Ten Things About Last Night's Game

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Last Night's Game
(Greetings from the Cube Farm) Everybody look busy, it's a work day....

10. You didn't expect them to go undefeated, did you? Yesterday's game day routine was different, because of the Sunday Night game. I got up, cleaned up the garage, tried to rake leaves, but the prevailing 40 mph wind gusts kept blowing the neighbor's leaves into my yard, and blew my Chiefs flag right off the flagpole. That was not a good sign. Neither was Peeholi showing up on the NBC pre-game show. Asking Peeholi for insight into the 2013 Chiefs is like asking Ike Turner how to stop domestic violence. I was pretty much Peyton'ed out by NBC, so I turned on Lenny and Mitch, and of course, drank every time Lenny said "penetration." That certainly took the edge off.

9. Nothing like coming out and playing with your nut sack in your throat. Brandon Albert, who is allegedly our most gifted and experienced lineman, jumps offside on the very first play. He continually leaves his man upright the entire game, and gives up multiple batted balls at the line of scrimmage. Sad thing is, he had the best game on the entire front line. Denver's defensive front won the match up, hands down. They had three sacks and multiple batted balls. Mister first pick Fisher remains a maddening enigma. He held Von Miller in check, but then lost to everyone else who lined up on him. He got torched especially bad by Wolfe, giving up a crucial 16-yard sack to knock KC out of field goal range. Phillips beat every KC lineman he lined up against. By far, KC's offensive line was the weak link in the match up. Our offensive line play has gotten worse over the past three weeks, and that is worrisome. If there is a silver lining, it seems as if when they brought in Schwartz and Stephenson in the fourth quarter, they didn't play any worse than the guys they replaced. They may be better players anyway.

8. Receivers also came out with their nuts in their throat. Avery drops a big ball early. Charles drops one that was a perfectly set up screen. Bowe was targeted fourteen times and only caught four. Charles was targeted eight times, and catches two for a yardage total of negative six yards. Our receivers are poor at getting separation. On the quick slants they are never open. The tight ends tend to do a little better, when Alex Smith doesn't overthrow them. Even the final TD Smith threw was overthrown. He was lucky that Fasano came down in bounds on his hip, or we lose by 17 instead of 10.

7. Alex Smith is looking more Cassel-like week by week. The difference between the two QBs is, Smith can run out of trouble, and Smith doesn't fumble or throw picks. Otherwise, they're basically the same guy. Smith's alleged accuracy is not evident. He tends to overthrow, which means he's having to get rid of the ball fast, and is not stepping into the throw. Very seldom does he have a clean pocket with no pressure, and when he does, his receivers can't separate. Bottom line is, KC lacks skill position players that can be game changers. When Dexter McMidget is your leading receiver, that's a problem.

6. If you want to look through rose colored glasses, Smith threw twice as many TD's as Manning. Manning threw for 100 more yards, but 70 of that was when Cooper got torched by Thomas. The main difference was, Manning was rarely under pressure to unload, where Smith was constantly under pressure to unload. Smith took a couple of sacks that were unnecessary. Usually he's good at unloading the ball and avoiding sacks, but he ate a couple that were on him.

5. Peyton Manning is basically the 2013 version of John Elway. All those years we matched up against Horse Face, the prevailing wisdom was, if you settle for field goals against Elway, you will lose. Same is true with Manning. When you are first and goal from the two, and end up settling for a field goal, you are going to lose. And, if you have first and goal from the two, and can't punch it in, you DESERVE to lose. There's some second guessing we can do with some of Andy's decisions as well. Why not kick off to Denver to start the game? That way, you put the defense on the field, let them establish themselves and deny Manning an additional possession in the second half, when he seems to hit his stride? Why are you punting when down two scores in the fourth quarter with the clock under ten minutes? Why are you only giving Charles 16 carries when he clearly isn't getting it done in the passing game? The challenge on Fasano's TD was a good decision. Reid seems to be wise in his challenge choices.

4. Hali and Poe should be ashamed of themselves. They were owned. Period. Poe was better on run support, but both guys only had three tackles each and put no real pressure on Manning all night long. Houston led the team in tackles, so he was active, and got some pressure on Manning a couple times. But zero sacks will not get it done against an elite QB. More worrisome, KC now has had only one sack in their last three games. Pressure on the QB is a huge part of the winning formula to this point, and if that is taken away by opposing offenses, we can expect more losses.

3. The fumble trade off was unfortunate. The sad thing was, at the point in the game where Denver fumbled, if KC can sustain a drive, they're right back into the thick of the game. I don't really fault Sherman for fumbling. He got blasted hard twice on that play, held the ball on the first blast then lost it on the second blast. We shouldn't be reduced to having to throw passes to the fullback to move the ball anyway. If our wide receivers were more reliable, we wouldn't have to use Sherman in that fashion. Right after that play, Manning hits on one of the few long passes of the night, suckering a rookie (Cooper) and flipping the field. Then we're down by two possessions, which was the case for most of the evening. I guess the silver lining is, Cooper played pretty well after that, until he allowed Decker to get a big first down by the nose hair of the football -icing the game in the fourth quarter.

2. Vegas had Denver as an eight point favorite, and we lost by ten. If Denver doesn't miss a field goal because of a low snap, they hang thirty on us. This game was never close, and Denver controlled the game from the very beginning. All in all, except for lack of pass rush, the defense didn't play that bad. Giving up 27 in Denver is not bad. Denver averaged less than three yards per rushing play, and that's good run defense. Starting the second half, the defense got three straight three and outs on Manning. Our offense did nothing with the opportunity. Bottom line is, Denver was just better on this night, and deserved to win. And for their efforts, they are now tied with us for the lead in the AFC West with a road game to New England staring them in the face. Let's hope the Hoodie beats them, and beats them up before the rematch in Arrowhead.

1. Last night I was dozing off to some of the post game shows. This game went about the way I expected it to, but it was amusing to listen to the Chicken Little's screaming about Smith, and Reid, and Dorsey not going after Tony Gonzalez at the trade deadline, and we're going to get exposed in the playoffs, and this team is a fraud and blah blah blah. One year ago, The Chiefs were 1-10 after losing at home to the Bengals 28-6. Quinn was our QB, Moeaki was our leading receiver. That was the infamous "Blackout" game. A year later, the team is 9-1, tied for first in the AFC West, battling for the division and home field advantage in the playoffs. With Denver having to go to New England, and then to Arrowhead, it's not out of the question that they could lose both of those games. Now is the time to focus, and focus hard, on San Diego and Phyllis Rivers. Last year KC lost at Arrowhead to Rivers 37-20. Time to make that right, because if we don't win Sunday, what happens against Denver the week after doesn't matter nearly as much.

Game pictures from the Star are here:
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/17...mile-high.html