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.

[BeeHo]

Originally Posted by stevieray

w


it was uncanny..its was like a different team from the previous two weeks.

I saw both Peters and Kelce dancing between plays...offense and Smith casually strolling onto the field.

They didn't WANT it...and it showed.

I blame the coaches for not getting them mentally prepared. Pitt just wanted the game so badly that they won on almost all aspects of the game.

[ARROW2]

1-10



ALEX SMIFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



The gig is up, it's been 4 years, I have seen enough.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by stevieray

w


it was uncanny..its was like a different team from the previous two weeks.

I saw both Peters and Kelce dancing between plays...offense and Smith casually strolling onto the field.

They didn't WANT it...and it showed.

Showing up is half the battle. We didn't.

As for body language - we noticed it in the 2nd or 3rd drive when they put the huddle up on the jumbotron - everyone was hunched over and just seemed like they didn't have any energy at all.

They looked like someone killed a puppy in the locker room before the game. They really were the walking dead out there.

When every player fails, I guess the only place to look is coaching. These guys just weren't ready to play or didn't understand the obstacles in front of them.

Very strange.

[ptlyon]

#1 reason - Rain Man jinxed us.

Sorry if Q.

[jjchieffan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

West flat dropping the ball when he was running in the open field.
Fulton getting drawn off by a hard count at home.
Alex forgetting to snap the ball on 3rd and 1.
Jones/Reyes routinely taking themselves out of running lanes (n/m, you covered this).


It was an appallingly bad performance and that's why I'm left with 'loser DNA' as my only conclusion. There's just no explanation for EVERYONE being dogshit. These guys aren't kids; they've virtually all been playoff tested at this point. And it damn sure can't be complacence because they sure as hell haven't accomplished anything.

I just don't understand how the entire 53 man roster and every single coaching unit can have come out there and shit the bed like that.

Wait, what?? One of our own offensive linemen got fooled by a hard count? Surely you are meaning a defensive lineman right? Because Fulton ain't that great of a guard, but surely he didn't jump on a hard count did he?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by jjchieffan

Wait, what?? One of our own offensive linemen got fooled by a hard count? Surely you are meaning a defensive lineman right? Because Fulton ain't that great of a guard, but surely he didn't jump on a hard count did he?

Yup.

Sent a guy in motion, Smith gave a hard hut and Fulton came out of his stance so hard he almost fell down.

Got drawn off by our own hard count on a 3rd and short.

EDIT: I take that back, it wasn't a third and short. It was first down in that last drive before West forced himself to fumble.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by jaa1025

And i'm sorry, I place zero blame on the defense. When you hold to Steelers to 18 points, you damn well better win. This fault is all on the offense.

I agree for the most part. However, it also doesn't give the offense enough time to do anything. I'm sure TOP was slanted big time in Pitt's favor.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Showing up is half the battle. We didn't.



When every player fails, I guess the only place to look is coaching.

yup

SUCKS...didn't expect it.

the crowd was more fired up.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Showing up is half the battle. We didn't.

As for body language - we noticed it in the 2nd or 3rd drive when they put the huddle up on the jumbotron - everyone was hunched over and just seemed like they didn't have any energy at all.

They looked like someone killed a puppy in the locker room before the game. They really were the walking dead out there.

When every player fails, I guess the only place to look is coaching. These guys just weren't ready to play or didn't understand the obstacles in front of them.

Very strange.

We did on the first drive but then the Steelers did exactly what they did in the last matchup. They completely threw us off our game and frustrated our players.
They blitzed Alex and made him timid, they sent James Harrison on a b line to knock Kelce right in the chest when the ball was snapped to get him off his route, they were physical at the LOS.
They knew Kelce would lose his cool if you frustrated him.

They beat the shit out of us up front on both sides and it was frustrating. Only Schwartz and Jones were the only lineman I saw who held their own and made plays.

This team has some mentally weak players and I'm looking right at Kelce

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by RunKC

We did on the first drive but then the Steelers did exactly what they did in the last matchup. They completely threw us off our game and frustrated our players.
They blitzed Alex and made him timid, they sent James Harrison on a b line to knock Kelce right in the chest when the ball was snapped to get him off his route, they were physical at the LOS.
They knew Kelce would lose his cool if you frustrated him.

They beat the shit out of us up front on both sides and it was frustrating. Only Schwartz and Jones were the only lineman I saw who held their own and made plays.

This team has some mentally weak players and I'm looking right at Kelce

And our team has NEVER done that. When the **** have we ever gone out on that field and just knocked the shit out of someone?

[SuperBowl4]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

And our team has NEVER done that. When the **** have we ever gone out on that field and just knocked the shit out of someone?

Last year AT HOUSTON in the wild card playoff game.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by SuperBowl4

Last year AT HOUSTON in the wild card playoff game.

Yeah......no.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

And our team has NEVER done that. When the **** have we ever gone out on that field and just knocked the shit out of someone?

Eric Berry popped Bell in his chest on one run and he clearly felt Berry's presence.
Marcus Peters got in Antonio Brown's face and pissed him off after ripping the ball out to save a TD.

We have some of those guys, but the team mentality is weak. It's time for us to be the dickhead assholes who are headshoting players.

[jjchieffan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yup.

Sent a guy in motion, Smith gave a hard hut and Fulton came out of his stance so hard he almost fell down.

Got drawn off by our own hard count on a 3rd and short.

EDIT: I take that back, it wasn't a third and short. It was first down in that last drive before West forced himself to fumble.

Wow! I missed that from up in the stands. I remember the false start but didn't realize that was what happened. Well hopefully Fulton's starting days are over. Ehinger should bulk up by training camp. He already won the starting job before he got hurt. He should continue to improve and keep Fulton on the bench next season.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by stevieray

yup

SUCKS...didn't expect it.

the crowd was more fired up.

There was a moment in the 3rd quarter where RNR and Hali were standing on the sidelines waiving their arms and trying to get the fans pumped up.

I turned to the guy next to me and asked why the hell we should get fired up when that was the most energy those guy had shown all night.

Aggravating as all hell and the whole way home that game made me ask myself why I care at all. I've never been one of the fans that is so cynical that I fall into the "we care more than the players do" trap. But after that game I just don't know what else to conclude.

Not a pleasant impression to take away from a home playoff game.