Ten Things About Today's Game

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Today's Game

10. My dad passed away two years ago, about a week after the Chiefs playoff loss to Baltimore. He was my best Chiefs buddy and my reason for being a life long Chiefs fan. A few weeks before he died he asked our family to bury him in his favorite suit and his favorite Red and Gold Chiefs Socks - which we did. As they say in the commercials, "He was fan enough." In 1977 one of the Christmas presents my dad got me was a Chiefs coffee cup. It's one of those odd items that has survived the journey all these years. Every game day, if I am at home, I have my morning coffee from this same cup, which I only use on Chiefs game days.

Win or lose, the cup's been with me for 35 years. As we start another season, I just wanted to give props to my dad for giving me this passion. I thought of him a lot today, especially with that first sip of Joe this morning.

9. I'm looking at this season through the prism of where we exited, and that's recovering from the ashes of a 2-14 season with NO AFC West wins, only one home win and that coming the day after a player killed his wife, then himself, in front of the head coach in the team parking lot. With the record setting futility of last year's offense, the inept coaching, the fan revolt and front office house cleaning, I don't think there's been a darker, angrier, more depressing season. I think everyone has been skeptical this summer as to what we'd get with so much upheaval in all phases: coaching, front office and roster. If my count is right, 31 of the 53 are new guys this year. Six guys picked up on pre-season final waivers were in Chiefs uniform today. On offense, we saw a new starting QB, new starting wideout, two new starting linemen, new tight end and new fullback. Plus, KC has historically been TERRIBLE playing in Florida, period; and worse on opening day on the road. The last time the Chiefs won their season opener on the road was 2002 at Cleveland (The Dwayne Rudd Helmet Game) under a former Philadelphia Eagles head coach, Grandpa Dick Vermeil. The Chiefs ended up 8-8 that season, which is what a lot of folks expect for this season.


8. The Jacksonville crowd was pathetic. They had several areas closed off, and there were tons of empty seats between the 30 yard lines. I know it was a hot, muggy day, but this is a season opening home game, people. Here's a screen shot of half time. Either everyone went up to get some shade, everyone went home, or both. By the fourth quarter it looked like there were mostly Chiefs fans left in the building. I can't see how they can keep a franchise in Jacksonville for many more years without moving to LA or London. Jacksonville doesn't deserve an NFL team with that kind of backing, even one that sucks as bad as the Jags sucked today.



7. What was the opening night review for Alex Smith? I thought Alex Smith was a combination of the best of Rich Gannon and Trent Green. I thought his first half was excellent. Looked like Green because he hit guys in stride, where they could do something with the ball once it was caught. He avoided turning the ball over; no picks, 21 of 34 for 173 and two TDs. He looked like Gannon with four scrambles for 25 yards. And he spread the ball around. Nine different guys caught passes today. That's what game management is; getting everybody involved, not turning the ball over and keeping the defense off the field. The pass to Avery hit him right in stride, and gave him the angle to break a tackle headed for the corner pylon -nice hit by the Jags mascot at the end of that play, btw... The pass to Hemmingway for the second TD was perfect, right where it needed to be, when it needed to be. Those two passes alone we never saw from Cassel or Quinn, ever. And think about this: Although we didn't score a single offensive point in the second half, our point total of 28 is more than we scored in ANY GAME last year. That's reason for optimism.

6. What can you say about the defense? They essentially pitched a shutout. Granted, Gabbert sucks like a Hoover. We're fortunate the Jags didn't start Henne, or the game may have been more competitive. Six Sacks -including three for Houston and one each for Jackson and Poe- and a pick six for Hali; our all-pro defensive players showed up today. DJ led the defense with seven tackles, but how about Poe's day? Five tackles, a knocked down pass and a legit bull rush sack? Awesome. I think Andy Reid should make the entire defense swear off BBQ if that's the results with Poe.

5. Special teams got off to a scary start with the blocked punt. If you go back and look at that play, Cyrus Gray was the protector. He broke left to pick up a guy on the edge. Akeem Jordan releases early, and a guy squirts between the hole Jordan leaves behind and comes right where Gray had been in protection. With a bunch of new guys picked up off the waiver wire starting on punt team, it's not surprising. Coach Toub will get that fixed. Otherwise, Colquitt was pretty good today with nine punts and a 58 yarder among the kicks. Jacksonville only crossed the fifty on offense once the entire game, and never scored. Field position was a big part of that result. For the Chiefs, McCluster fielded seven punts and did OK, but he needs to get north-south and not dance around so much. He did have one nice return for 36 yards. Overall, our special teams are light years better than last year, and Toub is the reason.

4. Charles got hit hard in the third quarter on the running play that eventually put him out. He took a knee to the quad, and I think it was smart to get him out and keep him out with the game out of reach.
View My Video
He should be OK for the Dallas game.
Sitting Charles was a good chance to see what Knile Davis could do in a real game situation. Of all the backs, I was most impressed with the fullback Sherman. He was the leading receiver today with four for 44 yards. He also blocked well on short yardage. He's what we got for the Javier Arenas trade to Arizona. Looks like a good move.

3. Fisher v. Joeckel: I think its safe to say Fisher wins this matchup. The Chiefs ran behind Fisher several times today. He did get beat for one sack in the fourth quarter, where Smith held the ball too long.
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But Joeckel got smoked by Houston on two sacks, and he missed chopping Hali down on the play that ended in a pick six.
View My Video
Match to Mr. Fisher.

2. After an entire season of negativity, it's refreshing not to have to look for things to complain about after a win. My only concern from this game is how the offense continually stalled between the Jags' 50 and 40 in the second half. We had no second half offensive points, and went three and out with excellent field position too many times. The defense was so good today that it didn't matter. But somewhere down the road Smith is going to need to sustain drives and run clock. He'll need to keep the defense off the field, especially later in the year as players get dinged up. Looks like the only guys who were affected today were Charles and Albert, and both should be OK next week for Dallas.

1. Jacksonville isn't a good team. Today they looked like the Chiefs looked last year and the year before. It was a mismatch. What a nice change to be on the other side of the equation. I believe we'll have a fighting chance in most of our games this year. The offense is diverse enough where you can't just key on Charles. There's enough legit targets where you can't just concentrate on stopping Bowe. This defense looks awesome, especially in passing downs where you don't know who's coming. Special teams are greatly improved -save for one glitch today- and the team played with energy and discipline, very few penalties, no pass interference, no holding, no unsportsmanlike stuff. And next Sunday, I'll get up early and tip my coffee mug to the old man, and get ready for the home opener. He never liked Dallas.

[gblowfish]

Here's the morning after story in the Florida Times-Union, which is Jax local fishwrap. BTW: Jax at Oakland next week. There's a quality matchup!


Jags show little in season-opening loss to Kansas City
Posted: September 8, 2013 - 4:15pm
By Ryan O'Halloran

The floor opened to them Saturday night during a team meeting, three veterans — Maurice Jones-Drew, Jason Babin and Paul Posluszny — addressed their teammates, 10 of whom would make their regular-season debuts Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.

“We were using our older guys to help our younger guys,” coach Gus Bradley said. “They were saying, ‘It’s exciting to play in your first NFL game, but you really have to simplify.’”

Hours later, the Jaguars kept it simple — they were simply dominated and out-classed by the Chiefs.

The 28-2 Kansas City win — the first such final score in NFL history — was as thorough as the margin of victory indicates and extinguished many of the good feelings generated by a preseason in which the offensive and defensive starters showed they could be functional and competitive.

While it’s way too early to toss this year in the same landfill last year’s 2-14 team calls home, the result was certainly a downer for the Jaguars, who wanted to make a good first impression knowing they were terrible at home last year and have four of their next five games away from EverBank Field.

Instead, the stadium was nearly empty midway through the fourth quarter, when the Jaguars’ offense finally crossed midfield.

Hours earlier, those fans arrived with minimal expectations considering the youthful roster, the fact tight end Marcedes Lewis (injured) and receiver Justin Blackmon (suspended) were unavailable and the Chiefs’ personnel edge.

But then the Jaguars made things worse by not showing up.

“Some of the things that we’ve seen in practice didn’t carry over into the game,” Bradley said.

Like tackling, catching the football, protecting the quarterback and covering a punt.

“It was a poor showing,” safety Dwight Lowery said. “All we can do is learn from this game and understand that we’re not in preseason mode anymore and this is the real deal.”

Also real were the numbers.

The franchise futility marks: Largest Week 1 defeat, most punts (11), and fewest offensive points (zero for the fourth time).

More bad statistics: The Jaguars had only 178 yards offense and quarterback Blaine Gabbert’s right hand needed 15 stitches after he hit it on an opponent’s face-mask.

When he left, Gabbert, starting for the first time since breaking his right (throwing) thumb last month, was 16 of 35 for 121 yards and two interceptions.

“[The thumb] is not a crutch or an excuse or an explanation for why we didn’t perform to the level we wanted to,” Gabbert said. “Things didn’t go our way all day.”

Things started well enough for the Jaguars. J.T. Thomas, a reserve linebacker who was one of seven players claimed by the team eight days ago, stormed up the middle to block Dustin Colquitt’s punt, which bounded through the end zone for the Jaguars’ first safety in more than four years.

Last year, the Jaguars were a bad team that was unable to create a momentum shifting play in any phase.

Sunday, the Jaguars were a bad team that was unable to sustain the momentum shift.

Three plays lost 7 yards, including a sack by an unblocked Justin Houston, forcing a punt. Dexter McCluster returned Anger’s line drive kick (hang time: 3.97 seconds) 36 yards. Three plays later, Kansas City took the lead for good.

Momentum gone. Crowd already restless. Chiefs in control.

Things only got worse.

Kansas City tacked on two touchdowns — a Junior Hemingway 3-yard catch and a Jamaal Charles 2-yard run — to make it 21-2 on drives that covered only 21 and 57 yards.

“I thought we had something going [after the safety], but then we got punched in the mouth as a defense,” defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks said. “No matter what’s happening with the offense, it’s still our job to get them the ball back. Instead, we gave up points. It wasn’t a great day for us.”

It was never a great day for the Jaguars’ offense.

They never had great field position (average starting position: own 19-yard line) and made things worse by being stuffed on a first-down run (3.1 yards per carry), giving up six sacks, dropping passes and committing turnovers (two interceptions by Gabbert).

The second interception was returned 10 yards for a touchdown by Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali, who shed the cut-block attempt of Jaguars right tackle Luke Joeckel.

This debacle complete, the Jaguars now turn their attention to a two-game trip to Oakland and Seattle, the fear being the season could get away from them before it even starts.

“Those guys in there are frustrated now,” Bradley said. “And that’s OK. I’m glad they’re a little bit frustrated because that allows change to take place.”

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/sports/footb...#ixzz2eQB9AJyn

[Carlota69]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

I'll tell you one of my favorite dad stories.

When the Chiefs first moved into Arrowhead in 1972, our seats were way up in the top. The next year, my dad got into the seat improvement program, and just happened to luck into getting our location now, which is sec 119 row 1. There's a tunnel right underneath the seats, where the Chiefs players and Ref's leave the field for halftime.

My dad was a pretty even tempered guy, but for some reason, bad calls at Chiefs games really set him off. Anyway, Chiefs were at home and it was a sellout, think they were playing the Raiders that week. There was a real bad call after the two minute warning right before halftime against the Chiefs. So at the half, the refs are running off the field for the tunnel, and my dad is over the railing just giving them both barrels, waving his arms and just going batshit crazy.

What he didn't realize at the time was, the game was also on local TV because it was a sellout. And the TV picked up a picture of him screaming at the refs as they left the field and said something like "obviously the Chiefs fans were not too happy with that last holding call..."

So anyway, the next Sunday the Chiefs are on the road. My dad was a deacon in the church, and used to like to go visit the shut-ins to serve communion on Sundays. So he's serving communion to this little old lady, who says to him: "Kenny, were you at the Chiefs game last Sunday?" Dad says, "yes, ma'am, I sure was." The little old lady says "Was that YOU screaming at that ref at the end of the first half, when he was running off the field?" My dad was really embarrassed, but didn't want to lie so he says: "Yes, ma'am. I'm afraid that was me." Little old lady says "Good. I hope you told that sonofabitch ref to go screw himself!"

He laughed at that story for years afterwards.

[saphojunkie]

Poor Jacksonville. And hey man, I really do feel bad. They took their shot with a QB in the first round and he sucks. Granted, that's what you get for drafting a missouri loser, but hey, what are you gonna do?

Go lose to Oakland next week, hopefully, and ride the wave all the way to Teddy Bridgewater and los angeles.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by lcarus

Just so you know, I look forward to these "10 things" posts on Monday the same way I used to look forward to reading the Star after a game when I was a kid. Great job. Nice parallel between Vermeil and Reid and winning the road opener, and also the expectations being about the same. End result will probably be pretty close too.

I am frequently a confrontational asshole, but I'll say this, these are among the most relevant of all posts on this awesome board! In terms of a track record, it's clearly the topic-leader in terms of relevance and a keen eye for detail...

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

I'll tell you one of my favorite dad stories.

When the Chiefs first moved into Arrowhead in 1972, our seats were way up in the top. The next year, my dad got into the seat improvement program, and just happened to luck into getting our location now, which is sec 119 row 1. There's a tunnel right underneath the seats, where the Chiefs players and Ref's leave the field for halftime.

My dad was a pretty even tempered guy, but for some reason, bad calls at Chiefs games really set him off. Anyway, Chiefs were at home and it was a sellout, think they were playing the Raiders that week. There was a real bad call after the two minute warning right before halftime against the Chiefs. So at the half, the refs are running off the field for the tunnel, and my dad is over the railing just giving them both barrels, waving his arms and just going batshit crazy.

What he didn't realize at the time was, the game was also on local TV because it was a sellout. And the TV picked up a picture of him screaming at the refs as they left the field and said something like "obviously the Chiefs fans were not too happy with that last holding call..."

So anyway, the next Sunday the Chiefs are on the road. My dad was a deacon in the church, and used to like to go visit the shut-ins to serve communion on Sundays. So he's serving communion to this little old lady, who says to him: "Kenny, were you at the Chiefs game last Sunday?" Dad says, "yes, ma'am, I sure was." The little old lady says "Was that YOU screaming at that ref at the end of the first half, when he was running off the field?" My dad was really embarrassed, but didn't want to lie so he says: "Yes, ma'am. I'm afraid that was me." Little old lady says "Good. I hope you told that sonofabitch ref to go screw himself!"

He laughed at that story for years afterwards.

Wow, keep them coming... I like your dad even more....

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by saphojunkie

Poor Jacksonville. And hey man, I really do feel bad. They took their shot with a QB in the first round and he sucks. Granted, that's what you get for drafting a missouri loser, but hey, what are you gonna do?

Go lose to Oakland next week, hopefully, and ride the wave all the way to Teddy Bridgewater and los angeles.

Dude, Andrew Luck or RG III would suck in Jacksonville - NO O-line, no TE, no WR, ancient RB...and absolutely no defense.

[journeyscarab]

Awesome as always! Thanks George!

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

Dude, Andrew Luck or RG III would suck in Jacksonville - NO O-line, no TE, no WR, ancient RB...and absolutely no defense.

Eugene Monroe is quite good. Marcedes Lewis if a fine TE but injured. Justin Blackmon is suspended.

Their defense looked pretty good to me in the second half.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Eugene Monroe is quite good. Marcedes Lewis if a fine TE but injured. Justin Blackmon is suspended.

Their defense looked pretty good to me in the second half.

Jacksonville is where we were in 2009. They don't have the pieces we did then but in similar spots.
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[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Jacksonville is where we were in 2009. They don't have the pieces we did then but in similar spots.
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And I like Gus but I can't help but think he'd be better off at USC for four years than in Jacksonville for three.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Eugene Monroe is quite good. Marcedes Lewis if a fine TE but injured. Justin Blackmon is suspended.

Their defense looked pretty good to me in the second half.

One lineman does not make a line...Lewis and Blackmon weren't on the field, so the team I saw on Sunday had no WR or TE...and that Defense looked great when Reid and Peterson went into a shell in the 2nd half (Bradley and his staff are also good defensive coaches who surely made some adjustments)...

but from what I saw on Sunday, Jacksonville is easily the worst team in the league after week 1 - Oakland would beat them 10 out of 10 times. They can't block, they can't catch, they can't run...they looked like the 2012 Chiefs.

Honestly, I felt bad for Bradley.