Ten Things About Today's NINTH STRAIGHT Win...and Playoff Clinch!

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Today's NINTH STRAIGHT Win

10. In September and October, the Chiefs were a gut wrenching 2-5. In the home opener, Charles fumbled away the game in the last minute -in front of a National TV audience- to the Donks. Next week we got clubbed like a baby seal -on National TV again- in Green Bay. Then outplayed in every facet on the road in Cincy. Then the maddening last minute defensive choke job at home against Cutler and the Bears. Then the no-show first half in Minnesota, only to lose in the second half when Stephenson deftly jarred a fumble loose from West to seal the Vikes' win. During the two wins during that span, KC played a great first half in Houston, then held on for dear life against Hoyer for a road win. And against the Steelers, we were lucky to miss out on Rapistburger, and beat Pittsburgh's third stringer Landry Jones. Then a totally unexpected thing happened: The Royals won the World Series, and the Chiefs ran off Nine Freaking Straight Wins, including sweeping the AFC West on the road. So here we are, back in the playoffs for the second time under Andy Reid. We still have a legit shot at the division, and we're in the big dance for sure. So there is a LOT to celebrate this night, but also a lot to worry about after this frustrating nail biting game today. Here we go:

9. In the post game presser, Alex called this a "game of two halves." And that it was. KC totally outplayed the Brownouts the first half, including blocking their fourth 50 yard field goal attempt of the year (wow...Factory of Sadness). So let's start by talking about the good things that happened in the first half. Alex hit Maclin with a beautifully threaded pass between three Browns in the end zone to take a first possession lead, and to give Maclin over 1000 receiving yards for the year. Alex frustrated the Browns defense running for 54 yards, setting his personal all time season rushing record, and picking up big first downs to sustain drives. Kelce showed up big in the end of half two minute drill, catching a nice TD ball to put the Chiefs up 17-3, then Sorensen gets the field goal block to end the half. Chiefs totally dominate, looks like its going to be a long day for the Brownies. Turns out, not so much.

8. Browns get the ball to start the second half and score ten unanswered points, and shut out KC the rest of the game. KC only runs 13 offensive plays in the second half. Johnny Rehab had KC gasping for air in the final two minutes, and if he would have had one more timeout left, may have pulled a Cutler. Luckily, he's still an inexperienced QB, and didn't make wise decisions in the fourth quarter on the final drive, or in the drive before when he threw a pass to one of his offensive linemen, drawing a grounding call, loss of down, and forcing a field goal. The three points Cleveland managed to score in the fourth quarter were the first fourth quarter points KC had given up in weeks. In the last six games -including today, KC outscored opponents 50-3 in the fourth quarter. Browns fans can look at their 3-12 record and take some consolation that they almost pulled the upset against a playoff bound team that hadn't lost since October, and be assured that they will get a kick ass draft pick come June.

7. QB stat review is a real mixed bag. Johnny Rehab threw for 11 more yards than Alex, both guys had a pick. Alex threw for two TDs, Johnny had zero. Manziel is the first QB in a long time to rush for over 100 yards on KC. I'd have to guess who the last one was, maybe Newton? Alex relied mostly on Maclin and Kelce today. Wilson caught a couple balls but not for much. He was limping around on the sidelines in the second half. Looked like he turned an ankle, so we'll have to watch him close to see if he plays against the Fade next Sunday. Johnny Rehab spread the ball to six different receivers NOT named Bowe, which is usually what Alex does in a game. Defense did a nice job holding Barnidge in check, especially after Manziel missed him wide open in the first quarter thirty yards down field.

6. The defense had to be dog tired by the end of the game, especially after they got no help at all from the offense in the second half. For the first time in weeks, KC had no sacks, although Ford had a couple of shots and whiffed each time. Ford only had one tackle today, same for Zombo. You would think that if either Hali or Houston could have played, this game would not have been so close at the end. But both teams have lots of starting guys down with injuries. This time of year especially, depth becomes a big factor. But both Ford and Zombo had disappointing performances.

5. Defense gave up six and a half yards per rush. That's not acceptable against a three win team. Mauga led the team with seven tackles, but looked bad most of the day. He whiffed on several tackles, and totally failed to get to the edge on Cleveland's rushing TD to start the second half. Parker was out of position. Berry dropped a pick in the first quarter that hit him right in the hands. Divito, Poe, Bailey and Howard did little but chase Johnny Rehab down the field all day. DJ was OK, but did nothing outstanding. Only Marcus Peters had a stellar defensive game with a momentum changing pick in the first half that may have been the difference in today's game. He should be AFC defensive rookie of the year hands down.

4. KC had a miserable special teams performance. Colquitt punted five times and averaged less than 30 yards per punt. They were saying on the Chiefs radio broadcast that he was injured, but didn't say what the injury was. Sorensen blocked a field goal at the end of the first half, which was great; then commits a hurtful, stupid holding penalty before the Chiefs get the ball in the fourth quarter for the last time, which starts the offensive drive at the KC three yard line. With better field position, KC may have been able to sustain a drive and keep Cleveland from ever getting the ball back for the final two minute suspense.

3. Chiefs were 40% on third down, but totally disappeared in the second half. I think the offense managed one first down in the entire second half. This game actually reminded me a lot of the season opening game in Houston. Cleveland had more penalties -83 yards vs. KCs 33 yards, and some critical mistakes at critical times really hurt the Browns.

2. It was a cold, blustery day. It was hard to see on TV, but the wind was howling out of the North. The goal posts on the east end were swaying back and forth in the wind the whole game. At least the rain held off, so that made the day tolerable. Bowe didn't catch a ball. He came over to the Chiefs bench area after the game, and visited with some friends in the stands, and gave a football to a kid. He looked like his weight was down, and he looked kind of sad to be playing for Cleveland. I felt bad for him. I think he has a good heart and he still cares about KC a lot. I'll bet he doesn't play much longer after this year.

1. So here we are, in the playoff dance again. Eerily similar to a couple years ago when we went to Indy and blew a 28 point lead in the Luck nightmare game. That year we ran off a bunch of wins in a row against crippled teams with second and third string starting QBs, and this year has been more of the same. The parity is stronger this year with all the injuries. Carolina lost today. So did Brady's Cheatriots. Green Bay -who embarrassed us on National TV back in September- got their ass handed to them in Arizona. St. Louis upset the Seahawks and the Ravens knock off Pittsburgh. I feel like we dodged a bullet today. Hopefully the Faiders will be complacent with their BS win against Phyllis this week and the Arrowhead weather will be nice and cold and nasty next Sunday. Tomorrow, Cincy could do us a big favor by knocking off the Donks, but it may be another battle of second stringers. I'm thinking we may end up going back where it all started, to Houston, and facing JJ Watt and company once again. It will certainly be an exciting couple of weeks to come, and it sure beats talking about who we're going to draft next, like they are in the Factory of Sadness tonight.

Happy New Year to all the CPers, and Congratulations to our Chiefs on making the playoffs after a 1-5 start. Remarkable job, and a great year so far.

Game highlights can be seen here:
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/201512...28&tab=analyze

[RINGLEADER]

Bowe looked like his weight was down? I thought he looked fat as hell. Finally made sense why he wasn't seeing the field.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Chiefs should sign Bowe to one of those 1 day deals and have him retire a Chief when he's ready to hang em up.

No.

Career underachieving players should not be recognized.

[big nasty kcnut]

Great read George. How about those chiefs! Also get better and happy new year!

[Lonewolf Ed]

What Alex said about a tale of two halves is exactly right. When they had a 3rd and 4 or 5 and ran that 3 tight end formation, I was silently thinking to myself, "Ok, all three tight ends are over on the right, so it looks like a tight end bubble screen to Kelce. Alex is going to sprint left and get 6 yards and the first down." Shows what I got for thinking. Why did Reid not call ONE play in the second half where Alex ran the ball? He was making good gains and first downs but then they just stopped. Andy, Andy...

[Prison Bitch]

The 3&5 call last possession by Andy was puzzling. A quick out to Kelce? The Browns had the whole defense in press. There was no way he was going to barrel thru them and there was a slight risk someone jumps it and goes to the house. A quick drop slant at least gives you a shot at the 5 yards.

[Kman34]

Good job once again....Looking forward to next weeks 10 after we rape the Raiders...

[TLO]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Chiefs should sign Bowe to one of those 1 day deals and have him retire a Chief when he's ready to hang em up.

Uh yeah

[Buehler445]

Great read George.

It looked to me like Mauga was spying Manziel and he wasn't fast enough to beat the coke head to the edge.

Cleveland lost this as opposed the Chiefs winning. That is tremendously troublesome given that it is week 16 and the team we can't close has won 3 games. Craptacular.

It's nice to be in the playoffs. There is a bunch of junk ass football occurring right now.

Manziel looked better than I thought but his footwork is really bad. All his bad throws he has bad feet. It was good to see him pissed that they lost. I don't hate him as much as some. Hopefully he turns his shit around because lord knows this league needs more QBs not less.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Chiefs should sign Bowe to one of those 1 day deals and have him retire a Chief when he's ready to hang em up.

No way he could learn the playbook that fast.

[cabletech94]

glad to see johnnie cokehead throw his helmut to the ground like a g.d. child. highlight of the day for me.

god bless you blowfish. god bless each and everyone of us chiefs' fans. it's almost time to make some noise in the playoffs.

[KChiefsQT]

Both Hali & Houston out was huge. Gotta get those boys healthy & back by playoffs!

[KChiefsQT]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Chiefs should sign Bowe to one of those 1 day deals and have him retire a Chief when he's ready to hang em up.

No. He's a bum - thought he was TO in his prime out there. We don't need a bad egg in our locker room- even for a day.

[Discuss Thrower]

Probably a factor of not being able to see the post-game moments because Discuss Dad is so insistent on "beating the traffic" by leaving before the 4th Quarter is halfway over, today was one of the few times I actually got to stay past the clock hitting zero.

Therefore, it was the first time I saw the Arrowvision boards get tuned to the broadcast of another game (NY vs NE) complete with audio. They apparently use the same DirecTV broadcast and set top box to do that, BTW.

Also, Charcandrick and Taylor Gabriel traded jerseys after the game. As I guessed, they were college teammates at Abilene Christian.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by KChiefsQT

No. He's a bum - thought he was TO in his prime out there. We don't need a bad egg in our locker room- even for a day.

Bowe isn't a bad egg. He smokes some weed, a knucklehead sometimes but is harmless guy.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by cabletech94

glad to see johnnie cokehead throw his helmut to the ground like a g.d. child. highlight of the day for me.

god bless you blowfish. god bless each and everyone of us chiefs' fans. it's almost time to make some noise in the playoffs.

I would love to see that Gif'd up. It was awesome to see to say the least. not to mention stupid of him, what did he expect? A smart QB would have realized the situation and thrown the ball to the edge or out of bounds.