When Hungry Pigs Fly
What a merry Christmas it was. We got to see a fast start, solid defense and special teams, a Chiefs victory, a Denver loss, eliminated the Doncs from the playoffs, four offensive touchdowns, and a 6’3” 346 lb NFL Nose Tackle throw a touchdown pass from the wildcat. I love it.
There were so many aspects of the game that were satisfying, but I thought I would touch on 3 of my favorites.
Hungry Pig Flies
It is always fun to see a big man get involved with the offense, but it is usually as a blocker or an occasional running back at the goal line. It is pretty darn rare to see them catching passes (although technically it was backwards and counts as a run) and throwing touchdowns. However, that is exactly what Santa, I mean Andy Reid treated the Chiefs fans to on Sunday night.
Send in Dontari Poe, of Hungry Pig Right fame, for a goal line play. When they break the huddle, where does Poe go? Poe lines up in the wildcat. Oh boy, this is going to be good: he’s going to take a direct snap, get up a head of steam, and plow into the line for a TD. All is going as expected until he pulls up, gets some crazy ups (for a 346 lb man that is), and launches a jump shot ball over the line to magnet hands Demetrius Harris for a score. And the stadium goes wild. Well, everyone except those wearing orange and blue.
Hill Jet Sweeps Miller: Part Deux
In a repeat of the last time the Chiefs and Broncos played, Tyreek Hill ran a jet sweep from left to right with Alex Smith on a read option, Smith gave the ball to Hill and he blew right by Von Miller for a big gain, again.
I have watched the replay about a dozen times and it just doesn’t get old. He has a deer in the headlights look and then he goes into full on recovery mode. Of course he isn’t nearly fast enough to catch Hill. Then again, who is?
This is a great play to keep pass-rushing ends honest. If they come crashing in too fast, a handoff like this goes right by them for a nice gain. If they pause a second to hold the edge, the QB can drop back for a pass with the extra time. Good play if we don’t overuse it and mix in the handoffs and passes.
Millionth Time is The Charm Bubble Screen
Unfortunately for all of us Chiefs fans, the bubble screen finally paid off big time. Travis Kelce brought in a bubble screen pass, Harris and Mitchell Schwartz throw some nice blocks, Kelce is off to the races, Eric Fisher is way downfield ready to block, Jeremy Maclin throws a final block to ensure Kelce goes in untouched. Nice team play for a score. As someone on the game thread joked, “so that is what it looks like when executed correctly”.
All kidding aside, it was a nice play for the offense. It looked like everyone was motivated and on their assignment. I didn’t see anyone going half-hearted on the play. I am really hoping the loss to the Titans was the wake-up call we needed to go into the playoffs with the right mindset.
Honorable Mentions
You have to like the Bronco fan running onto the field. It was only made better by this beautiful tackle by security. I think we found our replacement for DJ. Dorsey called him in for a workout today.
Talking heads saying Reid was running up the score with the Poe touchdown. To that I say, “Bah, Humbug”. When we don’t score then we aren’t aggressive enough and can’t close out games. When we do score, we are running it up to embarrass the Broncos. I think it was the right call to go for the touchdown, regardless of who scored or how. Denver is supposed to have a good defense and was touted all year long based on them being the Superbowl champs. They should have been able to stop us.
Game Stats
Denver Passing – 183 yards, 17/43, QBR of 22.0 and Rating of 43.1
Denver Rushing – 63 yards, across 4 RBs and 14 carries
Denver Defense – 0 Sacks
Denver Offense – 13 series – 1 TD, 1 FG, 1 TO on Downs, 1 INT, 2 Fumbles, and 7 Punts
Emmanuel Sanders – 1 reception for 26 yards
Demaryius Thomas – 3 receptions for 20 yards
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Tyreek Hill – 6 carries for 95 yards
Travis Kelce – 11 receptions for 160 yards
KC Time Of Possession – 38:01
Those are pretty awesome stats, particularly the ones that show how the Kansas City Offense dominated the Denver Defense. If our offense can continue this, then we can go deep into the playoffs and be contenders in the Superbowl. Until then, Go Chiefs!
And there’s The Rub!
