gblowfish
10-10-2010, 04:16 PM
Ten Things About Today's Game
10. It was such a beautiful weekend in KC, I thought about just Tivo-ing the game, and doing something fun outside, and then watch the game sometime this winter when it's the depths of February and there's no football on TV. But my cat Meesh Meesh loves to watch the Chiefs, and he likes to watch the game on the big screen curled up in my lap. So we made hot dogs and mac and cheese, turned Mitch and Lenny on the Fox -they still have a sync up problem with TV, the radio play by play is about two seconds ahead of TV-, and watched the game while doing laundry. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one folding in the fourth quarter.
9. Let's be honest. Nobody had this game marked down as win in the off season. And if a gypsy with a crystal ball would have said KC would be 3-1 and in first in the AFC west after a month, and we would give up less than twenty points to Satan Manning in Indy, well, that would all be pretty great. That's what we've got. This team is better. The defense is much better. Today we got beat because we lost in the other three major areas: offensive production, special teams and coaching.
8. Offensive Production: The big difference between Cassel and Manning today? Maturity. Both quarterbacks dinked & dunked today. Manning had to throw a lot more after the injury to Addai. The Colts were 8 for 17 on third down. KC was one for ten. One for freakin' ten on third down. When KC got down by two scores with four minutes left, you just knew it was over. No NFL defense is afraid of the Sixty Three Million Dollar man. Cassel was 16 of 29 for 156 yards. About forty of those yards came in the last three minutes of the game in the hurry up and dink & dunk offense. Real quick, let's review Matt Cassel's contract: Cassel and the Chiefs worked out a six-year deal that will pay him in excess of $10 million a season The contract will keep Cassel with the Chiefs until 2014. The deal is for $63 million, with $28 million guaranteed. He's going to make $40.5 million in the first three years of his contract. Dink and Dunk, indeed. I need a Zantac.
7. Bowe didn't do Cassel any favors today. He dropped a TD that hit him right in the hands, and that was on one of the few accurate passes that was more than fifteen yards downfield. Then Bowe dropped another on the very next play. After that, Cassel folded up like a cheap lawn chair. He missed on his next five passes in a row. D-Bowe, you HAVE to make that catch to win games like this. You just don't get second chances. Bowe is being paid to be a premier NFL go to guy. Hopefully he will learn from this experience, although he has cost the Chiefs games in the past, ala the fumbled on-side kick by San Diego a couple years ago that opened the gates for a last minute Bolts win at Arrowhead. Cassel clearly looks to Bowe first when under stress. On the Fourth and Two play in the end zone in the first quarter, he threw at Bowe into quadruple coverage. Both Cassel and Bowe need to step up and start earning those paychecks. You could make a good case that both guys deserve to be benched.
6. Today we lost the special teams battle. Succop had arguably his worst day as a Chief, totally botching the opening kick surprise -Dude, an onside kick MUST go at least ten yards- then missing the 51 yarder to seal the loss at the end. OK, 51 yards is not a gimme, but it was indoors in perfect conditions. And Colquitt was late running onto the field to hold the kick, which I think may have un-nerved Succop. Remember, Succop is just a second year guy. Arenas wasn't given a chance to return kicks today, it was all McCluster, and although he wasn't terrible, we didn't break anything that would help with the field position battle. The Colts hit on all their field goal attempts, we didn't. That was a contributing factor to the bottom line.
5. Coaching: Todd Haley again in major Wile E. Coyote mode. Is he Bill Parcells? Is he Mike Maartz? Is he the Unibomber?The opening on-side didn't bother me, I could see the logic in trying it. But the execution of the play stunk. If you're going to do it, you have to make a much better attempt than that. What bothered me more was not taking the three points early on fourth and two. You always take points on the road. If we take three there, we're tied at halftime. And why, if you're going to be all Wile E. Coyote all day, why do you lose your balls in the last two minutes, and try a 51-yard field goal instead of going for it on fourth down to keep the TD drive alive? You miss that kick and it's over for sure. Might as well go down fighting. Some might argue this was a Vegas play. The line was 7 and 1/2. Succop hits that kick, and we beat the spread. Makes me wonder... Seriously, you could argue this game was lost by Haley's gambling, and his fear of Manning. He is still learning as a head coach, and on the bright side, we were in the game until about the four minute mark in the second half.
4. Kudos to Romeo for frustrating the shit out of Satan Manning today. Hey, defense gave up less than twenty points, Indy's only TD came with four minutes left in the game, once again the mantra was bend but don't break. The TD Indy got was courtesy of a drive kept alive by a mystery pass interference penalty on Derrick Johnson. Romeo has coached his ass off so far this year. Wouldn't surprise me if somebody came knocking on our door next year to give him a shot at head coaching again. He's been very, very good and deserves a raise. Maybe Cassel can pony up a few dollars.
3. Tamba Hali has been playing at an All-Pro level. He was a warrior out there with his bloody uniform. Glenn Dorsey made several good plays today, he's starting to become a steady factor on the front wall. Vrabel played well, he played dinged up in the second half. Secondary still playing great, and another All-Pro tight end -Dallas Clark- was silenced today. Our defense has been great at taking the tight end out of the equation all year. People has been grumbling about taking Eric Berry as high as we did, but look at how much better our secondary as a whole has been. Berry instead of Mike Brown has been a big stabilizing factor, and that secondary is only going to get better. Shaun Smith did not grab any junk today. Too bad. I was hoping he'd give Manning a Brazilian Handshake. Didn't happen.
2. Denver lost bad today. San Diego is struggling with the Raiders. This division is wide, wide open this year, and we're still in the driver's seat. We didn't get blown out, and if Bowe can hang on to a pass, we may have even had an upset victory. Colts won time of possession today by about nine minutes, which was what I think made the difference. If we do better than one of ten on third down, and keep Manning off the field for another four or five minutes, maybe the defense isn't as gassed in the fourth quarter and we don't give up that TD with four minutes left.
1. Houston got their ass kicked by a mediocre NY Giants team today. I think we have a better chance to win down there next Sunday. Houston's defense is weaker than Indy, and we've been decent against the run so far. Matt Schaub is not Manning. Frankly, I like our chances. Unfortunately, we are stuck with dink and dunk. And unless we can win the rushing matchup, or win the special teams or coaching matchup, next Sunday could be a repeat of today.
10. It was such a beautiful weekend in KC, I thought about just Tivo-ing the game, and doing something fun outside, and then watch the game sometime this winter when it's the depths of February and there's no football on TV. But my cat Meesh Meesh loves to watch the Chiefs, and he likes to watch the game on the big screen curled up in my lap. So we made hot dogs and mac and cheese, turned Mitch and Lenny on the Fox -they still have a sync up problem with TV, the radio play by play is about two seconds ahead of TV-, and watched the game while doing laundry. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one folding in the fourth quarter.
9. Let's be honest. Nobody had this game marked down as win in the off season. And if a gypsy with a crystal ball would have said KC would be 3-1 and in first in the AFC west after a month, and we would give up less than twenty points to Satan Manning in Indy, well, that would all be pretty great. That's what we've got. This team is better. The defense is much better. Today we got beat because we lost in the other three major areas: offensive production, special teams and coaching.
8. Offensive Production: The big difference between Cassel and Manning today? Maturity. Both quarterbacks dinked & dunked today. Manning had to throw a lot more after the injury to Addai. The Colts were 8 for 17 on third down. KC was one for ten. One for freakin' ten on third down. When KC got down by two scores with four minutes left, you just knew it was over. No NFL defense is afraid of the Sixty Three Million Dollar man. Cassel was 16 of 29 for 156 yards. About forty of those yards came in the last three minutes of the game in the hurry up and dink & dunk offense. Real quick, let's review Matt Cassel's contract: Cassel and the Chiefs worked out a six-year deal that will pay him in excess of $10 million a season The contract will keep Cassel with the Chiefs until 2014. The deal is for $63 million, with $28 million guaranteed. He's going to make $40.5 million in the first three years of his contract. Dink and Dunk, indeed. I need a Zantac.
7. Bowe didn't do Cassel any favors today. He dropped a TD that hit him right in the hands, and that was on one of the few accurate passes that was more than fifteen yards downfield. Then Bowe dropped another on the very next play. After that, Cassel folded up like a cheap lawn chair. He missed on his next five passes in a row. D-Bowe, you HAVE to make that catch to win games like this. You just don't get second chances. Bowe is being paid to be a premier NFL go to guy. Hopefully he will learn from this experience, although he has cost the Chiefs games in the past, ala the fumbled on-side kick by San Diego a couple years ago that opened the gates for a last minute Bolts win at Arrowhead. Cassel clearly looks to Bowe first when under stress. On the Fourth and Two play in the end zone in the first quarter, he threw at Bowe into quadruple coverage. Both Cassel and Bowe need to step up and start earning those paychecks. You could make a good case that both guys deserve to be benched.
6. Today we lost the special teams battle. Succop had arguably his worst day as a Chief, totally botching the opening kick surprise -Dude, an onside kick MUST go at least ten yards- then missing the 51 yarder to seal the loss at the end. OK, 51 yards is not a gimme, but it was indoors in perfect conditions. And Colquitt was late running onto the field to hold the kick, which I think may have un-nerved Succop. Remember, Succop is just a second year guy. Arenas wasn't given a chance to return kicks today, it was all McCluster, and although he wasn't terrible, we didn't break anything that would help with the field position battle. The Colts hit on all their field goal attempts, we didn't. That was a contributing factor to the bottom line.
5. Coaching: Todd Haley again in major Wile E. Coyote mode. Is he Bill Parcells? Is he Mike Maartz? Is he the Unibomber?The opening on-side didn't bother me, I could see the logic in trying it. But the execution of the play stunk. If you're going to do it, you have to make a much better attempt than that. What bothered me more was not taking the three points early on fourth and two. You always take points on the road. If we take three there, we're tied at halftime. And why, if you're going to be all Wile E. Coyote all day, why do you lose your balls in the last two minutes, and try a 51-yard field goal instead of going for it on fourth down to keep the TD drive alive? You miss that kick and it's over for sure. Might as well go down fighting. Some might argue this was a Vegas play. The line was 7 and 1/2. Succop hits that kick, and we beat the spread. Makes me wonder... Seriously, you could argue this game was lost by Haley's gambling, and his fear of Manning. He is still learning as a head coach, and on the bright side, we were in the game until about the four minute mark in the second half.
4. Kudos to Romeo for frustrating the shit out of Satan Manning today. Hey, defense gave up less than twenty points, Indy's only TD came with four minutes left in the game, once again the mantra was bend but don't break. The TD Indy got was courtesy of a drive kept alive by a mystery pass interference penalty on Derrick Johnson. Romeo has coached his ass off so far this year. Wouldn't surprise me if somebody came knocking on our door next year to give him a shot at head coaching again. He's been very, very good and deserves a raise. Maybe Cassel can pony up a few dollars.
3. Tamba Hali has been playing at an All-Pro level. He was a warrior out there with his bloody uniform. Glenn Dorsey made several good plays today, he's starting to become a steady factor on the front wall. Vrabel played well, he played dinged up in the second half. Secondary still playing great, and another All-Pro tight end -Dallas Clark- was silenced today. Our defense has been great at taking the tight end out of the equation all year. People has been grumbling about taking Eric Berry as high as we did, but look at how much better our secondary as a whole has been. Berry instead of Mike Brown has been a big stabilizing factor, and that secondary is only going to get better. Shaun Smith did not grab any junk today. Too bad. I was hoping he'd give Manning a Brazilian Handshake. Didn't happen.
2. Denver lost bad today. San Diego is struggling with the Raiders. This division is wide, wide open this year, and we're still in the driver's seat. We didn't get blown out, and if Bowe can hang on to a pass, we may have even had an upset victory. Colts won time of possession today by about nine minutes, which was what I think made the difference. If we do better than one of ten on third down, and keep Manning off the field for another four or five minutes, maybe the defense isn't as gassed in the fourth quarter and we don't give up that TD with four minutes left.
1. Houston got their ass kicked by a mediocre NY Giants team today. I think we have a better chance to win down there next Sunday. Houston's defense is weaker than Indy, and we've been decent against the run so far. Matt Schaub is not Manning. Frankly, I like our chances. Unfortunately, we are stuck with dink and dunk. And unless we can win the rushing matchup, or win the special teams or coaching matchup, next Sunday could be a repeat of today.