Ten Things About Last Night's Game

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Last Nights Game

10. This morning I come to you from "The Cube Farm" which is my Dilbert-like office hutch. Don't tell anyone, OK? Thursday night games are awkward. They're not quite Monday Night Football. They're only seen by people outside of the home and visiting teams on the NFL Network - and not everybody has the NFL Network. So even though it's a "national" game, its not really "national" if that makes sense. Here in KC, it was like watching a Royals game, only it was the Chiefs, and no Ned Yost. For those of you in KC: Did you keep worrying that the thunderstorms would knock out your power or your cable and we'd end up listening to Lenny and Mitch on an old school transistor radio? Luckily the power stayed on. I like to listen to Lenny and Mitch while watching the game, although the link up between the audio and video still isn't right. The radio audio runs about 3 seconds behind the TV play. With that combination, it gives you a psychic sense, because you see the pick six before Mitch says "Berry with the Pick Six!" And, of course, I did drink every time Lenny said "penetration," so I am a little foggier than usual this morning.

9. In the morning commute, I was listening to the usual sport talk blather. One of the things that chaps me is the number of numbskulled nattering neybobs of negativity. In a thirty minute drive to work, I heard people in earnest say "Alex Smith is Cassel." And "We should have won by 35 points." And "Where was Bowe?" And "We can't block for Charles." And "Our offensive line sucks." Blah blah blah blah blah….
I'll get to some of that in a minute. People…..HELLO, THIS TEAM IS 3-0. They've already won more games than all of last year. They have not lost a road game. I swear to God, there's a pocket of Chiefs fans that will never be happy no matter what. They're the kind of people who would win power ball, and bitch that the winning ticket gave them a paper cut.

8. Alex Smith is not Peyton Manning. He's not Brady, or Rapistburger, or Brees. But you know what? People were saying going in that "Alex Smith is not as good as Michael Vick." Yes. True. He was also better and the same. Smith out passed Vick 248 to 171. He was worse: Vick threw for one TD, Smith for none. He was the same. Both QB's sacked five times. But where Smith was best, and what tipped the balance, was turnovers: Vick 5, Smith 0. The Chiefs are +9 in the turnover ratio, they finished last in the NFL last year in the negative mid 20's. Being +9 is due to Smith's smarts as a QB, and due to our defense being opportunists. Now, the thing about turnovers is, they tend to even out over the course of a year. So that is a cause for concern. At some point Smith is going to throw picks. Charles and Davis will fumble. A receiver will get separated from the ball after a catch. It's going to happen. But last night, the Chiefs were turnover free on offense, opportunistic on defense, and that has been a winning combination in September.

7. Charles showed me a lot last night. It seems like in the first three quarters, he has struggled to find any running room. Our top two tight ends being out have hurt on stretch plays. Charles can get to the corner, barely, and that's it. There's been little between the tackles early on. Charles isn't the kind of guy you want to pound between the tackles anyway. In the fourth quarter, much like against Dallas, Charles was the difference in sustaining clock killing drives. And where Charles is having trouble finding running room from the backfield, his pass receptions are making up for that. He had 80 yards in pass receiving and 92 yards rushing. That helps offset McCoy's 158 yards rushing. BTW: did you notice McCoy didn't have a single yard in pass receiving? Charles stuck a couple guys in pass protection-blitz pickup too. He played a well rounded game, and didn't put the ball on the ground. Well done. Knile Davis got a couple carries in the second half to give Charles a blow. He had both arms wrapped around the football. I think somebody is finally getting through to him about ball security.

6. Smith spread the ball around to seven receivers, which is the same as the Dallas game. When Fasano comes back, that will be a blessing. Our #3 tight end "Prison Shower McGrath" and our #4 tight end "Here For A Limited Time Only Brock" had real problems in run blocking and pass protection -when held in as extra protection for Smith. McGrath has pretty good hands. He'll catch the ball when you throw it to him, but has no elusiveness.He also has a hard time sustaining a block on the edge. Brock is a speed bump and will be back on the street soon. Donnie Avery had a great game with seven catches and 141 yards. That's over 20 yards per catch. And I'll bet you of that 141 yards, 120 of them were yards after the catch. Smith is not throwing the ball 20 yards down field. He's throwing the ball four yards down field, and the receiver does the rest. Bowe had one catch all night for short yards, but did a great job blocking down field, both for Avery on his cross field jaunts, and for Charles on his catches in the flat. Bowe is growing up. I think he gets it now. He's becoming a team player and not just "Bowe Show." That's big, and that's what a team leader should do and be.

5. People were grousing that the Chiefs should have been up by much more after the first quarter. The Eagles came out of the gate and shat themselves. Muffed kick. Pick Six. Fumbles. But you know what? One of the reasons they shat themselves was because of our defense. Poe had no tackles last night. Zero. But he batted down a pass and collapsed the front of the pocket consistently all night long. Tyson Jackson was getting held again this week. Seems like he's going to have to develop a reputation for pass rush before the ref's will give him a break. Luckily, Hali and Houston were all over the field again last night. If anyone had any question as to whether Houston deserved his All Pro status at the end of last year, consider his night: 3.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, a pass tipped and three successfully defended passes in the flat -among his seven total tackles. That's a Derrick Thomas style game changing performance.

4. Secondary had a good night overall. Obviously the pick six was great, which put Vick in an early hole. But Smith's pick was big too. Flowers gutted it out, playing when he should have sat out. Robinson and "I Keel You" Abdullah filled in reasonably well. Abdullah got beat on the TD pass to Avant, but Vick threw a perfect pass, and ate the full fury of a DJ blitz when he unloaded- just give the Eagles credit on that play. And our secondary smothered the Eagles' Jackson. He was a non-factor. The 41 yard TD run by McCoy was a bit worrisome. That was a simple dive play. Poe got sealed off by the center, DJ got picked off by a guard, and McCoy ran a straight line 41 yards down the field, basically untouched. This defense will give up huge chunks on occasion. You can live with that when forcing five turnovers. But when the turnovers dry up, that could be a big problem down the road.

3. Bad night for Chiefs tackles. Brandon Albert had a hold and two illegal formation penalties for cheating back off the line on passing downs. Fisher got beat for sacks twice, once badly on an inside swim move, and he had two holding penalties. Allen hurt his wrist, then his groin, and went out of the game in the second half. Personally I think Schwartz is a fine guard, and is equal to, if not better than Allen. When the Chiefs needed to grind the ball in the fourth quarter to eat clock and make first downs, it was Schwartz on the line, not Allen.

2. Dustin Colquitt is special. Just give him his ticket to Hawaii now and get it over with. Dexter McMidget should be kept off the punt team. Put Demps back there. McMidget has been a non-factor this year and could have turned the game for Philly in the fourth quarter by muffing a kick. He's also been dropping passes on the opportunities thrown to him on offense. He needs to step up his game. Be good or be gone. And props to Suckie for hitting on four FGs on his birthday. The last one was a biggie, because that made it a two score game with four minutes left.

1. Last but not least, congratulations to Andy Reid. You know he wanted to win this one, although publicly he was very cool about. And he was right, with a short week, there wasn't a lot of time to waste thinking about that kind of stuff. Everyone would love an opportunity to stick it to a former boss and company that gave you a pink slip. And the post game off the field "interview" with Sal Paolantonio was comedy gold. Sal is an east coast sportswriter, and skewered Andy during his last two years in Philly. Sal got Andy's version of "Kiss my big fat lemony fresh ASS, Sal…." on national TV. That had to be sweeeeet for Big Red. So, our boys are 3-0. It's been a September to remember. Hopefully we can keep the September mojo going for one more Sunday against the G-Men. I can't help but think Andy's 14-years of experience vs. the NFC East has been a tremendous help. Let's hope he can develop some of that same expertise shooting down AFC West teams. My final piece of advice is, enjoy the ride. Stop worrying about Alex Smith and line blocking and third down efficiency and such, and think about this: Six out of the last seven times the Chiefs started 3-0, they made the playoffs. I like our chances.