gblowfish
11-26-2017, 06:23 PM
Ten Things About Today’s Game: Week 12, Buffalo 16 KC 10
10. If you would have bet me back around Halloween that The Missouri Tigers Football Team would be undefeated in November, and the Chiefs would be winless in November, I would bet the mortgage, the farm, and Meesh the Cat against it. But that's exactly what November was. I have no comforting words today, but I think I’m starting to get a bead on what this season is all about now. It's all about streaks. The weather was 63 degrees and sunny, perfect day, maybe the nicest weather of the season thus far. Such a shame to waste such a beautiful day on such a pitiful performance like this. There is no “Arrowhead Mystique” any more. When you have five successive three and outs and only ONE first down in an entire half of football, you can’t expect the fans to be fired up. The fans were no factor at all today, and they were no factor because neither offense or special teams could do a thing to generate any momentum. This Buffalo first half was even more dreadful than the first half of the Pittsburgh game. And when the Chiefs did manage a scoring drive, Alex ignores a wide open Kelce streaking for the end zone; and predictably checks down short of the first down to Wilson, and Buttkicker settles for a field goal. A field goal BTW, that the defense handed right back to the Bills who kick a 56-yarder with :04 left in the half.
9. The Chiefs are basically a .500 team. They ARE the Buffalo Bills; a middling team with an OK defense and an anemic offense. The Chiefs have lost five of six, and in three of those losses the defense gave up less than 20 points. You are what your record says you are. During the first five weeks of the season the Chiefs were arguably the best team in the NFL. In November they were arguably the worst team in the NFL. Andy Reid’s teams have a maddening tendency to play to the level of their competition. Losing to the Giants could only have been made worse by turning around and losing to the Buffalo Bills at home. The Bills are actually a better team than the Chiefs. We have an identical record, and they’ve now beaten us head to head on our own field. Now we’re in very serious danger of losing the AFC West lead to Phyllis Rivers and the Somewhere in California Chargers. Now that’s depressing.
8. The defense played good enough to win. They gave up a touchdown and gave up three field goals. Chiefs offense went seven quarters plus an overtime before scoring a touchdown. I can’t say much good about the offense today except that Harris caught the only ball thrown at him. Wilson got a TD, but dropped three balls. Kelce got one target in the first half. Not his fault. He was wide open several times, and Alex refused to look at him. If you watch the game ending pick, watch Kelce. Alex throws into double coverage at Hill; Kelce has his guy beat, and after the pick, he just throws his head back and walks towards the sideline.
7. Ragland had his best day as a Chief. All players like to stick it to the team that traded them away. He was good. Zombo actually had a decent day; Houston got a sack and Sorensen got one on a blitz. Sorensen also got a bad face mask penalty to add to Peters bad play on a pass in the third quarter. Peters went for the pick instead of just breaking up the pass. Add Sorensen’s penalty, and that’s what gave Buffalo their final field goal drive, and meant we had to beat six instead of three to win - or tie - at the end. Peters was beat on the only Buffalo TD too, but I’m not sure the guy who caught the ball was supposed to be his guy. There was a lot of Chinese Fire Drill stuff going on in our defensive backfield on that play. Hali is done. He got a little pressure on a couple plays, but might as well just put K-Pass out there and let him get the experience. DJ got beat on a couple slants for Buffalo first downs. He’s more than a step slower this year, and they’ve been pulling him off the field a lot. Not a good sign for somebody who’s supposed to be the glue that holds your defense together. At least Gaines didn’t see the field at all on defense, and Williams played better this week on pass coverage.
6. Andy’s offense has been way too predictable on first down. We must have run Kareem Hunt on first down at least seven or eight times. Hunt averaged 1.5 yards per carry. And they only threw the ball to him once, which went for nine yards. McCoy had around 80 all purpose yards and ran hard. He won the battle of the starting running backs. Hunt had more runs for negative yards than positive yards. That means nobody is opening holes. Fisher has been especially bad on run blocking the last couple weeks. You can also see teams cheating eight and nine guys up on the line on first down, basically daring Alex to throw on them. It’s been working. Nobody believes Alex has the accuracy or the tummy to throw long.
5. Once again we saw the genuine Alex Smith. He’s getting happy feet in the pocket again. He tried running for a couple first downs in the first half, but wasn’t fast enough to get there. As the game went on, his body language got worse and worse. If you watch him on the sidelines, he only talks to Nagy or Andy. He doesn’t say a word to any of his offensive guys. In timeouts he wanders off by himself. He seems detached from the rest of his team mates. His body language reminds me a lot of the shitty Damon Huard years. Andy was more animated coming out for the second half, going over to the bench and trying to rah rah some guys; but Alex was aloof and just didn’t look like he wanted to play. He was one of the first guys down the stairs after the game was over.
4. Credit to the defense for getting a three and out on Buffalo right before the final two minutes. KC had to burn all three time outs, but they got Alex the ball on his 14 yard line with two and a half minutes left and the two minute warning. Instead of trying to push the ball downfield, Alex throws a series of five yard check down passes with West and Hill running out of bounds to stop the clock. They dink and dunk -plus get a drive sustaining penalty to get the ball to the Bills 35 yard line with a minute and a half left. Sorry, but a Brady, Rapistburger, Rodgers, Rivers, will get at least a couple shots into the end zone from the 35 with 90 seconds left. Instead, Smith dinks a three yard pass to West. Then on 2nd and 7 he is given time to throw, rolls to his left and throws the ball away. So third and seven, Alex telegraphs the pass, looks only at Hill at the first down marker, and throws the game killing pick. Time wasn’t the issue, he threw the pick with 1:25 left. And again, Kelce had single linebacker coverage, and Smith didn’t even look at him.
3. If we look for silver linings, and they are hard to find, our kickers were OK. Colquitt averaged 48 yards a punt, and Buttkicker hit his only chance. Buffalo’s kickers were better. Hauschka was 3 for 4 including a 56 Yarder, and Buffalo’s punter Schmidt left four punts inside the KC 20.
2. Alex Smith averaged 5.5 yards per pass completion. The Chiefs have scored ten points or less two weeks in a row. The defense is not forcing turnovers. Special teams are not contributing. They almost got a muffed punt, but nothing. The Chiefs success has been based on taking the ball away from the other team, and that is no longer happening. And when your starting QB is known as a guy who doesn’t turn the ball over or make errors at critical junctures to beat you, that goes out the window today as well. Chiefs for 2 for 13 on third down, including five straight three and outs to open the game. You can’t win when you piss away an entire half. Doesn’t matter if you play Pittsburgh or Buffalo, you lose to both.
1. I don’t know what else to say. Chiefs are usually good against the Raiders and Chargers at home in December, but after this month, all bets are off. I just have this feeling that even if they do manage to squeak into the playoffs, whoever draws us will be licking their chops. This team is on fumes. The old guys look really old. Hill looks beat up. Albert Wilson is definitely beat up. Alex looks like he has Jay Cutler Disease -disinterested and pouty. And when the defense plays well enough to win, the offense disappears. When the offense scores points -like against Oakland- the defensive secondary crumbles. Hopefully Revis will give the team a boost against the Jets, and he’ll be like Ragland was today, and want to stick it to his former employer. The final thing that really stuck in my head as I was leaving Arrowhead was this: I saw all these Bills fans skipping and hollering and celebrating, as they should. They deserved to win. Then I thought, “Not only did they beat us in Arrowhead, but they get our first round draft pick next year.” That is hard cheese to swallow my friends. Hard cheese to swallow.
10. If you would have bet me back around Halloween that The Missouri Tigers Football Team would be undefeated in November, and the Chiefs would be winless in November, I would bet the mortgage, the farm, and Meesh the Cat against it. But that's exactly what November was. I have no comforting words today, but I think I’m starting to get a bead on what this season is all about now. It's all about streaks. The weather was 63 degrees and sunny, perfect day, maybe the nicest weather of the season thus far. Such a shame to waste such a beautiful day on such a pitiful performance like this. There is no “Arrowhead Mystique” any more. When you have five successive three and outs and only ONE first down in an entire half of football, you can’t expect the fans to be fired up. The fans were no factor at all today, and they were no factor because neither offense or special teams could do a thing to generate any momentum. This Buffalo first half was even more dreadful than the first half of the Pittsburgh game. And when the Chiefs did manage a scoring drive, Alex ignores a wide open Kelce streaking for the end zone; and predictably checks down short of the first down to Wilson, and Buttkicker settles for a field goal. A field goal BTW, that the defense handed right back to the Bills who kick a 56-yarder with :04 left in the half.
9. The Chiefs are basically a .500 team. They ARE the Buffalo Bills; a middling team with an OK defense and an anemic offense. The Chiefs have lost five of six, and in three of those losses the defense gave up less than 20 points. You are what your record says you are. During the first five weeks of the season the Chiefs were arguably the best team in the NFL. In November they were arguably the worst team in the NFL. Andy Reid’s teams have a maddening tendency to play to the level of their competition. Losing to the Giants could only have been made worse by turning around and losing to the Buffalo Bills at home. The Bills are actually a better team than the Chiefs. We have an identical record, and they’ve now beaten us head to head on our own field. Now we’re in very serious danger of losing the AFC West lead to Phyllis Rivers and the Somewhere in California Chargers. Now that’s depressing.
8. The defense played good enough to win. They gave up a touchdown and gave up three field goals. Chiefs offense went seven quarters plus an overtime before scoring a touchdown. I can’t say much good about the offense today except that Harris caught the only ball thrown at him. Wilson got a TD, but dropped three balls. Kelce got one target in the first half. Not his fault. He was wide open several times, and Alex refused to look at him. If you watch the game ending pick, watch Kelce. Alex throws into double coverage at Hill; Kelce has his guy beat, and after the pick, he just throws his head back and walks towards the sideline.
7. Ragland had his best day as a Chief. All players like to stick it to the team that traded them away. He was good. Zombo actually had a decent day; Houston got a sack and Sorensen got one on a blitz. Sorensen also got a bad face mask penalty to add to Peters bad play on a pass in the third quarter. Peters went for the pick instead of just breaking up the pass. Add Sorensen’s penalty, and that’s what gave Buffalo their final field goal drive, and meant we had to beat six instead of three to win - or tie - at the end. Peters was beat on the only Buffalo TD too, but I’m not sure the guy who caught the ball was supposed to be his guy. There was a lot of Chinese Fire Drill stuff going on in our defensive backfield on that play. Hali is done. He got a little pressure on a couple plays, but might as well just put K-Pass out there and let him get the experience. DJ got beat on a couple slants for Buffalo first downs. He’s more than a step slower this year, and they’ve been pulling him off the field a lot. Not a good sign for somebody who’s supposed to be the glue that holds your defense together. At least Gaines didn’t see the field at all on defense, and Williams played better this week on pass coverage.
6. Andy’s offense has been way too predictable on first down. We must have run Kareem Hunt on first down at least seven or eight times. Hunt averaged 1.5 yards per carry. And they only threw the ball to him once, which went for nine yards. McCoy had around 80 all purpose yards and ran hard. He won the battle of the starting running backs. Hunt had more runs for negative yards than positive yards. That means nobody is opening holes. Fisher has been especially bad on run blocking the last couple weeks. You can also see teams cheating eight and nine guys up on the line on first down, basically daring Alex to throw on them. It’s been working. Nobody believes Alex has the accuracy or the tummy to throw long.
5. Once again we saw the genuine Alex Smith. He’s getting happy feet in the pocket again. He tried running for a couple first downs in the first half, but wasn’t fast enough to get there. As the game went on, his body language got worse and worse. If you watch him on the sidelines, he only talks to Nagy or Andy. He doesn’t say a word to any of his offensive guys. In timeouts he wanders off by himself. He seems detached from the rest of his team mates. His body language reminds me a lot of the shitty Damon Huard years. Andy was more animated coming out for the second half, going over to the bench and trying to rah rah some guys; but Alex was aloof and just didn’t look like he wanted to play. He was one of the first guys down the stairs after the game was over.
4. Credit to the defense for getting a three and out on Buffalo right before the final two minutes. KC had to burn all three time outs, but they got Alex the ball on his 14 yard line with two and a half minutes left and the two minute warning. Instead of trying to push the ball downfield, Alex throws a series of five yard check down passes with West and Hill running out of bounds to stop the clock. They dink and dunk -plus get a drive sustaining penalty to get the ball to the Bills 35 yard line with a minute and a half left. Sorry, but a Brady, Rapistburger, Rodgers, Rivers, will get at least a couple shots into the end zone from the 35 with 90 seconds left. Instead, Smith dinks a three yard pass to West. Then on 2nd and 7 he is given time to throw, rolls to his left and throws the ball away. So third and seven, Alex telegraphs the pass, looks only at Hill at the first down marker, and throws the game killing pick. Time wasn’t the issue, he threw the pick with 1:25 left. And again, Kelce had single linebacker coverage, and Smith didn’t even look at him.
3. If we look for silver linings, and they are hard to find, our kickers were OK. Colquitt averaged 48 yards a punt, and Buttkicker hit his only chance. Buffalo’s kickers were better. Hauschka was 3 for 4 including a 56 Yarder, and Buffalo’s punter Schmidt left four punts inside the KC 20.
2. Alex Smith averaged 5.5 yards per pass completion. The Chiefs have scored ten points or less two weeks in a row. The defense is not forcing turnovers. Special teams are not contributing. They almost got a muffed punt, but nothing. The Chiefs success has been based on taking the ball away from the other team, and that is no longer happening. And when your starting QB is known as a guy who doesn’t turn the ball over or make errors at critical junctures to beat you, that goes out the window today as well. Chiefs for 2 for 13 on third down, including five straight three and outs to open the game. You can’t win when you piss away an entire half. Doesn’t matter if you play Pittsburgh or Buffalo, you lose to both.
1. I don’t know what else to say. Chiefs are usually good against the Raiders and Chargers at home in December, but after this month, all bets are off. I just have this feeling that even if they do manage to squeak into the playoffs, whoever draws us will be licking their chops. This team is on fumes. The old guys look really old. Hill looks beat up. Albert Wilson is definitely beat up. Alex looks like he has Jay Cutler Disease -disinterested and pouty. And when the defense plays well enough to win, the offense disappears. When the offense scores points -like against Oakland- the defensive secondary crumbles. Hopefully Revis will give the team a boost against the Jets, and he’ll be like Ragland was today, and want to stick it to his former employer. The final thing that really stuck in my head as I was leaving Arrowhead was this: I saw all these Bills fans skipping and hollering and celebrating, as they should. They deserved to win. Then I thought, “Not only did they beat us in Arrowhead, but they get our first round draft pick next year.” That is hard cheese to swallow my friends. Hard cheese to swallow.