Originally Posted by gblowfish
Ten Things About Tonight's Game
10. It's almost Midnight, and I can just about now start feeling my fingers and toes again, so I'm going to do the speed metal version of Ten Things so that I can get some sack before heading back to the big Salt Mine in the morning. Any time you lose back to back games to Oakland and Denver, Chiefs fans are going to be upset and angry. And with good reason.The last two weeks the Chiefs have come out totally unprepared for the worst team in the AFC, and arguably the best team in the AFC. You can fall behind the Raiders 14-0 and still come back and win...which the Chiefs failed to to last week after taking a fourth quarter lead...but you can't give the Fivehead a 17-0 lead and expect to beat him. Ain't gonna happen. No how, no way. Tonight was put up or shut up night for KC. And the Donks shut us up, and shut us down, and smacked us in the mouth, and disrespected everything about this team. It was an embarrassing pants-ing and swirly for a Chiefs team pretending to be a serious contender for the AFC West. A team that now is 1-3 in four divisional games, a team that has fallen behind the Bolts for third place in division, and the only team we're ahead of beat us in a head to head meeting. Hard to feel good about much after tonight, but here's some thoughts from my frozen little cubby hole in the blanket wrapped around my head for the entire game:
9. The first quarter was a total abortion. Chiefs go three and out their first three series. Denver marches for two easy TD drives their first two series. KC is down 17-0 before they get their initial first down. It was frankly amazing KC was only down 20-7 at halftime. Except for the pass to Kelce and the TD to Fasano, the entire offensive effort in the first half was putrid. No other way to put it...putrid. Only two KC players rushed the ball: Charles, who only got ten carries, about half of what he should get - and Smith, who was running for his life again all night long. The two combine for a whopping 41 yards rushing, and Smith gets sacked six times. When you have one of the best running backs in the league, and he gets ten carries for 35 yards, that's on the offensive line, who was totally dominated all night long. Just punked and abused all night. Disgusting and maddening that the number one player in the entire NFL draft can't block anybody. The rest of our line was no better. If you can't get Charles more than 35 yards, and you get your QB sacked six times, you suck. End of story. Not good enough, kiss the playoffs goodbye.
8. KC's run defense is quickly headed to the top of the list for worst in the league. For the second straight week, they make a backup running back look like the second coming of Tony Dorsett. Anderson gets 32 carries and goes for 168 yards. You'd think that's what KC would do with Charles, but no. Not only that, but their back up to the back up Thompson got 10 carries for 39 yards.
KC's defensive front was absent again this week. Where were you Poe? Three tackles? Where were you Allen Bailey? Two Tackles? And sacks on the Fivehead? Just one by Houston. Just one will not beat the Fivehead. Fivehead threw to six different guys, but Sanders and Thomas were the favorite targets with six catches each and 136 yards between them. When the game counted the Chiefs defense could simply not get Denver off the field on third down. Just couldn't do it. Then when they finally DO get a decent stop, the fall for a fourth down fake punt. I'll get to that in a minute when we talk special teams. Conner Barf kicks five FGs against his former team: dude was here for a cup of coffee a few years back - and if Denver really wanted to push the issue, they could have gone for seven on at least three of those short FG attempts. After the first quarter, Denver just knew KC was going to get bitch slapped all night, and their play showed no regard for KC whatsoever. It was no contest, and they made sure everybody in Arrowhead and everyone watching on National TV knew it.
7. Let's talk passing game: Andy Reid, the offensive passing guru. Why can't this guru figure out a way to get a ball thrown to a wide receiver? Why are we paying Bowe all this money? Can somebody please explain how we can pull a guy in off the street -Jason Avant- and with less than a week's practice, he out plays Bowe? Bowe gets two catches. Two. Avery, our other wide receiving "Threat" manages to catch one ball for twenty yards. That's the good news. Bad news is, after he ran twenty yards, he fumbled the football. And no TDs from a wide out again. When was the last time an NFL team went an entire season without a wide out catching a TD? It could very well happen with this sorry receiving corps. Ever since Bowe got caught getting stoned and crusing around looking for Sonic, he's been one of the worst starting receivers in the NFL. I think we need to cut him loose next year, and take the Six Million that joint cost him and go after a real wideout in free agency. Again, what little passing effectiveness KC was able to generate was all by tight ends. When they were targeted, that is.
6. Special Teams: KC outclassed again. Down 14-0, the defense finally gets a stop on a third down and forces a punt on Fourth and two. DAT fields it at his ten yard line AGAIN, obviously not learning his lesson from last week in Oakland. Cooper gets beat by the gunner down field, and DAT lands on his shiny red pants ass back on the six yard line. Refs call Denver on a procedure penalty as their gunner ran out of bounds on purpose, so Andy makes Denver kick again. Except they don't kick, they fake it on fourth and seven and run it for around 15 yards. Sucker. Ha ha ha ha ha. Denver laughs all the way down the field to kick their first of five FGs to take a 17-0 lead. Third quarter with about three and a half minutes left. Chiefs have a chance to actually fight back into the ballgame, down 23-10 and forcing Manning to pass on third down. From his own 25 yard line, Manning throws an out pattern to Sanders, rookie Gaines steps in front of the throw, and just like last week against the Raiders, can't make what could have been a game altering interception. So Denver is at least forced to punt, only this time, Cooper loses track of the football, lets the ball hop up on the bounce and hit him in the knee, and the ball bounces conveniently into the breadbasket of the Denver gunner. Denver drive continues, they run off the rest of the third quarter, then end up kicking another FG to start the fourth quarter and take a three possession lead. At that point, game is essentially over. So, while you can't say Special Teams is the sole reason this game was lost, it certainly was a major contributing factor. The only thing KC did well was kick returns, but that's because the ball was hard as a brick with the five degree wind chill, and neither team punted or kicked off worth a crap.
5. The refs let the teams play. Both teams had five penalties for around 35 yard each. Both teams had two TDs. If you give up five field goals at home, you're probably going to lose. Denver won TOP big. They had the ball almost 39 minutes and ran 80 plays to KC's 44. KC was an embarrassing one for nine on third down, and only managed eleven stinking first downs in the entire game. For a coach who is supposed to be an offensive genius, that's a pitiful execution of game plan.
4. The truth of the matter is, KC has a long way to go to match up with Denver. They have arguably the best QB in the NFL. They have arguably the best receiving corps in the NFL. They have a better offensive line. They have a much better defense, as proven tonight in this one on one matchup. They just have more talent at skill positions and in pass rushing and just play better when the chips are on the table. KC wilts whenever they find themselves in a meaningful game. Tonight they looked like the Royals on National TV. Until October, the Royals would always piss themselves on National TV. The Chiefs have that same stigma. Until they learn to put up, the rest of the AFC West is going to deservedly tell them to Shut Up.
3. It was wicked cold. For those of you who don't live here in KC, it was in the low 60's yesterday. This morning the temperature had dropped around 35 degrees overnight, and when the sun went down, the wind out of the northwest actually got worse. It was howling in the fourth quarter, and the wind chill was around zero. Just a freakin brutal night to be outside watching football. Damn shame that not only did our fans have to endure this shit fest of a contest, but had to put up with it in brutal cold conditions. At the end of the game all that were left were frozen die hards like me, and about 10,000 Donk fans. Not a pretty sight, I assure you.
2. The Fivehead now has a career record of 13-1 vs. KC. I hope this ****er retires after this year, as I'm sick of his ass. At least we beat Horse Face once in awhile. Then again, KC just can't seem to figure out Denver. Hell, even in the infamous Monday Night Meltdown when DT went postal on Thannon Tharpe, Bubby Frickin' Brister was the Denver QB. The more impressive stat to me is Denver has now won 11 straight road division contests. That's why they go to Super Bowls, and why we haven't won a playoff game in 24 years. Good teams put up. Bad teams have to shut up.
1. Well, look on the bright side: At least we won't have to line CHunt's pockets with a bunch of playoff ticket money right before Christmas. This was our shot at a playoff spot tonight. And the team failed miserably. And riddle me this:How can this team lose to a Raiders team that lost to St. Louis 52-zip today? How is that possible? Bottom line is, this team is simply not good enough, not tough enough, and was poorly prepared by the coaching staff the last two games. They don't deserve to go to the playoffs. Beating New England is going to be the high water mark. Get ready for 8-8, or 9-7 if we're lucky. I can't point to any game remaining on the schedule as a lock win, that's for sure.
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