A Levelheaded Review week 1 2024

[DenverChief]

Worthy is gonna make this offense exciting again. The jet sweep really showed off his speed and the blown coverage was just beautiful to see.

Kingsley really held up well in his first start gave up a sack but overall was a good performance.

Pacheco has really upped his game - those jump cuts he uses now are just nasty.

J Taylor and his false start penalties again. Really hope he can get his early jumps worked out.

Chris Jones was feasting on a young inexperienced Ravens Oline.

The DB's didn't look as bad in this game as in the pre-season. The LB's (Bolton) were made to look silly a couple of times. I'd like to see some of the big gains cleaned up but I think a lot of that was all the time Lamar had in the pocket trying to contain him. Not super worried about it.

Connor had a couple of big hits and just missed getting an INT. I think his eyes got too big on that dropped INT and dropped an easy one.

Lamar was their whole offense and we still struggle to contain a super mobile QB - BUT I'll take making them into basically a one weapon team.

Hardman was a good choice as a PR/KR.

Juju was out there making some good blocks and almost had a TD.

Rice is gonna feast over the middle this year.

Starting the season 1-0 is great. Next week is going to be even better. I think this team is back to boat racing teams in scoring and turning them into a one dimensional offense trying to keep up.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by DenverChief

Also - Perine was a great pickup. He is gonna be an even better version of McKinnon.

McKinnon catches that ball for a TD it was there. It seems it surprised him a little and he tried to one arm it. It would have been a great in stride catch. He will learn Pat gets it to you in a hurry and in stride.

[JPH83]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

My initial thoughts…
- worthy for now will be mecole hardman except without all the mistakes and blown opportunities. That’s how we brought tyreek along. Good way for Reid to slowly bring him along while also giving him an impactful role right away. Unlike rashee who took a while to earn Reid’s trust
- what a huge night for Kingsley. If he plays like this against a top shelf defense in his very first start… whoa baby. Also I feel like Taylor getting a full offseason to reset and not be in his head about timing will make him look more comfortable this year
- our RB depth is a huge upgrade
- at kelces age we may see a little regression in his production and some of that high usage will shift to rashee. We seem content to use rashee as a power slot. And why not. He’s terrific in this. I still wonder if his role eventually expands downfield but it may not need to. The Noah gray contract and his usage makes me wonder if the chiefs are slowly bringing along Wiley or do they just not really see it with him
- when Hollywood is back I wonder what that means for the back of our wr depth chart. Do we need mecole now that worthy is legit? It also feels like mahomes doesn’t trust Watson and at this point he’s kind of a keepaway option

I think Wiley is going to have a very limited role and be brought along slow, effectively a decoy. They're going to see if he can block. It'll be Gray 2.0.

[Buehler445]

The big thing is these teams aren't who they were in the AFCCG and they're not who they are going to be in the playoffs.

This was pretty sloppy by both sides. We missed a lot of plays, so did they, especially with their OL. Some of the Lamar misses are consistent with history, but execution for both teams will get better. Plus, hopefully the sister****ing refs don't throw as many flags later on. They're obviously "making it a point of emphasis" is the lining up thing. Hopefully the refs chill out. That is an entirely different game on both sides if they call it like they would in week 12.

RE: Refs. These ****ing twats. That was a bad game for the refs. Them totally missing the Ravens cheap shot out of bounds is absolutely inexcusable. Even if it's a late flag, you have to throw that one. I had no problem if they called that one and didn't throw it on the other one on the sideline where Mahomes tripped over the dude. Which in the end whatever. But that cheap shot is absolutely inexcusable. I'm not a big make the game safer shit, but that hit will get someone hurt. Maybe the crowd made it clear enough that Hoculi's kid might not make it out alive and might have got us the make up call, but like I said, if they call the cheap shot and swallow the other one. I just have no idea how the hell they didn't call the cheap shot.

That being said, we came out better with the refs than the Ravens did. At some point, the Ravens dude needs to scoot the **** up, but they got hosed on some of those calls. FFS, I don't want to see refs. I want to see football. Call the bad shit, and let me watch ball.

On the Chiefs front, a win is a win. We were up 10, we should have demolished those bitches in the 4th. That sucks. Some of our execution should get better. But that's a tough out and we got it done. Mahomes, I thought was damned sharp. Some of the rest of the team, no, but Mahomes was sharp. He didn't feel the dude coming on the pick and he sent that pass to Perine a little hot, but other than that, dude was on it. On a rewatch I might be able to nitpick a few more things out, but the dude was locked in. He'll have down games, but if everyone gets pissed off locked in Mahomes, watch out league. LOL

Rice looked good. Juju didn't look washed (yet), and Kelce is still magically wide open, but give me some more Worthy into my veins. More jets and screens, get him on some crossers and then of course deep. Hoo boy. I watched all the video from camp, and the preseason and all of it, I was still holding some back to see what he looked like against elite competition in real games - easy strides and making dudes look a fool. Fuuuuuck. Best thing is that's on film now. DCs are going to be losing sleep over this dude. Let's go.

Defense didn't execute all that well, which I think is fixable. I was pretty happy with the non-McDuffie CBs, which is where I was worried. I thought they played really well. Reid also had a really nice game IMO. He's getting old enough I wouldn't be shocked if the wheels fall off a bit - I was encouraged. Bolton looked rough. I don't think he's washed. Hopefully he's not washed. He looked washed. Furious George got sucked inside and lost contain on Lamar several times. Maybe I'm missing a gameplan component, but I was pretty shocked. He had some real nice pass rushes, but there were couple times I thought he should get out of of it and hold the edge. That will be interesting to watch. Also, it was fairly annoying that Likely was good for 10 and an out of bounds whenever they wanted on that final drive. You ****ing know it's there. Get up there and get ready for it.

STs looked good. Sorry Townsend, I'm glad we didn't pay you. Toub - Thanks for not making me curse your soul LOL.

On the Ravens side, what a way to lose. That's pretty savage. That being said, I've been there done that. NOBODY was shedding any tears when the Chiefs dumped these type of games. **** you.

Also, if Lamar's idiot ass hit's those 2 WIDE THE **** OPEN passes on 1st and 2nd down, it woulnd't have to come down to a toe. The story is Lamar being super late on the Likely and Flowers coming wide the **** open for easy passes. There are 15 QBs in the league that hit one of 2 of those. That's a bad look for Lamar. And I'm not here to crush Lamar. He played a good game. He was destroying us with those runs, and he hit enough passes to hurt us, especially having the discipline to check down to Likely when we inexplicably forgot to cover him. But that Redzone trip was damned ugly.

It'll be interesting to see how they progress through the year. I think it is imprudent to run Lamar 16 times and some of those hits were nasty. But there are some shit teams, they can just Henry bitches to death and Lamar can get a break. They'll beat the hell out of the Faid, but then they have Cowbitches, Bills and Bengals. That's a pretty tough stretch. I'll be interested to see what they look like after that stretch.

It's kind of interesting, if they came to the AFCCG with this game plan instead of Harbitch short circuiting and wanting to show the world Lamar can throw the ball (WTF was that about - he's ****ing Lamar - let him do Lamar things in a must win) they probably win that game. That being said, is Henry washed? He looked ****ing horrible and is apparently unplayable in crunch time? I think we gameplanned for him, but woof he looked slow and washed. Hill hurt us far far worse.

Week 1 win. Feels good man.

[MIAdragon]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Maybe don't punt for a 20 yard net.

Andy's gonna Andy until the end of time.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Yeah I agree and you can probably blame mahomes for pulling a Justin Herbert and rifling passes a little too hot to his running backs. We also had the kelce drop. It shows that our floor is better than Baltimore’s ceiling which is great. But you can see some of the frustration in mahomes’ face. We haven’t fully unleashed mahomes yet. It took a blown coverage to get our only passing td. Hollywood will make a huge difference and (shudder) Mvs probably would have too. Great win but as a spoiled fan, it would’ve also been nice to have a statement game that put the ridiculous Lamar comparison to rest. Lamar did just enough for people to still stan him and to gripe about close calls but I think most of us know we can boat race that team last night on a good night let alone a great one. Good fuel going into the rest of the season.

For whatever it is, whether it's them or us (I'm open to the idea of Reid not wanting to really put it on his guy Harbitch), but we never seem to put a full game together against them and wreck them. They're good, too, so that is a thing.

But regardless what happens the rest of the year, we probably won't ever destroy them.

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

It also feels like mahomes doesn’t trust Watson and at this point he’s kind of a keepaway option

Huh? Based on what?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Why Not?

Huh? Based on what?

It feels like the gameplan since the chiefs dialed in last year was to give rice and kelce a massive amount of volume. And just use the other guys enough to keep defenses a little bit honest. These are the types of games you’d expect for a guy like Watson to thrive with Hollywood out and Mvs gone. I think his experience gives him value at the back of the depth chart. But what is his role knowing that Hollywood will be back and juju and worthy will really grow their role in this offense? I think we’re past the days of guys like Watson and Mvs running lots of routes for the sake of 1-2 aggressive targets

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by tyreekthefreak

JuJu more expendable than Hardman, imo

No he isn’t. Disagree. When Hollywood comes back juju fits a really nice role as a short and underneath option. Run a crisp quick route, hit your spot, catch the ball, ideally grab a few YAC. It’s what they want skyy to do but he sucks at it. Worthy is a better version of mecole and juju is a better version of skyy

[O.city]

He's the 4th/5th WR option. That's about what you'll get.

[O.city]

Hardman is insurance for Worth/Hollywood going down.

You'd cut Sky if you wanted someone gone.

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

It feels like the gameplan since the chiefs dialed in last year was to give rice and kelce a massive amount of volume. And just use the other guys enough to keep defenses a little bit honest. These are the types of games you’d expect for a guy like Watson to thrive with Hollywood out and Mvs gone. I think his experience gives him value at the back of the depth chart. But what is his role knowing that Hollywood will be back and juju and worthy will really grow their role in this offense? I think we’re past the days of guys like Watson and Mvs running lots of routes for the sake of 1-2 aggressive targets

I would agree with your assessment here but I don’t think that means Mahomes doesn’t trust Watson, it’s that Mahomes isn’t gonna need Watson all that much this year.

[DenverChief]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

My initial thoughts…
- worthy for now will be mecole hardman except without all the mistakes and blown opportunities. That’s how we brought tyreek along. Good way for Reid to slowly bring him along while also giving him an impactful role right away. Unlike rashee who took a while to earn Reid’s trust
- what a huge night for Kingsley. If he plays like this against a top shelf defense in his very first start… whoa baby. Also I feel like Taylor getting a full offseason to reset and not be in his head about timing will make him look more comfortable this year
- our RB depth is a huge upgrade
- at kelces age we may see a little regression in his production and some of that high usage will shift to rashee. We seem content to use rashee as a power slot. And why not. He’s terrific in this. I still wonder if his role eventually expands downfield but it may not need to. The Noah gray contract and his usage makes me wonder if the chiefs are slowly bringing along Wiley or do they just not really see it with him
- when Hollywood is back I wonder what that means for the back of our wr depth chart. Do we need mecole now that worthy is legit? It also feels like mahomes doesn’t trust Watson and at this point he’s kind of a keepaway option

Yes. We need a KR/PR and we aren’t trotting Worthy/Moore/Rice or Brown out there to do that. Watson maybe but Hardman was primary all pre-season.

[DenverChief]

Originally Posted by tyreekthefreak

JuJu more expendable than Hardman, imo

You misspelled Moore

[Chiefnj2]

1st game ball goes to Veach for those first two draft picks. Major impact in their first NFL games.

2nd game ball to Reid who called a great game except for 2 decisions (the punt and that wildcat call that Travis held on). Otherwise, but for three “dropped” balls the game wouldn’t have been that close.

3rd game ball to Jones for being an absolute beast. There is no other player in the NFL who can lineup at every DL position and be an impact player. Amazing.

4th game ball, which is going to get a lot of hate, Lady Luck. The Ravens had WRs WIDE open on those first two redzone throws at the end of the game and lost by a quarter of inch. They got lucky Lamar was Lamar. Credit to Jones for rushing Lamar on one of those throws, but coverage sucked.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

My initial thoughts…
-
- when Hollywood is back I wonder what that means for the back of our wr depth chart. Do we need mecole now that worthy is legit? It also feels like mahomes doesn’t trust Watson and at this point he’s kind of a keepaway option

Agree with most of your take except the above.What makes you think he doesn't trust Watson?