Ten Things About This Week's Game: Week 2 KC 27 PHI 20

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Today’s Game Week 2: KC 27 PHI 20

10. This is the first game I’ve attended this year. I’ve been selling off my pre-season tickets the last few years because I can’t live with paying $150 a shot to watch a glorified practice. Especially this year since we got pre-season games one and four at home -the two most worthless of the four pre-season games. This season I dropped my third ticket, because last year I kept having to give away a $150 ticket when it was six degrees outside, which was every game in December last year. Mrs. Blowfish and I went in a little earlier than usual, we headed in around 9:30am, and although my Red Parking Pass is virtually worthless now, we did get parked quickly compared to years past. We went inside at 11AM and got through the security gate quickly as well, so the Chiefs are doing a better job at getting people parked and through security for kickoff. In general everyone needs to get there at least a hour and a half before game time if you want to see kickoff. This season I actually now own a cell phone that was made in this century, so I took a few pics from my seat which I’ll include below. Everything except Clark’s morning BM has to be a sponsorship or sales opportunity. That seems to get worse every year. And like attending Mass, the pre-game has been basically scripted the exact same for what feels like ten years. Be nice if they’d mix things up a little bit week to week. No fly over by the B-2, too cloudy. Some pre-kickoff pics are below, including this years crop of cheerleaders, and some big shiny hunk of metal that resides in a glass case where I turn left to go to my seats. There were a LOT of Eagles fans here today, I’d say maybe as much as 15 percent of the crowd. They travel well.
Pregame Chiefs Come Out

Cheerleaders:

Super Bowl IV Trophy


9. Luckily the weather stabilized before the game and was no factor. Actually in the fourth quarter the sun came out and it was very pleasant. The first half looked like Alex may have turned back into old predictable Alex. Not all his fault, we’ll get into that. The Chiefs are showing a frustrating trend of not getting serious about stuff until the fourth quarter. I thought Philly had a very good, well balanced team. I thought they looked tougher than New England did. Their defense was much better, and they were missing a bunch of their starting secondary guys. Wentz is a good young QB. On the radio broadcast (no Len Dawson today?) Mitch kept comparing him to a young Rapistburger. Talk about arm strength. Dude threw the ball several times today over 60 yards on the fly. And he was hard to tackle until the fourth quarter when our defense started going after him on obvious passing downs. Wentz was the Eagles leading rusher with 55 yards. Only Wentz, Sproles and Smallwood had any rushing yardage. Chiefs did a pretty good job holding down the run this week, although Gaines and Mitchell got picked on again through the air -no surprise there- and gave up over 300 passing yards. Mitchell got burned by Ertz for 53 yards near the end of the first half on a ball that he tipped, and then gave up on the play. Ertz stayed with it and luckily got brought down by the safety Murray before he could score.
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Thank goodness the Eagles new kicker got the yips and choked on a 30 yard field goal right before half. That was a big shift in the momentum.

8. In the first half, Alex started looking very last year Alex. He threw one and two yard dink passes. The one play where he went long he overthrew Tyreek Hill by two steps. Then before the half he got sacked a couple times and looked a little woozy. On the sideline they got Mahomes up and warming, but Alex stayed in. Second half adjustments were great. Alex came out, played much better, and the O-Line gave him much better protection. Alex also ran a couple times to turn a third into a first down. KC was only 5 for 12 on third down today, we’re going to need to watch that stat as the season rolls on. Smith didn’t get much from Kelce, Hill or Kareem the Dream in the first half. Second half, different story. Hunt’s first TD run really changed the tone of the game. Put KC back in the lead, and everything took off from there:
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7. On Hunt’s first TD, Travis Kelce drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting the Eagles bench. If you include the Pittsburgh playoff loss, Kelce has had conduct penalties in his last three games. Andy chewed his ass when he came off the field. It ended up giving the Eagles about eight extra yards on the subsequent kickoff return but the greater issue is the unending, bone headed, stupid conduct from a guy who is supposed to be a team leader. You can call it swagger or personality, I call it bone headed stupidity. Marcus Peters was the only Chiefs player to sit during the National Anthem today. I also think that is stupidity, but that's apples and oranges. Peters seems to have his shit together on the field now. He used to do stuff like punt the ball into the crowd. All his swagger statement has been off the field, like telling the Pats fans last week “Who Yo Daddy?” Kelce hasn’t seemed to get over the on field stuff yet. He’s going to be a marked man by the zebras all season. The danger is, on the second conduct penalty in a game, you get run. He is a reckless player, and he did make up for the gaffe by scoring an important TD in the fourth quarter. Love his ability. Love his skill. Hate his five cent head. His teammates should call him “Meat” until he learns to keep his cool on the field.
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6. Offensive game ball of the week goes to Kareem Hunt for two TDs. This kid runs tough. He’s really hard to bring down, has great speed once he gets through the hole, fights for every single yard, and he seems to be a good kid with a great head on his shoulders. Also kudos to Chris Conley for making a big 30 yard clutch catch in the fourth quarter to sustain a drive. Albert Wilson and Tyreek disappeared this week, although Tyreek beat his man for a TD and Alex missed him. He’ll have other opportunities. Offensive line was getting Alex beat up pretty good in the second quarter, but pulled it together in the second half. Love the depth we have on the O line after Morse got hurt, and Fulton stepped in at center and didn’t miss a beat.

5. Time of Possession ended up being close to even. Eagles had the ball for about a minute and a half more, but this didn’t balance out until the second half. Our defense was on the field a lot in the first half. Seems like Sutton is holding back some coverage or looks early on in games. Again we had no effective pass rush until late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter. Philly had 11 more first downs than we did, but first downs don’t mean much if you don’t convert them into points. The last TD Philly got was in garbage time, but they did get a shot at a possible tie or win with the Hail Mary at the end. Luckily, our defense was facing Carson Wentz, and not Aaron Rodgers.

4. Defensive player of the game was Chris Jones. Three of his four tackles were sacks, and he got a pick on a ball that boinked off Justin Houston’s head. Houston played a fine game. He got a sack, and he played great as a run stopper on his side of the field. It's really great to have him back. DJ is looking a step or two slow this year. It’s understandable with his age and injury history, but it scares me when they put him on pass coverage. The other guy who should get big kudos this week is Daniel Sorensen. He was Eric Berry this week, and played his ass off. When he first made the team a couple years ago, I thought Andy just liked him because he came from BYU. Here’s this big, dorky white guy trying to play safety. But he may be our most improved player during his time here. He hits like a truck, seems to be where he needs to be, and can blitz like a mofo. Here he tried to kill Wentz, and makes a big third down stop in the fourth quarter:
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3. KC won the special teams battle today, which made a big difference in the game. We were outplayed by the Pats last week. Today Winchester forces a Sproles fumble, and the Sausage comes out with the ball. Philly kicker yips a field goal right before the half to send KC to the locker room holding a lead. Santos is perfect on all his kick attempts, and drove the ball deep into the end zone on most of his kickoffs. On our side, the new A Hunt -the other Hunt that’s not named Clark- had a nice kickoff return. Only bad things on specials were no decent punt returns and giving up the onside kick at the end of the game. Luckily it didn’t bite our ass, but made the ending interesting.

2. Andy Reid has now won 24 of his last 28 regular season games. I have a lot of respect for Philly. I think they have a very good team and should compete with Dallas for the NFC East. I’m a little worried about Andy not getting the ropes around Kelce, and in his post game presser he was poo pooing the bad behavior. Hopefully behind closed doors he’ll chew some more Kelce ass. I think the team as a whole did a fabulous job with adjustments at halftime, especially Sutton’s defense. On the injury front, the only guys I saw go into the big blue Mystery Coleman Pop Up Camping Tent was Mitch Morse and Dee Ford. Morse either has an ankle or foot injury, hopefully nothing torn or broken, and Dee Ford has something happen to a hand or wrist. I think he’s OK, because they sent him back in. After the game, he came over right below me, took his gloves off and gave them to a kid. Didn’t seem be bandaged up or in any pain. Chris Jones came out after getting knocked down in the second half, maybe a shoulder, but didn’t seem to be in a lot of pain at game end. They held him out the last two minutes as a precaution.

1. Finally, big props to the fans today. They were Arrowhead Loud, even with the large contingent of Philly fans here this week. All in all, a very satisfying home opener and a fun game to watch. It got a little too interesting at the end; not as crazy as last year’s frantic comeback win against San Diego, but interesting. Kareem Hunt may be this year’s Zeke. I’m excited to watch him grow as a player, and looking forward to next week’s game against that little Bitch Phyllis Rivers. This will be our first Divisional road game. Let’s hope we can totally ruin Phyllis' Sunday commute in the Phyllismobile, and climb into the AFC West driver's seat.

[Bwana]

Very well done, Thank You!

[Baby Lee]

Good read, does my heart good to see a more optimistic George. And the healthy respect for the opposition was nice as well.

In a rare twist, the Eagles are one of the few teams I hope we didn't demoralize by beating them. I like the win, but I'd like to see what I saw today taking it to the rest of the league this year. Reminds me a bit of when the Giants would gel late in the season during their SB run years.

Runnin round like a buncha crazed dogs.

That was a quality test, and it looks like the Pats aren't as bad as we made them look either.

[jjchieffan]

Originally Posted by kc rush

I had season tickets in the nosebleeds several years ago. There were always a good number of opposing fans up in that area, but none were bigger assholes than Eagle fans. There had to 20 or so sprinkled around us and just about every one of them was trying to fight someone. Security had to come up multiple times.

Regarding your special teams comments, if Kelce has a 5 cent head, DAT has about 2 cents going on. Stop trying to run kicks out of the back of the end zone when there is a wall of opposing players in front of you. You are not Hill, stop pretending you are.

I agree A Hunt looked much better in his return. Hopefully, we'll see less of DAT and more of Hunt on returns.

Great write up George. Best game recap every week.

[gblowfish]

Mellinger writing about Alex Smith in today's game:
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt...173870076.html

[dannybcaitlyn]

Thanks George. Always enjoy these.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Good read, does my heart good to see a more optimistic George. And the healthy respect for the opposition was nice as well.

In a rare twist, the Eagles are one of the few teams I hope we didn't demoralize by beating them. I like the win, but I'd like to see what I saw today taking it to the rest of the league this year. Reminds me a bit of when the Giants would gel late in the season during their SB run years.

Runnin round like a buncha crazed dogs.

That was a quality test, and it looks like the Pats aren't as bad as we made them look either.

My BIL is a big Philly fan and was at the game. I try to root for them when I can stomach it. After Kelly's dumbass is gone it's easier. This team looks like a nice team to watch. They were wrecking Kirk Cousins last week, which is fun.

Pedersen seems like a decent human, Wentz is easy to root for, they play hard, and don't have any colossal douches. Hopefully they ****ing curbstomp the Cow****s.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Mellinger writing about Alex Smith in today's game:
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt...173870076.html

This is a good articulation of both of the first two games regarding the team in general not just Alex.

Originally Posted by Mellinger

The Chiefs could have lost this game, and there was a time not long ago that they probably would have lost this game.

[IA_Chiefs_fan]

I specifically came here to read this. I always enjoy these.

[BlackOp]

I had free lower-level tickets...it was the most fun I've had at a game. Granted I haven't been in years and most of the games I've seen have never been close. So the drama aided in that respect. Lots of Philly fans...

Strange how much different a game live is compared to TV...seems more of a drunken emotional/social type of thing and is nearly impossible to follow the strategy. They look a lot slower live...

I have free tix to any game I want this year...might check out the Raiders, Steelers and Donks. I wont lie..I like following the game on TV.

Walking through the tail-gating section was like a scene from a King's Landing market bizarre...only with more mullets and Bud light. (there weren't actually any mullets..but you know they used to have them)

One thing...9.50 for a Budweiser? **** you...

[ping2000]

Sucks there were so many Philly fans there.

[Cornstock]

Originally Posted by scho63

Love the write-up and the only two small points I'll add:

1. We did much better this week on limiting penalties and it seemed like Philly had at least 3 to 4 non-calls on offensive pass interference and holding on their OLine, which I saw at least twice.

2. Dustin Colquitt has lost his touch and we can't down anything. His NET average seems to be around 35 yards with all the touchbacks or shorts kicks.

Thanks for the quick turnaround and once my REP resets tomorrow, some more greeen for you!

Does it feel good to just have to worry about you and the wife now instead of another person all the time with two tickets?

In regards to Colquitt, it looked like Winchester was snapping it high all day, which threw him out of rhythm. If those snaps were on target I think the punts would've been better.

[KChiefs1]

Fantastic as always George.

[Cornstock]

Overall, this game wasn't that pretty, but I think we've beat 2 really good teams at this point. Time will tell how they end up, but Philly's pass rush looked good all day, really frustrating.

At the end of the day, we didn't play great, but still beat a good team. That's the hallmark of a good team. As our units begin to gel, I think we'll see some greatness.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by ping2000

Sucks there were so many Philly fans there.

We had the pleasure of having this bunch in front of us. This was after what seemed like their 10th consecutive 1st down conversion.

[GloryDayz]

Thanks George. As always, great write-up... I sure as hell won't need to listen to moron AM radio talking heads...