Ten Things About Tonight's Game: Christmas Week 16

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Tonight’s Game: Week 16 Christmas Edition

10. On the Ten Things For Christmas, My Chiefies Gave to Me:
Ten Points to Denver
Nine First Downs Passing
Eight Denver Miscues
Seventh Loss For Denver
Six Points for Harris
Five Wilson Stops
Four Colquitt Punts
Three Maclin Grabs
Two Big Field Goals
and a Bitch Slap
for Aqib Talib!

9. It’s been a very long day for yours truly. It’s currently after 2 AM, so the Ten Things will surely ramble a bit, because I’m a little crispy from a full and memorable day. Much sensory overload. This morning I woke up and had a dilemma: Should I have my morning coffee in my Santa coffee mug that I’ve used every Christmas Day for as long as I remember, or have it in my lucky Chiefs Coffee Mug that I’ve used every morning on Chiefs game days for about twenty years? What to do? So I had the first cup of the morning in Santa, the second in the Chiefs mug, just to make sure all my bases were covered. I hung the Chiefs flag from the front porch, got dressed, and while my wifey was at Christmas Mass, loaded the car up with presents, beer and rain gear. As soon as Mrs. Blowfish returned from church, we were off to Crown Center to pick up Scho63 for the pageantry that is Christmas Day in Ooooooolathe. We went to my sister in law’s house for Christmas dinner, wild frenzied opening of presents by my nieces and nephews, and watching the pre-game for the Steelers-Ravens game with a piece of pie. At 4pm we headed out to Arrowhead, almost got in a car wreck, escaped to the Draft Room Bar in the Stadium, and watched the end of the Steelers game. A big cheer went up in the bar when the Steelers won in the last minute, clinching a playoff spot for the Chiefs. We waited right up to kickoff to go to the seats because it was raining sideways, and there was plenty of time to get wet. The rain was persistent, but not terrible. It was warm enough where it wasn’t a big deal. After the front blew through the wind calmed down where it wasn’t howling like it was during pre-game warm ups. Scho63 stood for most of the game without his coat on, getting wet, but he was pretty much oblivious to anything but the game. I’m glad I was able to take him to see a rare thing; the first KC home victory over the Donks in six years.

8. Game stuff: It was great to get out to an early lead. Hill gets a 70-yard run from scrimmage He was five short of running for 100 tonight. He was targeted five times for passes but couldn’t catch one. That’s much better usage of his skills. Bravo.

7. Alex re-discovered that he indeed has legs and feet. He ran for the first KC TD, ended up with 46 yards rushing; something that’s been sorely missing in his game this year. His early pick was a bad one, but he got hit when he threw, and the ball just kind of sailed on him and died in the wind. It was an easy pick for Denver. Luckily that was his only mis-fire of the night. He ended up completing almost 70% of his passes in poor passing weather. The only QB with a better completion percentage was Poe. More on that later.

6. Kelce set the single game record for yardage by a Chiefs TE with 11 catches for 160 yards, half of that yardage on a run after catch on a basic Tight End Screen. He wore the Donks out. As we said in the rubble of last weeks loss, you need your play makers to make plays. Hill, Alex and Kelce all did that tonight. Kudos to all. Well done. Just what the doctor ordered.

5. The KC defense was outstanding. They basically gave up one TD on a five yard drive after the Donks Pick, and they gave up a 52 yard field goal in the rain. Pitched a shutout in the second half. That’s Championship Defense. That’s what good teams do; make adjustments at halftime, and snuff out the will of the other team and just frustrate their offensive efforts. Spunky Semen wasn’t throwing for over 300 yards tonight. No sir. Not when Bob Sutton has previous game film on him, and not with Phillip Gaines in street clothes. Kudos to Terrance Mitchell, Mister “Who Dat” for the Chiefs secondary. He tied for most tackles -five- and didn’t get burned. Sanders had one catch. One. Great night shutting down Denver’s passing game.

4. Other Unsung heroes for KC tonight: Daniel Sorensen hits like a truck on special teams, recovers two fumbles. Stone Hands Harris gets six catches, next best to Kelce for the night, and gets one TD, just like Kelce did. Harris’ TD was the dagger. Who threw the dagger? The Hungry Poe Pig did! Great call by Andy. Really unexpected, which is exactly what they needed at that point. Chris Jones was a monster on the defensive line. He pushed his guy back in the pocket relentlessly, and had a couple of tipped passes. He’s just gotten better week by week. And it was fitting that Berry got the final pick to end the game. He’s had a storybook season, and it couldn’t have happened to a better guy.

3. I really don’t want to say much negative. My Festivus grievances are minor. Bothered me that the Midget missed a field goal and a PAT. Hope he doesn’t get the yips going into the playoffs. Schwartz was drawn offsides trying to stay in front of Von Miller, but in his defense, Miller did basically nothing important. He had seven tackles, but no sacks or forced fumbles. KC's Defense and Special Teams did not contribute any points, and when KC went scoreless in the third quarter, that was concerning. I was afraid we’d have another scoreless second half for the third game in a row, but luckily the offense was able to put up 12 big points in the fourth quarter to put it out of reach. Santos made up for his field goal miss by hitting two important ones in the fourth quarter. That made it a three possession lead, which helped the defense tremendously.

2. On injuries, Conley tweaked an ankle, went down before halftime and got it taped up, an finished the game; but he looked pained when the game was over. Ware went down in the second half to the locker room. Looked like he had a bad rib cage injury or upper chest bruise. The trainer was smacking him around and trying to pry a football out of his hands. They put West in for the remainder of the fourth quarter, and we didn’t see Ware again. Hope he’ll be OK for San Diego, or we’re going to have to activate Knile Davis. The Donks got a little chippy in the final five minutes. Donald Stephenson jumped offsides three times in one game, thanks to crowd noise. He got an unsportsmanlike penalty for getting lippy with somebody; and Talib came over to the Chiefs bench and was running his yap at somebody. He’s a total flaming asshole…. sorry Jayhawk fans.

1. Kudos to the team for battling hard on a rainy, windy night after they already knew they had made the playoffs. Now it’s still possible to win the AFC West and grab back that number two position in the seeding. I’m worried about two things: a) The Donks mailing it in vs. Oakland next week; and b) The Chiefs mailing it in vs. San Diego. I think the Donks will play hard because they’re at home, and they hate the Raiders as much as we do. They’d like nothing better than to bounce the Raiders on the road to have to play as a wild card team, without their starting QB. I worry about KC in San Diego, because since the Bolts lost to the lowly Cleveland Browns -ruining their Cleveland futility parade- they’re gonna be extra pissed, and wanting to deny us an AFC West Title. They should have beat us in Arrowhead on opening day, and I’m sure they’ll be reminding themselves of that over and over as this week slides by. At least the weather in San Diego should be nice, and hopefully the Chiefs will apply the lesson they learned from being a Wild Card vagabond last year, and take care of bidness.

It was a blast being able to show Scho63 some genuine KC hospitality for Christmas, and glad he got to see a win. As for me personally, it’s been a rough year. But I’m counting my blessings. I have front row, 50 yard line seats for the Chiefs games, I got my sight back in my left eye after a detached retina surgery in July, my wife still loves me and I have three little kitties who I fed tuna and gave cat toys to this morning. I’m blessed beyond measure. I hope you are blessed as well.

Merry Christmas to All.
And to all a
Good Night.

[Trivers]

Great write up! This is the is George that we know and love!

Do we rest players next week? Or as we are playing at the same time as the Den/Oak game, we have to go all out to win to ensure the opportunity?

Losing your eyesight had to be awful. Glad to read that you have it back.

Merry Christmas (observed)

[Buehler445]

Great read George. Like always.

Big game. Obviously Reid thought he could exploit the TE game. This is probably the most I've seen Reid beat a single drum all year (Exempting the WR screen and all). Hopefully they keep it up. Except giving all of Harris' looks to Kelce. Except that wacky shit of handing the ball off to Harris. WTF was that? I mean, yeah, 5 yards and all, but WTF? He's 6'7. Remember though, most of their secondary is out except the corners. That may not be repeatable.

Big players made big plays. Lets roll into the playoffs. Optimal situation is one where we get up by 40 in the first half and can then rest the starters. I think you play to win. I understand the stakes of the 5 seed, but I think you play to win. Too many times guys let off and can't get it back for the playoffs. And it isn't like the offense is a well oiled machine.

No offense taken on Talib. I didn't want him due to the headcase thing. I was wrong though, he's a WAAAAY better cover man than I thought he would end up being.

Merry Christmas George. I always enjoy your posts.

**** Donk Forever.

[Bwana]

Great read as always George, happy belated Christmas!

[Kman34]

Great read... There's nothing like watching a fat guy throw a ball..

[SAUTO]

Great write up once again george.

Happy holidays brother.

[cabletech94]

glad you got out of the can after you ran on the field last night blowfish. really appreciate the humor and the insight!
Merry new year!!!

[Marcellus]

Great as always George! Merry Christmas!

[Discuss Thrower]

Dunno if it was mentioned but on Smith's last scramble in the fourth quarter in Denver territory, someone was so wide open that George with one eye could have hit him.

Anyway, around the two minute warning a very intoxicated dude sitting behind me started chanting "Poe". We all joined in which got the QA coaches, inactive players and at least Chris Jones among those suited up really fired up. Then we did it again after the stoppage of play with the same result before Reid pulled the trigger and sent the KC version of Jared Lorenzen out there for a most pleasing play call.

[jjchieffan]

Great read George. And spot on as usual. I came away from the game with a couple of concerns, and you mentioned them. Hill was 0-5. That is so uncharacteristic for him. He usually catches everything thrown his way. That miss at the 2 in the 4th quarter was one that should have been an easy 6 points. Hopefully that doesn't happen again in the playoffs. Second was Santos missing an extra point and a 39 yard field goal. What is going on there? Last time we saw a kicker missing like that down the stretch we had the kicker that shall not be named disaster in the playoffs.

[Meatloaf]

Another great write-up, George. Always enjoy reading your assessments which are spot on. Thanks again for sharing your talents!!!

[Pointer19]

George, your write-up always helps me realize just how awesome our team can be. You've got me excited for the post season.

[scho63]

I want to give a wonderful and heart felt giant thank you to Mr and Mrs Blowfish for treating this former Jersey guy to a fantastic Christmas Day. Not only did they bring me to family dinner, they gave me some KC related gifts!

This was the second time I've come to Arrowhead, both times a win, both times in the front row, last time on the 25 and this time on the 50 in the Cadillac seats with the Blowfish family.

It was an incredible experience in spite of the rain, I stood for 90% of the game and my arches are crying this morning. I only wore my Chiefs polo shirt with my safety vest from work and my Chiefs baseball cap. I took close to 200 pictures on my cell phone and must have dried off my reading glasses 50x's due to the rain.

I screamed and cheered as loud as possible like some teenage fan as opposed to the 53 year old guy I am. My voice is shot and I sound like James Earl Jones this morning.

When the jerkoff Donkey fan ran onto the field, I started the "asshole, asshole" cheer. My little contribution to what was an all around great and memorable game.

After the game ended and the players entered the tunnel, I high fived Kelce, Maclin, Poe, Sorenson, Harris, Ware, and Rakim.

Thanks again GBlowfish to making me feel like part of your family for a day. I will cherish this memory for the rest of my life......

[NWTF]

Originally Posted by TigerUppercut

Call me crazy but I would consider losing the next game and treating it like a bye week if that means we get to face Houston and the Raiders. I like Smith in warm conditions and facing a division rival, even if on the road

I wouldnt consider losing for any reason. Play your best and let the chips fall where they fall. I will admit that your playoff scenario is a very favorable path to the AFCCG.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by scho63

When the jerkoff Donkey fan ran onto the field, I started the "asshole, asshole" cheer.

The announcers said something about Berry making a tackle or a hit on the idiot. Did anyone at the game see this, or is there any footage of it out there that anyone has seen? The network cut away from the guy when he ran out there so all I got was a glimpse of him, not the aftermath.

[BlackHelicopters]

Thanks Mr. G