ROYC75
10-03-2005, 10:51 AM
GRETZ: That's What a Contender Looks Like
Oct 03, 2005, 6:00:34 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
So that’s what a Super Bowl caliber team looks like.
The Philadelphia Eagles came into Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, spotted the Chiefs an 18-point lead and then roared from behind to gain a 37-31 victory that only a few teams in this league could pull off, especially on the road.
A team has to be battle-tested, confident, maybe even cocky to be able to spot the home team that kind of lead and still win the game.
That’s what the Eagles are right now. They are everything the Chiefs are not. Yes, the home team came roaring out of the blocks with a great first quarter, even a good first 10 minutes of the second quarter. They were up 17-0, even blocked a field goal of the Eagles and with four minutes, 47 seconds to go, they were in control of the game.
That’s when the Chiefs went to the well one too many times. They went several times to an empty backfield alignment, with two tight ends and three wide receivers. One of the first times they used this was a quick strike throw to Eddie Kennison that got into the end zone and made the score 17-0. The next time they used this set, Trent Green was sacked because the Eagles played the alignment and jumped the quick routes.
The next time they went to this empty backfield set, Sheldon Brown disguised his coverage and stepped into the quick throw and returned it 40 yards for a score. Now, it was 17-6, as the Eagles missed the PAT.
Dante Hall pushed the momentum back to the Chiefs with a kickoff return for a touchdown, but then Larry Johnson got crushed on the next possession and coughed up the football. Philly recovered and five plays later, Donovan McNabb hit Terrell Owens for a touchdown.
The game was over at that point. For the rest of the second quarter and then the entire second half, the Eagles controlled the game. They did it by controlling the line of scrimmage. The Philly defensive line dominated the Chiefs offensive line, simply dominated them. There were no rushing yards between the tackles all day, and anything the Chiefs were able to get, largely with Priest Holmes (18 carries for 84 yards) was on the perimeter, and that was only in the first half. The Chiefs ran the ball seven times for 40 yards in the second half.
Where the Eagles dominated was in never allowing the Chiefs to get into any rhythm with their passing game. Green threw all his passes on one, three and sometimes five-step drops. He never dropped back and surveyed the field like he usually does, because there wasn’t time. Sometimes there wasn’t even time on the three-step drops. While he wasn’t hit as often as he was in Denver on Monday night, Green had less time to throw than that game.
For awhile the Chiefs were winning on special teams, with Hall’s TD return, a blocked field goal by Eric Hicks and a fumble recovery on kickoff return. But eventually the Eagles got that part of their game straightened out and they gave up nothing in the kicking game from then on.
Here’s the simple equation: the Eagles are the better team. In this case, the much better team. The Chiefs are not of their caliber. Dick Vermeil and his team could have walked away from this game with the same score and felt better about everything had it not played out the way it did.
But how can you take anything positive out of gaining a 17-point lead, and then seeing an opponent roar back with 31 unanswered points and dominating the game?
No, there’s no way to paint this picture in pretty colors. The Eagles are what the Chiefs hope, dream and are working to be. We saw Sunday that there’s still a long way to go before they can consider themselves contenders.
The Eagles are contenders. The Chiefs are pretenders.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DING DING ...... Wake Up call for the KC players and coaches.
Oct 03, 2005, 6:00:34 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
So that’s what a Super Bowl caliber team looks like.
The Philadelphia Eagles came into Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, spotted the Chiefs an 18-point lead and then roared from behind to gain a 37-31 victory that only a few teams in this league could pull off, especially on the road.
A team has to be battle-tested, confident, maybe even cocky to be able to spot the home team that kind of lead and still win the game.
That’s what the Eagles are right now. They are everything the Chiefs are not. Yes, the home team came roaring out of the blocks with a great first quarter, even a good first 10 minutes of the second quarter. They were up 17-0, even blocked a field goal of the Eagles and with four minutes, 47 seconds to go, they were in control of the game.
That’s when the Chiefs went to the well one too many times. They went several times to an empty backfield alignment, with two tight ends and three wide receivers. One of the first times they used this was a quick strike throw to Eddie Kennison that got into the end zone and made the score 17-0. The next time they used this set, Trent Green was sacked because the Eagles played the alignment and jumped the quick routes.
The next time they went to this empty backfield set, Sheldon Brown disguised his coverage and stepped into the quick throw and returned it 40 yards for a score. Now, it was 17-6, as the Eagles missed the PAT.
Dante Hall pushed the momentum back to the Chiefs with a kickoff return for a touchdown, but then Larry Johnson got crushed on the next possession and coughed up the football. Philly recovered and five plays later, Donovan McNabb hit Terrell Owens for a touchdown.
The game was over at that point. For the rest of the second quarter and then the entire second half, the Eagles controlled the game. They did it by controlling the line of scrimmage. The Philly defensive line dominated the Chiefs offensive line, simply dominated them. There were no rushing yards between the tackles all day, and anything the Chiefs were able to get, largely with Priest Holmes (18 carries for 84 yards) was on the perimeter, and that was only in the first half. The Chiefs ran the ball seven times for 40 yards in the second half.
Where the Eagles dominated was in never allowing the Chiefs to get into any rhythm with their passing game. Green threw all his passes on one, three and sometimes five-step drops. He never dropped back and surveyed the field like he usually does, because there wasn’t time. Sometimes there wasn’t even time on the three-step drops. While he wasn’t hit as often as he was in Denver on Monday night, Green had less time to throw than that game.
For awhile the Chiefs were winning on special teams, with Hall’s TD return, a blocked field goal by Eric Hicks and a fumble recovery on kickoff return. But eventually the Eagles got that part of their game straightened out and they gave up nothing in the kicking game from then on.
Here’s the simple equation: the Eagles are the better team. In this case, the much better team. The Chiefs are not of their caliber. Dick Vermeil and his team could have walked away from this game with the same score and felt better about everything had it not played out the way it did.
But how can you take anything positive out of gaining a 17-point lead, and then seeing an opponent roar back with 31 unanswered points and dominating the game?
No, there’s no way to paint this picture in pretty colors. The Eagles are what the Chiefs hope, dream and are working to be. We saw Sunday that there’s still a long way to go before they can consider themselves contenders.
The Eagles are contenders. The Chiefs are pretenders.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DING DING ...... Wake Up call for the KC players and coaches.