Ten Things About Today's Game Week 9: KC 37 Brownouts 21

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Today’s Game: Week 9: KC 37 CLE 21

10. It was so nice to be able to sleep in today on a wet and cold KC November morning. I went up to my favorite neighborhood diner, the Englewood Cafe, got some carry out breakfast, settled in and watched the game through a fog of Vicks Vapo-Rub, the voice of Mitch Holthaus on the radio and the nasty NyQuil hangover from the overnight. We’ve had a lot of weird games in Cleveland. We've lost crazy overtime games there, we had the Rudd Helmet Tossing Game, and I was afraid this might be a classic “trap game,” with the "Win One For Dorsey" factor. Gregg Williams is a dirty coach, so I was afraid a bunch of our guys -including Mahomes- would have targets on their backs. Except for a foot injury to Sammy Watkins, looks like it was Cleveland that had the injury problems. Their entire defensive secondary was on a conveyor belt to the locker room. That just made things extra easy for Mahomes picking apart Cleveland’s backup secondary, as he threw for 375 yards, his eighth straight 300 yard game.

9. This team may be immune to trap games, as Andy seems to have established a formula that works. We win the coin toss, defer, stop the other team’s first possession, score on our first possession, then make the other team play catch up until they make mistakes that seal the deal. Except for the Pats and Denver game in Denver, that’s been the script, and it works. It’s hard to be picky when the team is 8-1, but there’s a lot of things that can be improved, and really must be improved, if we’re going to make it to the Big Show this February.

8. First big problem is penalties. KC has been Raideresque in their penalties this year. Just too many, and a lot of them have been stupid unsportsmanlike penalties. And it’s been affecting both offense and defense. Today was 11 penalties for 86 yards. That's three times as many as the Browns had. The Chiefs offense had three penalties on ONE PLAY. Defense had Cleveland in a 3rd and 23 at a critical point in the game, made a play and had the Browns stopped to force a 4th and long. Hitchens had to lose his mind with an unsportsmanlike penalty, gives the Browns a first down which allowed them to score. Look, the Browns are a dumpster fire, that’s obvious. But they have a decent offense. If we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot by having double digit penalties, that’s going to be a killer in the playoffs against a good team like the Steelers or Pats. We must get some penalty discipline, and get it soon.

7. Second big problem is tackling. Chubb broke tackle after tackle after tackle. He didn’t make 100 yards but was close enough with 85 yards and a TD. Cleveland averaged over four yards per rush. That’s not good. A team that can stop the run should hold that to three yards or less. We spent a lot of money to STOP THE RUN. C'mon Grandpa Bob, may have to mix in some run blitzes on first down.

6. Third big problem is pass coverage. Defense gave up two passing TDs, and got burned especially on passes to Johnson out of the backfield. Defense gave up just under 400 offensive yards to Cleveland, so once again, the KC offense had to put up big points to run away and hide. One thing I will say, Nelson showed me some heart. In the fourth quarter he got toasted on a bomb to Callaway for 38 yards. After giving up that play he picked Mayfield to kill the drive. Except for his boneheaded unsportsmanlike penalty, Hitchens gutted it up and played with bad ribs - and tied with Nelson for most tackles. Chris Jones got a gift sack when he blew through unblocked with a straight line to Mayfield. Other sack was on a blitz by Lucas, which was his only tackle in the whole game. Kudos to Grandpa Bob for dialing that up. Dee Ford was neutralized, he had one tackle and no sacks. Speaks blew a pass coverage that gave up a first down, but otherwise had some nice plays including stopping the Browns final attempt on fourth and two. That stop sealed the game.

5. Final big problem is clock management. The Chiefs scored on every first half possession except the freaking fiasco at the end of the first half. How can you get an intentional grounding penalty on a spike? I don’t know if that mess was on Mahomes or on Andy or on Bienemy, but if we get in a tight game where we need every point we can get, we can’t be knocking ourselves out of field goal range on something self inflicted like that. And if you’re going to throw a pick on the last play of the half, why not go full Hail Mary? Mahomes can certainly reach the end zone. Run Harris down there and let him go jump ball. Luckily, we got the ball right back to start the second half and drove down and scored seven, so in this case, it didn’t affect the outcome. Again, don’t mean to nit pick, but these are all things we can improve on.

4. This game statistically was pretty even. Chiefs had about 100 yards more total offense. TOP was within a minute on both sides. First downs were basically even, turnovers were even. Chiefs had a lot more penalty yards. Browns missed all three two point conversions. Both QBs were sacked twice, Chiefs were a little better on third down conversions. Williams blocked punt was the turning point in the game. Once that punt was blocked and KC scored another TD immediately afterwards, you could see the air go right out of the Browns sideline. Kudos to the special teams, as that was a big contribution at that point of the game.

3 Today was a great example of how players love to play in front of their hometown friends and family. Kareem Hunt bought 110 tickets to the game for his old high school football team in Cleveland to attend the game. He responds with 141 all purpose yards and three TD. Kelce -who is also from Cleveland- was a dollar short of a Benjamin and scored 2 TDs. Special nod to Spencer Ware, who had a couple of nice catches to sustain drives on third down. Ware reminds me of a back the Chiefs had back in the 90’s named Todd McNair, who was a great back on third down. You could run him between the tackles, or throw the ball to him in the flat. Mahomes and Mayfield both did a nice job of distributing the ball to multiple receivers.

2. Kudos to the offensive line, which was four Cleveland castoffs and Fisher. Fisher only gave up one sack to Garrett, who’s arguably the best pass rusher in the NFL. Mahomes had all day to throw for most of the game. When we get Morse and the Canadian Doc back -IF we get the Doc back- This line should be just fine. No Berry, Dirty Dan or Houston again this week. Hopefully we’ll see at least one and maybe two of them next week. I’m convinced we’ll be lucky to see Berry until sometime in December, if at all.

1. So, 8-1 is fabulous, and at the time of this writing the Bolts are in a tussle with the Seahags. The Fade is a giant sewage pit -like their stadium. Donks are losing to the Texans and they’re done as well. Right now the focus is to try stay ahead of the Pats for a number one seed in the playoffs. If we can get a first round bye, and make teams come to Arrowhead in January, we may have a fighting chance. We have a QB that doesn’t check down and miss wide open receivers 30 yards downfield now. We need the same kind of focus next week as we received this week, as we don’t want to overlook Arizona. I know that’s tempting with a trip to Meh-i-co then the bye the week after, but if things keep rolling we could hit the bye at 10-1. The Holidays could be extra jolly this year, and extra expensive. Better start stashing away some playoff bucks now. You’re gonna need them in January.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by ChiefsFanatic

Injuries are obviously not Sutton's fault. But his inability to adapt his scheme to fit the players he has available to him is definitely his fault.

We mocked the 49ers for trying to cover Watkins with a linebacker. Offensively, we manipulate the defense into a position that creates such a ridiculous mismatch. But any time we start a play on defense with Speaks responsible for a TE or RB in man coverage, we have done the offense's work for them.

Speaks is listed on the depth chart as a ROLB, and his weight is listed at 285 pounds. Allen Bailey is listed on the depth chart as a RDE, and his weight is listed at 288 pounds. In college Speaks was a defensive tackle and defensive end. 285 pounds makes for a massive linebacker.

Speaks' 40 time is/was 4.87, and Bailey's was 4.77. So, their weight, and speed are very similar, but no one expects Bailey to cover anyone in man coverage. So why does Sutton put Speaks into a situation with such a low chance of success?

I am not saying that Bailey and Speaks are not capable of dropping off the LOS and playing a little zone coverage a few yards deep, but if either are matched up one on one with a TE or RB they are going to lose that match-up.

So, if the defense Sutton calls for a specific play or offensive personnel package requires someone to cover the RB, why is that player Speaks, and not Tremon Smith or even DOD? There is a much higher chance for success if either of them are covering the RB instead of Speaks.

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

So, blame Veach for drafting Speaks and calling him a ROLB.

Who else does Bob Sutton put over there? Again, if the defense is playing run, and Speaks is out in the 'Tank' subgroup, and the QB calls a hot read right at Speaks...

Well, is that really Sutton's fault? Or Veach's?

Or did he draft Speaks in anticipation of making him a 4-3 end next year?

Idk.

Both starting safeties are out, as well...so it's "plug and play" at this point. To blame Sutton and the 'scheme' is ludicrous. He didn't draft Speaks and is most likely being told to get him as much playing time as possible...

Sutton answers to Reid and Veach.

[MahiMike]

Conveyor belt of a injuries. Hahaha. Nice.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by ChiefsFanatic

.

#1 - I think that Mahomes is finally the QB that can solve Reid's playoff coaching deficiencies. Now, when Reid, and the Chiefs, have a double digit lead in the 4th quarter of a playoff game, and Reid has abandoned the running game, our QB has enough swagger, and is dynamic enough to force the issue when needed, instead of throwing a 4 yard pass on 3rd & 8.

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

I thought so too. But our game management at the game still frustrates the shit out of me. I don't know how many times Reid has to do this in a career because he wisens up. Many games this season we have been flat out unstoppable and let teams climb back from way behind. If it works in the 3rd quarter why not keep doing it into the 4th. Yet in half of those games we find teams climbing back from huge leads where we're putting the game in doubt in the last 5 minutes. Once we hit the 4th quarter and we're winning, Andy always wants to run out the clock. We shouldn't do that shit with the qb we have. It worked yesterday. But it's not something I want to test against great teams in the playoffs.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Ten Things About Today’s Game: Week 9: KC 37 CLE 21

8. First big problem is penalties. KC has been Raideresque in their penalties this year. We must get some penalty discipline, and get it soon.
Not sure where this is suddenly coming from this year and the only thing I can guess is that on defense the guys are not good so they get penalties trying to "cheat" by holding and other tactics. Our offensive line we have had big turnover with injuries and lots of issues with false starts and holding and hands to the face.


7. Second big problem is tackling.
We are whiffing on guys when we have them cornered for a loss or little gain. We also can't seem to bring down a guy unless we have four-on-one!

6. Third big problem is pass coverage.
We let guys get wide open too easy by finding soft spots in the zone and also bad backup when a DB releases a WR to the safety.

2. Kudos to the offensive line, which was four Cleveland castoffs and Fisher. Fisher only gave up one sack to Garrett, who’s arguably the best pass rusher in the NFL. Mahomes had all day to throw for most of the game.
Hmmmmm, I may have to disagree on this one GB. I thought our guys were getting beat all day and Mahomes scrambled out of the pocket all day and pretty quick once the protection broke down. I also think our OLine had 4 of the 5 guys getting penalties.

1. So, 8-1 is fabulous.
This is a very different 8-1 than ever before and our early undefeated season where we were 9-0 and then shit the bed. This ain't happening with Mahomes and this team.

Thanks GB one of your deeper insight Ten Things and only disagreed with your OLine assessment.

There is NO reason we should not make the Super Bowl the way we have played ALL 9 games including the loss. I'm not afraid of any team if they come to KC.

Most eager I've been to watch a Chiefs game in my entire 48 year viewing history.

Let's keep the train rolling with a blowout at home against the Cards!

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I thought so too. But our game management at the game still frustrates the shit out of me. I don't know how many times Reid has to do this in a career because he wisens up. Many games this season we have been flat out unstoppable and let teams climb back from way behind. If it works in the 3rd quarter why not keep doing it into the 4th. Yet in half of those games we find teams climbing back from huge leads where we're putting the game in doubt in the last 5 minutes. Once we hit the 4th quarter and we're winning, Andy always wants to run out the clock. We shouldn't do that shit with the qb we have. It worked yesterday. But it's not something I want to test against great teams in the playoffs.

Andy absolutely needs to challenge that shitty spot for the Browns in the first quarter. I don't get it unless the TV view and the closeups were way off.

And the whole spiking the ball thing- we had 3 timeouts and the clock was already stopped- why didn't Andy get the play in?

Andy needs to tighten this shit up. This is the stuff that helps the Pats win games. We can't make these kind of mistakes against good teams.

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

Where's MeeshMeesh?

Meesh is going to watch the game with me tonight. We DVRed it.