Ten Things About Today's Game

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Today's Game

10.If you ever needed a textbook definition of the term "Trap Game," today would be it. The whole rhythm of the day seemed off. Maybe it was the hangover from Monday Night Football. Maybe it was the time change. Maybe it was knowing the team coming in to Arrowhead was a big donut hole for seven on the season. In any event, the Chiefs looked like the winless team today, and Miami looked like they had everything to play for. The Fish hustled, hit big plays, didn't make a lot of stupid mistakes, played well in all phases; in short, they deserved to win. Congrats to them on a game well played and for getting off the donut.

9. If you look at the game stats without seeing the score, you'd think it was a closer contest. KC won several key stats: Chiefs had more first downs; Chiefs were better on third down conversions; Chiefs ran more plays (78 to 47); Chiefs had more yards rushing and passing, and won time of possession 35 minutes to 25 minutes. Stats that tell the true story: KC's average pass play: 5.2 yards (the Duke of Dink strikes again). Miami's average pass play: 10.6 yards. Forced turnovers: zero for both teams. The biggest stats, Sacks: Miami had five, Chiefs zero. Penalties: Chiefs 8 for 70, Fish 7 for 49. TDs: Chiefs zip, Fish four. KC actually had the lead in this game 3-0 early. Whoda thunk that would be all the points Cassel could generate against a winless team? I know, 90% of you....

8. I was debating in my mind tonight who played worse, offense or defense? That's a hard call, because I can make a case both ways.
Let's start with offense. Three points at home against a winless team? The offense looked every bit as bad today as they did against Detroit in week two. I'd have to go back and look at the tape, but how many times were the Chiefs in 2nd and 10 (or longer) today? Seems like Cassel could never get any kind of positive yards on first down, save for the first drive of the game. Which also begs a question, what happened to the game plan? The first drive was a good drive. It ate lots of clock, had good balance between run and pass, ball was spread around to several guys. It seemed like once the Fish got up 14-3,the offense lost all its composure and went into panic mode. I'd like to say this team isn't a come from behind bunch, but as the Fish stretched their lead I kept thinking about the Colts game. I was hoping they'd come out on fire in the second half. Instead, we got the version of Chiefs from the Bills and Lions games. Nada. Nothing. Goose Egg. Disaster. At least they should have gone into hurry up mode around the time it was 21-3. No dice.

7. Thomas Jones is cooked. He's done. They should release him and pick up the best back off somebody's practice squad. Today's line? Three carries for five yards. And he gained those five yards on one of the three carries. He's gassed, and he's not helping this team win. You would think if he had anything at all left in the tank, he would have gotten ten or more carries today. Instead Battle got fourteen touches for 40 yards, and the second leading rusher was Cassel running for his life, nine carries for 38 yards. You know it's a bad day for your O-line when a QB like Cassel has nine carries.

6. Was the defense the worst of the two? I can make a case for that too. What happened to Tamba Hali? I'll tell you what happened, Jake Long happened. Dude showed why he was the very first pick in the 2008 NFL draft. He stoned Hali. Just stoned him. The times Hali did manage to clear Long's block, the Fish had a back in protection to double team him. So, I'm thinking to myself around the middle of the third quarter, why doesn't Romeo start to bring Houston, or a corner on a blitz? Why Not is because our safety and nickel situation sucks. We're already weak with Berry out. Arenas and McGraw were both out from injuries suffered in the Monday night game. Lewis was dinged up and ended up coming out of the game for good in fourth quarter. What's left? The unholy foursome of Brown (a clueless rookie), Washington (a poor cover guy), Daniels (another poor cover guy) and Slappy Pisctachio, who is perhaps the worst player on any 53 man NFL roster. How can you blitz either Flowers or Carr with these boneheads in the secondary? On the flip side, Miami blitzed all day long. Cassel was confused and threw short of the sticks on third and long time and time again.

5. The Fish were bombs away right from the get-go. You had to admire their approach to the game. They came out saying "Screw you, we're going to throw the ball until you stop us." We stopped them a few times, but not often enough. Once the defense started to wear down in the second half, Miami started running the ball, and Reggie Bush ended up just shy of 100 yards. He averaged over seven yards per carry. Their special teams did a good job as well. Dexter "McNuthin" hasn't broke a single kick this year. I thought the punt that pinned the Chiefs inside the five was a big turning point. Miami flipped the field quickly, and the great field position helped set them up for the go-ahead TD. Chiefs seemed to be playing catch up ball all day after that point. The actual punting battle was fairly even, both teams punted five times for around a 45 yard average.

4, In the third quarter, another big turning point when Gafford one-hopped the snap on a 52-yard field goal attempt. 52 yards is on the outside limits of Succop's range, but certainly do-able. Instead, the Chiefs muff the spot (I admit, I like saying "muff the spot") and the Fish drove for their third TD, with Marshall beating Carr and Lewis to the corner. I also think Cassel missing Bowe on the 4th and one play to start the fourth quarter pretty much put the nail in the coffin for the day. All the offensive stats after that were nothing but garbage time, and made Cassel's daily stats look better than how he actually played. When it counted today, he was woeful.

3. In honor of Andy Rooney (doing my best Andy Rooney impression): "You know what really bothers me? I'll tell you what bothers me. The Chiefs have two first round draft choices on the defensive line: Glenn Dorsey, who was the fifth overall pick in the 2008 NFL draft; and Tyson Jackson, who was the third overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft. Those are high picks. The kind of picks most teams use on running backs, or quarterbacks; guys that are called "franchise players." You would think two defensive line picks, selected that high in each round, would be stalwarts on the defense. You would think they would never come off the field unless injured. Wouldn't you think that? I would think that. But truth is, on third down passing situations, not just one, but both of these expensive, high draft picks are pulled off the field by Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Romeo Crennel and replaced with guys like Wallace Gilberry and Amon Gordon. Who? And more importantly, why? Here's why. Because neither Dorsey or Jackson is any good at rushing a quarterback. That seems like a pretty important quality to have for a first round defensive pick. And the Chiefs made that kind of pick not just once, but twice in a row. You would think they'd have buyer's remorse. Or at least, never draft another defensive lineman from LSU ever again."

2. After the game, in the Haley presser, the soon to be clean-shaven Toddster kept delivering the same old same old coach-speak that he usually serves up. The infamous "we're a work in progress" and " we're getting ready to start a new quarter," etc. His team sucked in all aspects today. They were out played, out hustled, out coached in their home stadium, with the AFC West lead on the table. He didn't criticize his team at all. He basically said "Oh well, it was a short week, we'll play better, time to get ready for Denver." Look, realistically, this team should be 3-5 instead of 4-4. It's pretty obvious this is a very flawed team in a very weak division. Whoever wins the AFC West will get their clock cleaned in the first round of the playoffs. Today's effort was a mail in, just a paycheck, and that's a shame. I had hoped these guys were beyond that now, but apparently not.

1. Despite how maddening and frustrating this day was, all is not lost. The Faiders and Bolts both lost, and since Denver won today, maybe they'll not be as focused for KC next week. Hopefully the team will get it's collective act together and have a little "Come to Jesus" meeting in store for Tim Tebow. Things will not get easier with the Pack, Bears, Jets and Steelers looming on the horizon, so we have to make hay while we can. One last thing. It was Veterans Appreciation Day at Arrowhead. At halftime they had a beautiful surprise family reunion for an Iraq vet. It was very touching. They also showed a tribute in pictures to many of the men and women from Missouri and Kansas that have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The dead came from everywhere we come from: KC, Columbia, St. Joe, Topeka, Manhattan, Wichita, on and on and on. There were dozens of them. After watching that, it made the second half of the game seem pretty meaningless, or at least it put into perspective what truly is a life and death matter. War is a life and death matter, football is not.

Thank you to all the veterans, past and current, for having our backs.