Ten Things About Today's Game: Week 2: KC 28 Faid 10

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Today’s Game Week 2: KC 28 Faid 10

10. I had worry about this game because of my years of watching KC blow games they should win in the Black Hole. I hate that dumpster fire of a stadium, and I’m so glad we’ll never have to play in that tarp covered open sewer ever again. Good riddance. At least it was a 75 degree day and not a sauna like last week in Jax. And after having to travel coast to coast in the course of a week, there was a lot of reason for concern. Nice that we won the toss and deferred, so we got the ball to start the second half. The first quarter belonged to the Raiders, second quarter to Mahomie, and the second half to neither team. This is the first time in the history of KC playing Oakland that they’ve had a scoreless half. That’s pretty amazing. A win is a win (Just Win Baby, you black and silver douche bags), especially in division, but there’s a lot to discuss, much that needs to be fixed, and much to praise. When the Chiefs got down Ten to Zip I wasn’t losing my mind, because for the first time since Joe Montana, we have a dynamic leader who can put the team on his back and will them to win. He’s the damn NFL league MVP, and he played that way with a wobbly wheel.

9. The first quarter was concerning in many ways. KC gave up big yardage on first down runs and was having a real hard time getting stops on third down. It looked like Grandpa Bob's Defense. Jones made a nice play in the first Oakland drive to force a field goal. Chuckie’s gonna have to learn you’re not going to beat this Chiefs team with Field Goals. This ain’t three years ago, and Alex Smith is NOT our QB. Oakland’s TD drive was aided by a lack of pass rush, missed tackles and a DPI on Honey Badger. KC offense looked lethargic during the whole first quarter. Fisher tried to go and couldn’t. Erving came in and the Chiefs couldn’t run the ball, at all.

8. Second quarter, Mahomie dials up DRobb on a 44 yard TD pass on the very first play to get KC back in the fight. Hardman’s 42 yard TD was on a third and 20 after a holding call on the KC O line. Kelce for a 27 yard TD was a perfect pass, and DRobb’s final TD with 40 seconds left in the half was a thing of beauty.

7. The Raiders were a typical stupid Raiders team to help beat themselves. Chuckie made a challenge in the first quarter that he lost, and it cost him a valuable time out. On the final Raiders drive of the half, Carr throws a ball down the middle with no time outs left, not enough time for the team to spike the ball for a field goal attempt. Stupid clock management. Several third and manageable calls went to third and long because of Raiders players jumping offside IN THEIR OWN STADIUM! In the second half, Carr threw two momentum killing picks; one on a fade pass thrown horribly that Breeland picked; and another to Ward when his receiver fell down. The fade pick to Breeland is really a head scratcher, especially when Jacobs had ripped off a 50 yard run earlier in the drive and the Raiders had pushed KC off the ball rushing all day long. Raiders had a total of seven penalties for 52 yards, and all of them were critical momentum killers.

6. Mahomie’s second quarter was epic. 278 passing yards and 4 TDs in the first half…wow. He ended up with 446 total passing yards, 4 TDs and no picks -but did have one fumble just because he held the ball a tick too long. He would have had a fifth TD for 72 yards had it not been called back for Shady holding. It was an understandable hold, as McCoy was trying to keep Mahomes from getting killed by a blitzing linebacker. Mahomes spread the ball to seven different receivers, and Kelce had his third 100 plus yard game in a row vs. Oakland. His grabs helped move the chains on multiple third and longs.

5. This was our worst special teams day in a long time. Colquitt was not good. He only averaged 39 yards per punt. Chiefs punt return effort was awful. DAT fielded a punt on the three yard line and we got a holding penalty to move the ball to the KC 5 yard line to start a drive. KC had holding penalties on three different punt returns. Total penalties were 10 for 114 yards. That’s way too many, and if we do that against a better team -like next week against Baltimore, for example- they’re gonna get beat. Only ST guy who showed up this week was Buttkicker. He was perfect again this week.

4. Carr is career 2 and 9 vs. KC, and his only two wins were in Oakland on Thursday Night football. And one of those the refs gave him like seven chances to throw a TD inside the 10 yard line. So, as long was we don’t have to play Carr on a Thursday Night in Oakland, we’re probably gonna beat his ass. I don’t think any more Thursday Night games are scheduled for KC and Oakland, so that’s a good thing. Andy is now 22-3 vs the AFC West over the past four years, and all three losses are from Thursday Night games. Phyllis Rivers beat us on a last second pass at Arrowhead on a Thursday Night. BTW: Phyllis LOST to the Detroit Lions today. Actually the entire AFC West LOST today except us. So two weeks in, we’ve separated from the pack and lead the AFC West.

3. Chiefs running game was anemic today. Don’t know if that’s because Fisher was out, or if Oakland was keying on McCoy, but we only had 31 yards rushing. Damian Williams also banged his knee in the second half. But when your QB throws for just shy of 450 yards, who cares? Mahomie set a record today as he’s now thrown three TDs in each of his last seven road games. That’s an NFL Record.

2. Chiefs Defense did a nice job shutting out Oakland for the final three quarters. Several players had great stops at critical times, including Fuller, Jones, K-Pass and Clark. I think as each week goes by, Spags D will start to jell as they get more time playing together. Oakland’s only passing TD was because of some confusion in our defensive secondary. But I tell you what, Oakland’s secondary looked a lot like ours looked last year; and now that Mahomes torching them is on tape, it’s going to be a long year for Chuckie trying to stop guys like Phyllis who they have yet to face. Raiders also looked like they were in poor condition. Several of their players left the game, including Burfict. Only Chiefs injury looks like Damian Williams (knee) and Shady dinged an ankle, and hopefully neither guy is hurt bad. Also Erving may have been knicked up, but he played the whole game once Fisher went out. Fisher may be out for a couple weeks. At least he tried to go, and I admire him for that. Mahomes was probably at around 80 percent on his gimpy ankle, but obviously that was enough to beat Chuckie’s Raiders.

1. So next we get our home opener against a tough Baltimore team. If not for a miracle catch last year by Tyreek, we probably would have lost to them last year at Arrowhead, and if anything Jackson is a much better QB this year. Ravens had a hard time overcoming Arizona and their rookie QB Kyler Murray, and Mahomes is much more experienced now. Should be another epic matchup between undefeated teams. It will probably be another tight battle, but we’ll have the 12 man advantage of the Arrowhead Crowd. Chiefs are off to a great start with back to back wins against AFC opponents, and one AFC West Road win already. So far, so good!

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I think I more enjoyed Carr trying to press and fail because trying to match Mahomes would be like me racing Usain Bolt.

...after that scorching second half, the fades subsequent plays looked boring and stale.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

You thinking DAT isn't going to keep returning?

As far as punts go we just as well ****ing fair catch the goddamned things. I'd rather take that than 10 yards behind where we catch it.

Eh, if he keeps fielding punts at his own 3 yard line.....

IIRC, Pringle was a good to great kickoff returner at K-State. Let's see what he can do, and let DAT keep the punt returns for now.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Eh, if he keeps fielding punts at his own 3 yard line.....

IIRC, Pringle was a good to great kickoff returner at K-State. Let's see what he can do, and let DAT keep the punt returns for now.

He was good but Snyder always fielded good specials.

IIRC he was better on punts than kicks, but I could be wrong. Not much of a KSU(ck) fan.

[Danguardace]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

T
5. This was our worst special teams day in a long time. Colquitt was not good. He only averaged 39 yards per punt. Chiefs punt return effort was awful. DAT fielded a punt on the three yard line and we got a holding penalty to move the ball to the KC 5 yard line to start a drive. KC had holding penalties on three different punt returns. Total penalties were 10 for 114 yards. That’s way too many, and if we do that against a better team -like next week against Baltimore, for example- they’re gonna get beat. Only ST guy who showed up this week was Buttkicker. He was perfect again this week.

Couldn't agree more, honestly think When teams are punting around Midfield they should just put someone other than DAT back there, someone who can make smart decisions.

DAT still thinks he is in the PAC 12.

[eDave]

Originally Posted by Danguardace

Couldn't agree more, honestly think When teams are punting around Midfield they should just put someone other than DAT back there, someone who can make smart decisions.

DAT still thinks he is in the PAC 12.

Should just have Pat throw a bomb on 4th down.

[xztop123]

The thing no one is talking about is how good mahomes deep accuracy looks this year

Last year he was missing wide open guys deep this year he’s hitting them in stride with pressure in his face 40+ yards down field

[Danguardace]

Originally Posted by xztop123

The thing no one is talking about is how good mahomes deep accuracy looks this year

Last year he was missing wide open guys deep this year he’s hitting them in stride with pressure in his face 40+ yards down field

Totally agree, throws are so pretty.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

He’s the damn NFL league MVP, and he played that way with a wobbly wheel.



????? He looked perfectly healthy.

Bump. Tell me about the “wobbly wheel”

[oldman]

Thanks, George. It's not an official game until I read your 10 things.
I'm going to echo a couple things both you and FAX brought up. I'm concerned about the run game. I don't care if Williams and McCoy were banged up a little, that's why we're carrying 4 RBs plus Sausage and DAT. Surely Fisher's absence wasn't that big of a deal in the run.
Second, there were some problems with the intermediate routes. You can blame some of that on Hardman being a rookie and not the route runner we're accustomed to with Hill. But PMII was just off on a lot of those. He was money on most of the bombs, but the 10-15 yarders were iffy. I'm hoping it was just one of those days, not a problem with his ankle.

[otherstar]

Thank you George, for these write ups!

[bowener]

Originally Posted by DRM08

That is insane. Makes you wonder what that number is going to be through 40 games for him.

Double what he has now?

Looking at the schedule I think Mahomes might average 4 passing TDs a game going forward.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by FAX

Best 10 things in the league ... by far. And speaking of our offensive problems, I noticed three.

One was the lack of precision in the routes. Wally's offense is based on route design and precision. Our guys cannot forget to detail those routes, close on defenders to force their decisions, then make your cuts on time and with decisiveness. They didn't do that. (That's shorthand for a lot of unmentioned stuff, but that's what stuck out to me.)

The second thing I observed was that Mahomes' accuracy was off on his intermediate throws. That could have been due to the sloppy-ass route running or it could be that Mahomes was just off. (Ankle?) I cannot and will not give credit to the Faiders since our receivers were open(ish) and those are normally pitch/catch plays.

The third thing was the most troubling; what the hell happened to our run game? Was the Faider defense that stout? Was our blocking that poor? Were we tired due to the travel schedule? I'd have to rewatch the game to try and figure it out, but damn ... that was not impressive ... and a little scary, to be honest.

FAX

This was going on in my mind the whole game. Where has the Damien Williams from the end of last season gone too?



George great post as always!

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by xztop123

The thing no one is talking about is how good mahomes deep accuracy looks this year

Last year he was missing wide open guys deep this year he’s hitting them in stride with pressure in his face 40+ yards down field

Yes, absolutely. One of the reasons Montana was so great was he would hit guys in stride, so they could get YAC. Alex Smith would throw balls at a guy's knees, or behind him, or stretch a receiver out high over the middle (getting them pasted by a D=Back). Mahomes hits guys in the numbers, in stride, where they can do something with the ball once they receive it. You can't teach that. You either have it or you don't.

Here's what the SF Chronic has to say on their post game coverage:
https://www.sfgate.com/sports/articl...n-14442077.php

[Frosty]

Random thought/observation here but I was very appreciative that Chucky was doing everything he could to drain the clock in the second half despite being down three scores. Long, methodical drives that resulted in no points really helped.

[Tinker Dill]

As always George excellent work. Thanks!