September 29th at Green Bay: Revelation

[pugsnotdrugs19]

Hello, fellow CP'ers. It's was difficult to get out of bed this morning. Even breakfast tasted worse than normal here, Lol. An embarrassing primetime defeat at Green Bay left a taste in our mouths (almost) as bad the heartbreak created by Denver and the Thursday night debacle. I pondered posting last night on all of this, but I decided to swallow my frustration and take a more subjective look back at last night's game. This is what I see for the Chiefs, and moving forward.

After the sluggish (or downright pathetic) first half performance, I was furious. Then came the Smith INT to Shields in the 3rd quarter, one of the poorer throws I've seen in a long time. For the first time in the Reid era, I wanted Alex Smith pulled from a game. I had proclaimed that enough was enough, and it was time to give Daniel the keys. Of course, in what was likely the right move, that did not happen. Defensively I thought the front was getting a solid push but could not finish plays when given the chance, but ultimately it was the secondary and their unwillingness to press receivers on the line that killed the gameplan. You CANNOT let Green Bay's receivers run free off the line. Rodgers simply gets rid of the ball too fast.

Then came the offensive showing late in the game. Now, I know a lot of people are looking at this and saying 'PND, it was garbage time, it means nothing..' I was skeptical at first glance too. Then I took a second look. Call it garbage time all you want, but Dom Capers was throwing EVERYTHING his defense had at the Chiefs with the lead in the 3rd/4th quarter. I'd venture to say he blitzed around or over 70% of the time, even getting creative with some corner blitzes along the way. Point being, the defense the Chiefs were suddenly hitting big plays against WAS NOT vanilla. It actually was the furthest thing from vanilla to be 100% correct. Capers put a good chunk of the Green Bay defense's playbook on tape in that 2nd half, and he'd better hope they don't pay for it later on. Andy and Alex were forced to do what they so desperately have tried to avoid over the last couple of years, and it actually worked. The offense looked explosive at times late in the game, something Reid and Smith have refused to game plan as in their tenure. This revelation brings me to the conclusion.

9/28/15. I will forever remember this game for being the night of revelation under the Alex Smith/Andy Reid era. One of two things is going to now happen to this team.

1) Reid and Smith go back to their old ways of ball-less offense, Jamaal Charles flourishes, and we remain a 7-9 to 9-7 level team. Probably 8-8 with this year's schedule, and fans begin to call for heads.

2) Reid looks at what was clear to me and sees that even with Green Bay in full attack mode, the offense showed some real explosive capability when their hand was forced late for Alex to push the ball downfield. Seriously guys, the offense late in that game was the closest thing we've seen to the one from the late 2013 season and the Indianapolis playoff game. The talent is there to make big plays and put points up and the coaches have to continue on this path in order to have success. Defensively I'm really not all that concerned. They get Smith back this week and we will know more of what they are about with that.

Bottom Line: We didn't expect to win, but we expected a better first half. IMHO, there isn't a worse time and place to go against an NFL team than 7:30 PM at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers. Let's not forget that no team in the league (except MAYBE New England) can hope to win that game at this point. For the Chiefs, the line needs to protect Alex when teams rush four better. Alex needs to protect the line against the blitz and hit hot routes when the opportunity is there. And finally and most importantly, Andy Reid needs to continue with the offense that was seen late in that game for the Chiefs to become any sort of true team anyway.

This team could have kept it close last night and continued to play their conservative offense all year, but that won't help them in big games (specifically January, if there). With the revelation of a real NFL passing attack late in the game, all due to being blown out, Andy Reid and the Chiefs now have a chance to save themselves. It could be the ultimate ship-sinker, or the greatest blowout blessing in disguise in our history. Until next time. We're on to Cincinatti.

EDIT: Good article here... http://arrowheadaddict.com/2015/09/2...ace-adversity/