A Levelheaded Review Wk18
 

1. DEFENSE - is the story of today. 6 sacks and 4 turnovers (2 on downs). Everyone is firing at the right time. Holding the Raiders to 13 points after they went off on the 49ers.

2. Kadarius Toney - just goes to show how speed kills in the the redzone. He and Hardman make a huge difference when the field is short. That will make our offense more explosive in the playoffs.

3. Field position and the punting game. What a phenomenal job by TT at pinning the Raiders deep on multiple drives (4 and 6 yard line) and giving the Defense plenty of field to work with. That is how you protect your defense. The only Raiders scores were when they started at the 25 after a kickoff.

4. Pacheco just keeps getting better 64 yards rushing and a TD today finishing the regular season with 830 yards and 5 TD's rushing. ROJO in relief looks amazing - glad we held him back for the end of the season. I think he will add another dimension to our running game.

5. The secondary is really gelling as well. Had a couple of dropped picks but more than made up for it with solid efforts like Reid with the awesome pass breakup vs Darren Waller in the 3rd Q.

6. Special teams (Punting and PR) seemed to have cleaned up their act. No bad mistakes and some great awareness to pin the Raiders deep in their own territory after booming kicks by TT.

7. Chris Jones and Mike Danna really made their presence felt today with 2.5 and 2 sacks respectively. Really letting it all hang out knowing the #1 seed was on the line. Really makes me happy that the Defense has really put it together at the right time.

8. The snow globe play was hilarious and it goes to show these guys are still having fun. That is incredibly important. I would rate this play (sans penalty) up there with the Rose Bowl play in the Super Bowl.

9. #1 Seed and Home Field Advantage*. We are truly blessed that every year the Road to the Super Bowl runs thru Arrowhead. The Arrowhead invitational sounds much better than the AFC Championship :p

10. Happy New Year and Go Chiefs!

I have nothing to add. Thanks for the recap.

The Chiefs can do this any week they want to.

They've been sandbagging.

They looked good from start to finish today. Dominated from start to finish on both sides of the ball, and on STs.

Kadarius Toney is a freaking weapon. More please.

Let's Go!!!!!!!

Hard to find much negative about this one!

Good, solid win all around. Team was focused and executed well.

Oh wait, I've got one-
Wylie blows goats.

Other than that, great performance!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Chiefs defense generated their highest single-game pressure rate (45.2%) over the last 3 seasons in Week 18.<br><br>The Chiefs pass rush has hit its stride entering the playoffs:<br><br>�� Weeks 1-13: 25.6% QBP rate (26th)<br>�� Weeks 14-18: 34.5% QBP rate (5th)<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KCvsLV?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KCvsLV</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChiefsKingdom?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ChiefsKingdom</a></p>&mdash; Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) <a href="https://twitter.com/NextGenStats/status/1611884058463862787?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Wow.

Only complaint is lack of focus in second half on offense. Other than that, a stellar performance against a better team than most think.

Wasn't sure what to expect today, anything from a blowout to a nail biter wouldn't have surprised me. The team played loose which is key (that snowglobe!), no facet was out of sync. Toney is more exciting every week, McKinnon, Pacheco. OL looked good most of the day. Defense headed into the playoffs with some confidence.

Don’t always agree with your posts, but this one is spot on!

If the defense plays like this the rest of the way, we are winning the Super Bowl.

I don't see any holding penalty on snow globe play. Almost like a fun police penalty.

Seem like only player that had to throw any block was Orlando Brown, Jr., and looks like a good block in space.

We're not playing Stidham the rest of the way though. The front four needs to get to Allen and Burrow. We have talent in the secondary, but the Bengals/Bills have too many weapons to cover. Also, our LBs struggle in coverage.

The pass rush is the key to the defense........really to every defense in today's league.

Yeah, the ref ruined that play. Humphrey flattened his man. Great block.

What i especially like about Pacheco's emergence is that I no longer have to hear people whining about wanting Kareem Hunt back.

Jacobs: 17 carries for 45 yards.

Incredible response after how he gashed us the first game.

The Williams addition matters.

Oh...and related to the line play, this quote from Chris jones seems to indicate that the Joe Cullen effect is starting to take root:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Chris Jones: &quot;My supporting cast, those guys, have been able to free me up, and (DL assistant) Joe Cullen completely transformed my game.&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chiefs</a> <a href="https://t.co/bdiTDtgViH">pic.twitter.com/bdiTDtgViH</a></p>&mdash; Harold R. Kuntz (@HaroldRKuntz3) <a href="https://twitter.com/HaroldRKuntz3/status/1611892699724144641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

IF it comes to pass that we have to play the AFCCG at a neutral site, I think the Las Vegas Roomba might be a suitable venue. I think that is real grass. We've done alright in that building.

Anyone see if Hardman saw the field?

Not active today

Please forgive my Ignorance, but on one of the Raiders kick offs the play clock on TV showed zeroes as the kicker started running up to the ball. When does that become a delay of game? I guess I always thought he had to kick it before the zeroes.

Missed that. Thought he was to be on a snap count.

He saw it from the sideline

Lots to love about Pacheco.

But man do I love this guys attitude. The way he sprints back to the huddle after a huge hit is humble but lowkey cocky. Today I thought that was tremendous to hand his td ball to thuney to thank him for making a block.

I’ve also noticed this with Toney. Was nervous about his character. But when he’s on the field for a TD he’s always one of the first and most animated guy celebrating his teammate. I don’t know how badly dude was treated. But so far his attitude seems awesome.

Didn’t play but he was there. They had a shot of him in a damar hoodie

The past few weeks have been frustrating for sure, because sometimes they **** around so much and one day it'll really bite them in the ass.... but, this was one of those "flip the switch" games.

They got into the playbook a bit and treated it like a playoff game, knowing they'd have next weekend off.

And no turnovers. Even if the Raiders offense sucks with what's his name at quarterback, we know what happens when even shitty offenses get short fields and extra possessions.

I was suprised on his TD run that Toney just put his head down and drove through the tackle. I sure don't want him carrying the ball like Pacheco, but good to see the Toney isn't afraid of contact when it matters.

Isn't it amazing when you have;
1. Little to no penalties
2. No turnovers
3. No ST ****ups

Where did I hear that before? :thumb:

It was an impressive performance from the defense. Stidham looks like he could be a decent QB but that front 4 didn't give him a lot of time to operate.

Butker was 5/5 on XP & FG kicks, which is good to see. Hopefully it gives him some confidence heading to the Playoffs.

If we can get to Burrow, we beat the Bengals.

Toney is getting more involved, which is great to see right before the playoffs. Going to need big performances form him in the postseason to get to the SB.

Good read DC. Always good to smash the Faid. Always good to sweep the division. Always good to obliterate an ex-Brother****ing Cheatriot ****bag, especially of the McDouche variety. Also added benefit of I don't have to hear about how good Stidham is because he performed against the 9ers D (that was obviously checked the **** out).

I was worried about focus with the Hamlin thing. Travis looked super out of it in their podcast. Nice to see them come in and wipe the floor with these bitches.

Mahomes...he's filthy. I love him.

I'll echo the stuff on Pacheco. Hard not to root for that dude. I thought it was funny as **** when they went back to Toney after they called the penalty to the same side, same action, just without the eye candy. That's some big dick energy. LOL

A much better effort but Stidham isn't that good. Defense needs to get off the field a lot more on third down. They just don't mix things up enough by Spagnoula to protect he secondary. Maybe two weeks off will help devise some more schemes.

Two things on offense. PM still is having a lot of trouble when any defense shows him different looks either with coverage, putting 8 men back or showing things late. The nature of the medium pass routes this season creates a lot of traffic which has been effective but dropping so many defenders into those routes really crowds the space and has frustrated PM often. Teams in the play-offs will continue to do this.

Second, any time they want Mahone can throw short swing passes or out in the flat to any running back on this team to pick up easy yards, first downs and to keep the clock moving, especially when the running game is effective and even more so when it's not. Frankly, I think these are impossible for defenses to stop. Getting the ball in the running backs hands more often on theses types of throws would help the defense stay off the field as well.

This is not level-headed. At all. But it's a lot of fun to watch:
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fpn5tqPOVww" title="Kadarius Toney Shows off 'SHIFTINESS' �� Chiefs vs Raiders Highlights" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I have to eat some crow. Justin Reid had a really nice game. His coverage on Waller was excellent. Made a couple nice plays in the run game I think as well, plus a sack. If he can play like that in the playoffs, this defense will really start to hum.

Hardman was out and I don't think Moore was even targeted (insert rant about Watson's snaps here).

If you look at only the stats it looks as if PMII had a bad day, almost as many rushing yards as passing. That'll give opponents something to think about.

Creed threw his man to the ground on the snowball play.

Skyy was out. that's you didn't see him.

Just goes to show that the Chiefs are a well tuned machine when the refs let them play football without unnecessary flags all day long. I think it throws them off their game when they have to be concerned with wondering when the next flag is going to fly. It's like driving a Ferrari with bald tires.

definitely a steal from the NYG

Agreed, snowglobe was a show of confidence like WTFO

Its nice that we seem to be getting to the QB with just the front 4 more consistently lately. Really helps.

Huge difference. It's a MUST against Buff / Cin.

If we get Buffalo in the neutral site Championship, Pacheco is going to be the reason we win that game.

I feel like Andy has been deliberately careful not to overuse him.

I can’t tell you how many times I read, “That’s why everyone hates the Chiefs” in response to the Snowglobe play. It is soooo good to be hated:)

That designed cut back run was just nasty in the best way possible.

I just want to be clear-

I watched Stidham carve up a very good 49'ers defense six days before we destroyed him.

No, it's not Burrow or Allen, but he looked very, very good against a relatively healthy, extremely talented 49'ers defense.

And Adams, Waller, Renfrow and Jacobs is a pretty nice group of weapons.

Most complete game of the season.


Right on time for the playoffs.

The Chiefs treated this like a playoff game...because it was.

We are on to the next round while everyone else beats the hell out of each other.

I gotta think the 9ers mailed it in from an effort standpoint. Much like our team has several times this year. Or they biffed it from a gameplanning perspective because there was no film on Stidham.

It’s the only way. No way our defense is orders of magnitude better than the 9ers.

1. No turnovers.
2. No ST ****ups.
3. Front four got pressure.

The boys played a clean game, and the result was a spanking. They thumped the faid and beat the spread.

Well, yeah, perhaps to some extent. But individual match-ups and scheme were part of it.

We learned in our 49'ers game that you can neutralize Bosa to some extent by running right at him or by him. You can use his over-aggressiveness to your advantage. Just as an example.

Also; I think the 49'ers defense is a little overrated and got fat statistically by being in the NFC, which I think is clearly NOT as strong as the AFC.

But it's a good defense, for sure.

In our case, I think our defense is better than a lot of people give it credit for; and KC's tendency to fumble, drop passes, and throw INT's at inopportune moments have put the defense in bad situations a lot. Add in 6 rookies out of your top 12 defenders, and it's easy to see why you might have some issues.

If KC plays complementary football and executes well, they'll beat anyone. Start making multiple mistakes, and the margin of error becomes very slim.

Yeah, agreed.

I posted in DCs defensive statistical analysis thread that I was appalled that this defenses numbers were worse than prior years. I trust this defense much more than in prior years.

It's probably a testament to their awful schedule + the Chiefs having a bye week.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With the Raiders’ loss to KC, the 49ers have officially made NFL history: <br><br>Every single one of SF’s opponents this season lost its next game, if they’ve played the following week. 0-15. That’d never happened before. Might be a testament to 49ers’ uniquely physical style</p>&mdash; David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) <a href="https://twitter.com/LombardiHimself/status/1611879752176128000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I thought the condition of the Raider's turf was excellent.

Neither team tearing up chunks of field, no major slip and falls, no injuries.

It better not be on either Phoenix or Cincy, two shitty fields.

This year's personnel on offense is the best we have seen under Reid.
With JJSS, Toney, Hardman, Kelce, and McKinnon in on the same play, what can you do on D? Any of those guys can kill you. Then mix in Pacheco, a legit power AND speed back, MVS and Watson, who can sprint like a track star, Bell and Gray to spell Kelce, Jones coming on at RB to spell Pacheco and McKinnon; Skyy Moore starting to make plays (prior to lacerated hand)... damn. As long as MVPatrick can be protected (OL), this is one explosive offense that can beat you in any way.

Spags D needs to keep generating pressure with the front four; the kicking game needs to be consistent. Combined with this offense, this team is unstoppable. Simply do not revert to the sloppy play, and we hoist Lombardi #2 for Reid.

You're right about Danna, he's really been proving himself to be solid depth

From some fat, self congratulatory, Debbie Downer whore****er, probs.

I’ll continue to disagree. Again I think we have a wizard with Andy reid and a GOAT in mahomes and another GOAT in kelce. I love the 1-2 of Pacheco and McKinnon. We certainly have the most well rounded offense we’ve ever had.

But we’ve seen several teams in the second half make us look less dominant. There are teams like tennessee and New England that knock the shit out of kelce and also our WRs. I think we saw some of that too in Jacksonville. It really throws off our timing. Others like Derwin James who make it really hard on kelce.

We haven’t proven to be bulletproof against cover corners. Which is going to make our playoff run though with cincy having two and with tredavius white looming. Because those teams can easily neutralize our WRs because we still don’t have a true WR1. And teams are running a shitload of man coverage because our WRs can’t consistently beat it. There are so many games where our WRs flat out disappear in stretches

And then there’s the OL. Which I still think has been a bit overblown because we continue to play well in spite of a horrendous RT. But we’re going to see sime elite pass rushers in the playoffs. Teams who can pressure AND have secondaries who can cover.

So again, I agree our offense is very dangerous going into the playoffs. And we can win it all IF our defense plays well. I want to stop short of saying it’s unstoppable.

Turnovers are the great equalizer. We had none. It's a formula that works.

That huddle break is the 4.0 version of the one performed by the Mean Machine in "The Longest Yard" (original version starring Burt Reynolds).

I was waiting for Mahomes to throw a dart or two and an officials groin this season LMAO

Great recap DC. You may have left it out for completely obvious reasons but McKinnon’s role in this offense is becoming borderline irreplaceable. He’s like a Kelce #2 the way he can find the tiniest holes in the defense and “sit down” in them to become a viable option for Patrick. All the guy does is get first downs and score.


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People are so stupid. They think they were doing it just for shits and giggles? They did it because it gives the defense no time to prepare for the wildcat. We can easily run this same play with kelce or mahomes under center and it’d still be effective

Nice review DC. I'll agree that the defense looked good yesterday but considering who they were playing ...well....it might have boosted my confidence in them a bit.
I see the playoffs being a boat race for points with our fingers crossed the defense tries to hang on by a thread.

Saw a stat during the game that we have the worst red zone D in the entire league. I don’t have the stats to back up my hypothesis but I think a big part of this is how much opposition teams feel the pressure to keep up with our power scoring offense and thus we have to defend a lot more 4 down situations where, if they were playing other teams, they would usually go for the chip shot field goal and settle for 3.

Another big piece is that our LBs don't cover well to begin with, and our safety play has been bad as well for most of the season. Miscommunication has been leading to blown assignments and relatively easy scores for the opposition for most of the year.

I think some of it has been offensive turnovers that leave our D with a short field to defend.

When this team does not turn the ball over or make Special Teams gaffs- they are very tough to beat.

On the snow globe play, seems like we could use this again several times right? It seems like a really tough play to defend. Just like the rose bowl right parade formation it gives the defense no time to prepare and we can line up in all kinds of crazy formations coming out of it.

Of course we shouldn’t overdo it but we’ve gotten a LOT of play on that underhanded shovel pass in spot situations

You could probably run at least 5 different plays from that one formation. But you could also change the formation, the players, positions . . . probably hundreds of permutations.

Should've been more precise and said at least 5 concepts. And some variations probably wouldn't be feasible for whatever reasons. Realistically, Andy probably has about 6 plays designed around this idea.

https://images3.teeshirtpalace.com/i....jpg?width=767