((2^4)-4)*2!)/6+6 observations about the Giants game

[Rain Man]

Gblowfish asked me to write up a select number of observations about the recent American football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Football Giants. Since there seems to be a lot of Chiefs fans on the site, I thought it sounded like a good idea.

My observations follow. Most of them are things you already know, but I'm saying them so we can agree on them and build a shared culture.

Observation I: Quarterback. Patrick Mahomes II is the alpha and the omega of the offense, and we saw something new and something that’s not new against the Giants.

The new thing is that he stayed in the pocket more early in the game, and it seemed to work pretty well. In the second half it seems that he abandoned that strategy and things didn’t go so well. I don’t know if the pocket thing is good news or not, but we know that he’s historically been great outside the pocket and we need him to either recapture that or stay put. My other worry is that staying in the pocket minimizes his ability to run, which is another huge strength. I don’t know if this whole “stay in the pocket” thing is a good idea. Maybe we should just let Patrick Mahomes work off of his instinct.

The thing we’re seeing that’s not so new is a continued lack of accuracy. He’s regressed from being able to launch a ball into a teacup from 70 yards away to overthrowing receivers or putting the ball into the dirt. The accuracy thing is our season, so let’s hope he gets that straightened out.

Observation II: Running Backs. I like Darrel, you like Darrel, heck we all like Darrel. But the truth is that he’s averaging 3.5 yards per carry. He’s reliable and I don't worry when he has the ball, but it may be worth giving that Gore kid some more work on first and second down. I'll give Darrel props for the 61 yards receiving, though. Would it be odd to make our biggest back our third down back?

And McKinnon, catch the dang ball. I know it was fast, but it's your job.

Observation III: Receivers and tight ends.In a rough season so far, Tyreek continues to be our shining beacon of hope. He got 18 targets yesterday and I wouldn’t mind him getting more. I’m also in awe of his ability to always get four more yards with no contact when you think he’s about to get tackled. Tyreek also always gets four more yards after you think he's tackled, and no one touches him.

In other receiver news, we’ll politely ignore the Kelce fumble since it was such an outlier, and I think Mecole’s just a gadget player, but he’s a good one if used right. Give him simple plays where he runs fast, and he’ll go Forrest Gump for you.

Observation IV: Offensive line. The television people put up a scary stat that pretty much says it all. The Chiefs are 32nd in blitzes against us, but 6th in overall pressures allowed. These guys have to pass protect better. Trey Smith’s fumble recovery continues to bolster his case for league MVP this year, but he drew a penalty that will hurt a lot. If you’re a right guard, you have to be completely mistake-free to win the league MVP title.

Observation V: Special teams. Butker! I like that guy a lot. In other news, we had some odd special teams penalties with Nnadi and Jarran Reed getting called, and we also had a fight with Andrew Wylie and maybe someone else tussling. The lines were active on special teams, I guess. I saw another guy on the field at some point during the game who is apparently our punter. No idea he existed.

Observation VI: Defensive backs. If I ever see Daniel Sorensen, I will give him a big hug for 2019. But right now he’s a sieve. I don’t think he should be playing deep. Aside from that, the rest of the defensive backs either played well (most or all of the CBs) or were not a liability (I think Matthieu played, right?)

Observation VII: Linebackers. No other linebacker should ever touch the field unless Bolton and Gay are already on the field and they need a third.

Observation VIII: Defensive line. (Chris Farley voice.) Remember that play where Chris Jones crashed through the line, then lost sight of the running back and actually turned around trying to find him? That was awesome. (/Farley).

The lack of a pass rush is going to kill us this year. We saw a couple of flashes of Frank, which is cause for hope. Why did we cut Tim Ward again? And I know we've said this a million times, but Chris Jones is a DT.

Observation IX. Turnovers. You have to be kidding me. This first half of the season has had more fluke turnovers than a pod of breaching whales. Trust me – it’s going to turn around at some point and we’ll secure a playoff spot. From there, it’ll be magic.

Observation X: Random observation. I never thought about this before, but time outs are magical because they actually stop the passage of time.