Some Quick Things

[Chris Meck]

Tough, hard fought football game against a physical Titans team that always gives Andy and Mahomes fits.

1. I don't think Titans win with a hobbled Tannehill, either. Willis' outside mobility was their second best weapon. Tannehill would've completed some passes, but also would've been a sitting duck and the Chiefs' pass rush was improved.

2. Chiefs defense was outstanding. Derrick Henry is a MAN out there, and other than the one big run, they bottled him up pretty well. Those of you calling for Spags head are NUTS. Spags has been a magician this year, playing all these rookies, and still dials up the perfect play in the crucial moment.

3. Saunders needs MOAR SNAPS. He's clearly better than Nnadi. In fact, he certainly appears to be our best DT not named Jones.

4.Wylie blows goats. He's absolutely terrible, and overmatched on an NFL field.

5. Trey Smith...I don't know what's going on, but he's not been playing all that well either.

6. OBJ is not good enough. At his best, he's average. Demanding top of the market pay when you're not very good is a bad look.

7. 68 passes? Yeesh. Our inability to run the ball has got to be fixed. You can't do that every game. You just can't. I know Wylie can't run block either, but I don't understand why the other four just cannot open holes when that's supposed to be each of their strong suit.

8. The Titans are what they always are; they're a problem. They're tough, they're physical, they're well coached. You can hate Vrabel if you want, but he always has his guys ready to play hard for him. That was a VERY disciplined defense. I didn't see anything all that fancy happening coverage-wise. They just executed. They're going to be back in the play-offs again.

9. Butker. What's up with that? Dooooooood.

10. We should recognize the Titans; they're the 90's Chiefs. They played hard, they played physical, they were disciplined in coverage, they throttled the superior quarterback for 75% of the game...and then the HOF'er dialed it up and beat them. Elway used to do that shit to us all the time. Now we have the boogeyman. Damn, it feels good to be a gangster.

[Ming the Merciless]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

McDuffie has played exactly one full game. The other guys are rookies. The defensive line is woefully understaffed.

To say he has the personnel is being disingenuous a bit.

well its kind of splitting hairs (saying personnel is not the right term) but mcduffie is a top pick. gay isnt a rookie and is now back. 2 years ago we had exactly 0 linebackers. Weve got good players at all 3 levels now. Would you prefer talent?


- clark, jones, maybe karlaftis improving (high pick)
-gay and bolton
- sneed & mcduffie (high pick)


I dont think its being disingenuous to say this is the deepest weve been at the 3 levels and this D has the most potential of any in the mahomes years...



So my expectations are high. If they dont achieve, theres 1 guy to blame.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by FAX

11ish.

What the hell happened to our screen game? IMHO, screens would have helped us a great deal against the Flaming Tacks. In fact, the Tacks have the kind of defense that would have a mental breakdown once you effectively attack them horizontally.

Since I blame him for all kinds of stuff, I blame EB.

FAX THE COMPLAINANT

They had the plan to beat that defense and it was the short passing game. They got away from it after some mistakes and penalties which ****ed them. Once they got back to it though, and the refs stopped throwing a flag every 2 plays, it worked.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Pawnmower

well its kind of splitting hairs but mcduffie is a top pick. gay isnt a rookie and is now back. 2 years ago we had exactly 0 linebackers. Weve got good players at all 3 levels now


- clark, jones, maybe karlaftis improving (high pick)
-gay and bolton
- sneed & mcduffie (high pick)


I dont think its being disingenuous to say this is the deepest weve been at the 3 levels and this D has the most potential of any in the mahomes years...



So my expectations are high. If they dont achieve, theres 1 guy to blame.

Clark isn't a good player. He ****ing sucks.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by DRM08

Points are the only thing that matter IMHO....

That's a pretty narrow viewpoint. I mean, sure, in the end points are all that matter. And I've seen that argument made over and over regarding the defense. While true, it ignores a lot of factors. Keeping the ball and driving and accumulating a lot of yards actually helps your own defense.

Still, like you, I would hope that we can figure out how to score 30 points consistently. And frankly, I think this team will get that figured out. We tend to forget that we have several new receivers this year. It takes time. This team struggled through a dry spell on offense in the middle of the season last year, too. The difference was that last year's struggle was worse, IMO. We'll get it figured out, IMO.

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by Lzen

That's a pretty narrow viewpoint. I mean, sure, in the end points are all that matter. And I've seen that argument made over and over regarding the defense. While true, it ignores a lot of factors. Keeping the ball and driving and accumulating a lot of yards actually helps your own defense.

Still, like you, I would hope that we can figure out how to score 30 points consistently. And frankly, I think this team will get that figured out. We tend to forget that we have several new receivers this year. It takes time. This team struggled through a dry spell on offense in the middle of the season last year, too. The difference was that last year's struggle was worse, IMO. We'll get it figured out, IMO.

Agree that last year was much worse. Mahomes was in a huge slump and eventually dug himself out of it by December & January. Valid point about the new receivers. It was good to see Toney making some plays. I hope he can help them become more consistent as an offense later in the season. Would be nice if Andy could figure out the run game as well. That would make them a lot tougher to stop.

[Dunerdr]

Trey smith was on the injury report with a pec and ankle issue right? Maybe the peck is affecting his punch, you now a really good part of his game.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'm doing my standard re-watch thing and really, the broadcast is telling me some of the same things I saw at the stadium.

Brown was fine. Hell, I think Brown was actually pretty good. He got beat by Mario Edwards pretty badly on that overthrow to Kelce and had a hand in one of those sacks, but by and large, he played a strong game. I think Thuney was our best OL (unsurprisingly) but I think OBJ was right there behind him.

Wylie was bad but fellas - Trey Smith was worse.

The combined effect of those two guys has hurt us badly all year. Folks keep wanting to get Wylie out of there and yeah, I get it. But man, Trey Smith is doing nobody any favors and when the right side of the line is just collapsing on any given play, it makes things awfully tough.

I think it's probably time to give Smith a break. If he's healthy, then he's mentally ****ed up and could use a re-set. If he's hurt even coming off a bye week, then he needs some time to rest and get healthy. Allegretti is a competent blocker and right now I have little doubt that he'd be better than Smith is playing.

Wylie, again, isn't an 'on an island' guy - he absolutely has to have credible help to his left. He's not getting it even a little bit and the combined weight of those two guys struggling is snowballing rather than being greater than the sum of their parts.

Dunno how many of you read Seth Keysor's stuff on Substack, but he did a breakdown of the running game last week.

And man, Trey Smith got ****ing wrecked.

It seemed that way from the stadium. It sure seemed that way from the couch a day or two later, and a breakdown of the film pretty much closed the book on it.

Trey Smith has been a MAJOR problem this year. As bad as Wylie and far more damaging than Orlando Brown. If there were no long-term developmental problems arising from it and I could swap out one guy on this OL for an above average stand-in, it would be Smith. He's done more damage to this team than Wylie has.

[DJ's left nut]

I'll just take his quick cited 'issue' from several of the runs rather than try to re-post the article (I believe it's paywalled):

Run 1: Issue - Blocking failed; Smith with an assist from Brown.
Run 2: Issue - Penalty on Smith
Run 3: Issue - Smith gets beat on his pull
Run 9: Smith gets beat.
Run 10: Smith loses another pull
Run 11: Smith whiffs in space


15 charted runs - 6 of them came apart because Smith didn't get the job done. That's just !@#$ing awful.

I really think they need to sit him. We can't keep sending him out there to die like this.

[JPH83]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Dunno how many of you read Seth Keysor's stuff on Substack, but he did a breakdown of the running game last week.

And man, Trey Smith got ****ing wrecked.

It seemed that way from the stadium. It sure seemed that way from the couch a day or two later, and a breakdown of the film pretty much closed the book on it.

Trey Smith has been a MAJOR problem this year. As bad as Wylie and far more damaging than Orlando Brown. If there were no long-term developmental problems arising from it and I could swap out one guy on this OL for an above average stand-in, it would be Smith. He's done more damage to this team than Wylie has.

I don't know if I think he's been worse than Wylie, but I think your point is right that having both play poorly has compunded their individual poor performances - there's just been no hiding place or assistance.

If he's injured I'd sit him but otherwise I'm really not convinced you're getting more from Allegretti. Put Allegretti up against Simmons and that's going to be rough watching imo.

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'll just take his quick cited 'issue' from several of the runs rather than try to re-post the article (I believe it's paywalled):

Run 1: Issue - Blocking failed; Smith with an assist from Brown.
Run 2: Issue - Penalty on Smith
Run 3: Issue - Smith gets beat on his pull
Run 9: Smith gets beat.
Run 10: Smith loses another pull
Run 11: Smith whiffs in space


15 charted runs - 6 of them came apart because Smith didn't get the job done. That's just !@#$ing awful.

I really think they need to sit him. We can't keep sending him out there to die like this.

Does he think he is hurt, having a bad season, or we maybe crowned him too quickly last year? I'm not sure what to think as the smoke clears and it becomes more evident that Smith is a concern right now.