Am I the only one who feels kind of encouraged?

[DaFace]

I had this game down as a loss. (See the predictions poll for proof.) The Patriots always start out slow, and I still see them as top five in the league at worst. They're notoriously tough to beat at home. They had 10 days to prepare. We were missing two OL, two pass rushers, and about 40 DBs. Pat played like shit for a half.

And the game just came down to who had the ball last.

We weren't going 16-0. If this is the one we lose, that's one hell of a season. Looking forward to next week.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by CupidStunt

Other than the Rams, there's no team left on the schedule anywhere close to the Patriots in terms of overall challenge. Sure there's a couple good QBs, but on teams that we'll shred for more points of our owns.

I mean for anyone feeling negative, here are the next 4 games:

CIN
DEN
@CLE
ARZ

3 home games, the toughest of which is vs a turnover-prone QB who's 0-10 on SNF.

We are going to be 9-1 heading to Mexico. And maybe we'll be a little healthier on D by then and we can easily beat the Rams; that's a coin-flip game. Their schedule is Charmin. They aren't as good as people think they are - the D is garbage, just like about 95% of teams.

I'm not really worried about the regular season anymore. If we don't make the playoffs this season shit went south in the most egregious of ways. However, we're more likely than not going to face one of if not both of the Steelers and Patriots in January. This level of ineptitude on the defense is going to **** us raw dog if Mahomes doesn't play a perfect game.

[CupidStunt]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

I am very encouraged by Mahomes- he outplayed Brady in every statistic.

Discouraged by Veech and his complete lack of judgment concerning defensive talent.

Burn this D to the ground in the offseason.

Give Veach a chance. He's barely been on the job, and his targeting of Mahomes alone is worth 5 failed drafts.

But really, what talent has he judged? Fuller was good last year, I assume he'd stop sucking ass if we had competent outside corners and he could play slot more consistently. All the scrubs like Murray etc are not on him. It's way too early to judge Speaks, even though he looks like a bad fit, but maybe he knows we're switching schemes soon or something?

But man, **** that. Some of you guys have stupid dumb expectations. No GM is perfect, and if you have a GM that can perfectly identify a franchise QB when almost no other team could? ****, that buys him a few years in my book. If we're still shitty in 3 years, by all means I'll want him fired.

[Iowanian]

This offense showed that they are never out of a game, and I believe they can hang 40 on any team in the league. Mahomes looked rattled in the first half and came out throwing fire in the second....that's a good learning-growth experience and he answered the challenge. I love seeing that.

The defense isn't good right now with a full group of starters, and they have some key injuries right now. The safeties were the big concern but truthfully they weren't the problem last night. Brady is going to make plays and get some yards.

My bigger concern is the run defense. Ragland and Hitchens have a guard in their face on every run play. I can't decide if the D line is failing to hold up blockers, or if they are having trouble shedding them, but I'm concerned about the run game defense. Berry needs to get his ass on the field, or to IR so that spot can be filled with a body.

That said....if you had given me information that the Chiefs were going to be 5-1 at the end of this 6 game stretch I'd have been thrilled. This loss hurt a little last night and today, but big picture there is no shame in losing that game on a last second FG after being down 15 on the road in NE.

I'm encouraged.....my bad girlfriend has a legit chance to completely break my heart again at the end of the year, because we're doing so good and I don't think they'll cheat on me again...they promised.

[CupidStunt]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

I'm not really worried about the regular season anymore. If we don't make the playoffs this season shit went south in the most egregious of ways. However, we're more likely than not going to face one of if not both of the Steelers and Patriots in January. This level of ineptitude on the defense is going to **** us raw dog if Mahomes doesn't play a perfect game.

I agree, but let's not pretend those exact teams aren't saying the EXACT SAME THING - only neither of them has had their shit pushed in while missing a few KEY starters.

I'm not making excuses and we'll still be bad when (IF) we get fully healthy. But it cannot be understated how much difference it will make having Berry and Houston, among others, compared to the depth chart we had yesterday. And we saw how close the game was. The margin for error is SMALL, and those guys make the difference.

[smithandrew051]

Encouraged that we didn’t give up. Encouraged that the offense is never completely out of it. Encouraged that literally no defense in the league can even really slow them down (both scoring and yardage).

Discouraged that we had a golden opportunity to seize the AFC and came out so flat. Discouraged by the defense. Discouraged that Breeland Speaks talked about this being a moral victory. We need to act like true contenders instead of having a defeatist mentally that almost beating New England is good enough.

**** Speaks. You need to get your fatass pissed off after that performance. Be ****ing angry about it.

[Iowanian]

Speaks actually didn't play too bad, and he put pressure on Brady several times.

I think he lost the big sack because he tried to roll and not put a hit on Brady and didn't want to get flagged.....pretty much what he said and the league rules are shitting on defense right now.


Also, that's about 3 weeks in a row with obvious yellow flag bias....didn't really make an excuse, but there were some tacky calls on the Chiefs(several were legit) but the Chiefs defense was getting mugged to save Brady with no holding calls....

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I wonder how long he could do that. He could dodge one guy indefinitely, and he could dodge two for a while. It would take a while for the other defenders to figure out what was happening and get downfield. Could he have run three minutes off the clock?

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by CupidStunt

I agree, but let's not pretend those exact teams aren't saying the EXACT SAME THING - only neither of them has had their shit pushed in while missing a few KEY starters.

I'm not making excuses and we'll still be bad when (IF) we get fully healthy. But it cannot be understated how much difference it will make having Berry and Houston, among others, compared to the depth chart we had yesterday. And we saw how close the game was. The margin for error is SMALL, and those guys make the difference.

Berry and Houston aren't enough. At this point saying they've been unreliable recently would be putting it kindly. We need help. Now. Veach had better be working those phones.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

I watched some of the postgame interviews—I get this same sense from our players that they’re encouraged more than anything and they know that they’re going to get back on track next week, hauling ass straight towards another shot at New England.

Their confidence is still high, maybe even higher. Just need some fortune with health and a move or two and I think we’re going to the Super Bowl.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by CupidStunt

Give Veach a chance. He's barely been on the job, and his targeting of Mahomes alone is worth 5 failed drafts.

But really, what talent has he judged? Fuller was good last year, I assume he'd stop sucking ass if we had competent outside corners and he could play slot more consistently. All the scrubs like Murray etc are not on him. It's way too early to judge Speaks, even though he looks like a bad fit, but maybe he knows we're switching schemes soon or something?

But man, **** that. Some of you guys have stupid dumb expectations. No GM is perfect, and if you have a GM that can perfectly identify a franchise QB when almost no other team could? ****, that buys him a few years in my book. If we're still shitty in 3 years, by all means I'll want him fired.

I didn't say I wanted Veech fired. But to pay Watkins that kind of money- overpay on Hitchens, waste draft stock on reaches and completely failed at bringing any talent other than Fuller to beef up the secondary. Pretty bad offseason.

[CupidStunt]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Berry and Houston aren't enough.

To help win a game, at home, we just lost by 3 while giving up 43?

Why yes, yes they are. They are precisely the players we need to make those 1 or 2 little plays that change the entire course of a game. Force one punt, knock down one ball, etc.

Sure, I want more via trade, too, but we do not need a billion changes to beat that team.

[CupidStunt]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

I didn't say I wanted Veech fired. But to pay Watkins that kind of money- overpay on Hitchens, waste draft stock on reaches and completely failed at bringing any talent other than Fuller to beef up the secondary. Pretty bad offseason.

So you're basically expecting a perfect GM. All I can say is good luck. Every fan in the league complains about the bad, even in NE who have had MORE than their share of draft failures, all bailed out by having Brady. Literal end of story.

[Chiefnj2]

I find it hard to be encouraged when you have one of the worst defenses in the league. This is the Vermeil years all over again.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by CupidStunt

So you're basically expecting a perfect GM. All I can say is good luck. Every fan in the league complains about the bad, even in NE who have had MORE than their share of draft failures, all bailed out by having Brady. Literal end of story.

Can you point to a single move in the 2018 offseason and say Veach did a good job? All I can see is Nnadi and getting a sucker to trade for Smith.

[CupidStunt]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

I find it hard to be encouraged when you have one of the worst defenses in the league. This is the Vermeil years all over again.

Almost every team in the league cannot play defense. The Bears just gave up 31 points to Brock ****ing Osweiler. The Jags gave up 40 to the goddamn inept Cowboys.

Man, I was saying this all offseason and people just don't pay attention: the only thing that matters in the NFL is who your QB is.

That's why we were a joke with Smith and will now be a force for years. The title games in both conferences are going to come down to Mahomes/Brady/Ben and Brees/Wentz/Goff/Cousins/Rodgers. And almost none of those teams are any good whatsoever at playing defense.

I assume those with this train of thought think the Ravens are coming out of the AFC?