest position of need in the off season. Yikes it’s bad.

5. Besides our offense output, the reason why we are on the outside looking in as far as the playoffs go is because our defense does not force turnovers. We averaged over two turnovers per game in 2014, this year its less than one. Our inability to force turnovers just kills us.

6. I’m actually impressed with our defense against the pass. Big Ben was 18 of 25 for 220 yards and one TD. Bell had 20 carries for 63 yards and a TD. If you would have shown me those stats before the game I think we would all say it’s a Chiefs victory.

7. I don’t want the Chiefs to make the playoffs. Let’s face it, it’s not like we are a team that can get hot and make a run in the playoffs. At this point I’d rather have a higher draft pick.

8. Speaking of the draft, biggest need is a left guard, not a safety, not a OLB, and not a CB. We need to come away from the first two rounds with a playmaker at WR and a legit guard.

9. As frustrating as it is that Ford doesn’t play much, he does find a way to flash when he does play. That gives me hope for next season when he is a starter.

10. I swear the refs have it out for the Chiefs. I know every fan says this about their team but how many BS calls do we have to endure?

[splatbass]

Originally Posted by FML

How to improve this team (aka if Clark had any balls):

Fire Andy and the rest of the clowns
give Harbaugh a blank check
trade Charles for a first round pick and possibly more
Trade up and draft a real QB (Winston)
draft best WR available with second pick in the draft
sign Jeremy Maclin
sign Adrian Peterson

And leave the OL the same?

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

The missed deep pass. The number of times he checked down on 3rd and critical. Just inexcusable. When you're in a critical 3rd down situation, you take a shot even if it means throwing a pick. His love of throwing the ball short and asking his receivers to make a play has GOT to stop.

Yea I agree. It's funny, I wouldn't say he had a bad game necessarily, but it wasn't great.


It always feels like Alex Smith is about 3 or 4 plays away from being truly great.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

What I see is a QB who doesn't throw receivers open. He waits for a wide open receiver and if he doesn't see it, he tucks the ball under and takes a sack or throws the ball away.

I am convinced that a good (not even elite... good) QB easily wins this game even with this offensive line. I am not at all convinced that a new oline wins this game for Alex Smith.

So no, I don't view this game as equal blame.

I'm convinced a better performance from either of them would have gone a long damn way. Alex missing Wilson is a play your QB has to make. That was a TD.

I don't want to get condescending here, but I do not and never have bought the 'interchangeable fatty' theory of chiefsplanet. KC's OL is physically outmatched and they get their asses routinely kicked in the trenches. You're entitled to your opinion, but I think that has an impact on offensive performance.

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

To be fair, this loss just cost us the playoffs... no doubt. KC has dropped 4 out of five.

That's two years in a row this team has completely collapsed in the 2nd half of the season.

This game was a playoff game!

Did you expect a playoff win?

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by Meatloaf

Agree with this 1,000,000,000,000%. Alex has no balls.....well, he may have a couple, but they're tiny, little mouse balls. Simply, he seems to be afraid to make a mistake......so he eats the stinking ball. Definitely not a leadership trait.

He plays like he's trying to avoid losing his job. He doesn't play to win games.

And what else would you expect from a veteran whose career is defined by how often he's been benched.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

The missed deep pass. The number of times he checked down on 3rd and critical. Just inexcusable. When you're in a critical 3rd down situation, you take a shot even if it means throwing a pick. His love of throwing the ball short and asking his receivers to make a play has GOT to stop.

It's stat whoring, just in a different way. He plays like INT % is the only measure of QB play.

[WhiteWhale]

Did anyone notice how effective 3 man rushes were against Smith? I think the Steelers had this in the gameplan.

They would rush 3 and KC's WR's wouldn't be open enough for Alex because they have 8 guys in zone and Alex doesn't trust his arm. He won't stand in the pocket and wait for things to develop, instead tried to rush, and got sacked/tackled for a short gain.

They reacted so fast to him pulling it down, and the 3 man rush was rarely actually pressuring him, that I think they expected him to do that.

[ROYC75]

There are many reasons we lost this game and others.

There is NOT ONE thing you can point to! There are way too many reasons why we lost. Things that need to be fixed!

At the same time, several times today AS had an open receiver and never connected by throwing to the wrong one. I just don't think AS is able to read the D quick enough to hit the open guy, but rather wait for the play to develop and try to hit a guy once he is open. He just doesn't see the play / receiver getting open before or during the development of that play. Too often, it's Capt. Checkdown when replays clearly shows a wide open man available to him.

But, AS is not the problem with this team, way too many issues to fix!

[splatbass]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Here's a little hint... On 3rd and 4th down, especially when you're in a critical spot, throw the ****ing ball past the chains. Period.

Even the best HCs in the league throw it short of the first down marker a good part of the time.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

It's stat whoring, just in a different way. He plays like INT % is the only measure of QB play.

Yup. He panders to the QB efficiency rating and seems to focus on completion % and INT%.

Someone should tell him YPA is a big factor too.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by ROYC75

There are many reasons we lost this game and others.

There is NOT ONE thing you can point to! There are way too many reasons why we lost. Things that need to be fixed!

At the same time, several times today AS had an open receiver and never connected by throwing to the wrong one. I just don't think AS is able to read the D quick enough to hit the open guy, but rather wait for the play to develop and try to hit a guy once he is open. He just doesn't see the play / receiver getting open before or during the development of that play. Too often, it's Capt. Checkdown when replays clearly shows a wide open man available to him.

But, AS is not the problem with this team, way too many issues to fix!

I think Alex Smith goes through his reads so fast he's not allowing the primary guy's route to develop. You can SEE the guy scan the field, but he doesn't let deep plays develop before he dumps off or tucks it.

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

Did anyone notice how effective 3 man rushes were against Smith? I think the Steelers had this in the gameplan.

They would rush 3 and KC's WR's wouldn't be open enough for Alex because they have 8 guys in zone and Alex doesn't trust his arm. He won't stand in the pocket and wait for things to develop, instead tried to rush, and got sacked/tackled for a short gain.

They reacted so fast to him pulling it down, and the 3 man rush was rarely actually pressuring him, that I think they expected him to do that.

He can not read the defense fast enough. He has to have more time in the pocket to see it, of which our OL can not supply him with.

Damn, at age 30 I was still athletic enough to do what Alex Smith does. Wait in the pocket to let a play develop, get sacked or take off running.

But again, he is not the problem, just part of the many reasons we suck!

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by ROYC75

He can not read the defense fast enough. He has to have more time in the pocket to see it, of which our OL can not supply him with.

Damn, at age 30 I was still athletic enough to do what Alex Smith does. Wait in the pocket to let a play develop, get sacked or take off running.

But again, he is not the problem, just part of the many reasons we suck!

I don't' think that's the issue. I think the opposite is the issue. He's sketchy and won't settle down enough to let plays develop.

[Mr. Laz]

The biggest problem on this team isn't any single player, isn't that it is squishy soft.

I watched as the steeler Oline practically stomped out one of our DLine 4-on-1. Nobody came to help. I watched at the offensive players get pushed around.

QB is a pussy
Mauga is a gigantic pussy
Oline is soft as shit
Sean Smith actually tackled someone today, i was shocked.

as long as we can be pushed around and are more concern with getting hurt than making the play, we will be weak.

Team takes after the HC ...... soft

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

I'm convinced a better performance from either of them would have gone a long damn way. Alex missing Wilson is a play your QB has to make. That was a TD.

I don't want to get condescending here, but I do not and never have bought the 'interchangeable fatty' theory of chiefsplanet. KC's OL is physically outmatched and they get their asses routinely kicked in the trenches. You're entitled to your opinion, but I think that has an impact on offensive performance.

I haven't been on the you have to have an elite qb bandwagon. Never have been. Today's problems are far worse than Alex missing Wilson. In most third down situations, Alex had time and decided to go to his check down. That's the big problem here. Throw an int or two. I'd rather that than continually watching this team punt on a make able third down.