Kansas City running back Kareem Hunt may not be able to leap tall buildings at a single bound (yet) but, he certainly knows how to deliver the Chiefs from the dastardly clutches of one Philip Rivers of the Loss Angeles Chargers (oh, I love being obvious). After three games and… after 5 passing/receiving touchdowns and… after 401 yards rushing and… after Billions of runs of 50 yards or longer and… after 10.1 yards per carry… all in his first three games, is everyone wondering, like I am, if there is any kryptonite that will stop this more than mortal man?
To be clear, there is trouble in Metropolis. The Chiefs had 13 penalties for 122 yards vs. the charge-less Chargers. After three games played, Kansas City may have a perfect 3-and-0 record but they are anything but perfect. They lead the NFL with 33 penalties which is 4 more than any other team… for a whopping 301 yards which is 45 yards more than any other team. Not to belabor the point but, when you’re averaging more than 100 yards per game in penalty yardage, there is truly trouble in Metropolis.
With 12 sacks given up this season, Kansas City is third in the league in that category. Not something to be proud about. In fact, if you were to tell someone that your team was penalized 13 times and your QB was sacked 5 times plus 7 tackles for a loss in a game… most people would probably think you lost that game. However, that’s where Mr. Clark Kent… err… I mean Kareem Hunt, flies to the rescue.
Philip Rivers was supposed to expose a weakness in the Chiefs defensive line up: the DBs. Well, Terrance Mitchell had two INTs and Marcus Peters had one, which led to most of the Chiefs scoring before rookie RB sensation Kareem Hunt went on his usual late game tear.
Newsflash: This just in from the Daily Planet. We now have clarity on the meaning of what Head Coach Andy Reid said of Travis “The Joker” Kelce and his previous in-game silliness… that he’s “Taken care of it”… because now we know exactly what he would do to punish his tight end: zero targets is highly likely to lead to zero receiving yards. Lessons learned? More on this story in the next edition of the Daily Planet. – Jimmy Olson
The real Riddler is the Chiefs offense: after two INTs on the Chargers first two drives, resulting in two short-field TDs… from that point until Kareem Hunt’s 69 yard frolic-to-a-tally-for-six with 1:49 to go in the 4th quarter… between those two events… the Chiefs offense punted the ball or gave it over on downs 6 out of 7 possessions. That one other possession was a field goal. That’s 7 offensive drives in a row without a TD. From another standpoint, the Chiefs offense never sustained a drive and went the length of the field to score a TD in this game. Both TD scores were off of turnovers. Maybe the Chiefs offense should be known as Two-Face because it sure looked different than the one that was fielded vs. the Pats or Eagles.
With some games turning on one or two plays, the Chiefs have learned to play the game of staying just far enough ahead of their opponents to win. Until Kareem Hunt went for his long run late, the Chargers were only one score away from tying the game up and sending it to overtime. That’s too close for comfort.. if you’re a Chiefs fan with blood pressure issues. And, even if you’re blood pressure is fine, I’m sure it drives many fans nuts because this group is so talented that they looked like they could break the game open at any time… but not until Super Man took over late in the game were we fans sure of victory.
The Chiefs QB, Alex Smith, now has 7 TDs and zero INTs, with a 77.4 completion percentage, 9.2 yards per completion, and a 132.7 quarterback rating. Being sacked 5 times in this game means the offensive line still needs work. What is confounding is… even though Alex Smith played well and Kareem Hunt was dynamite again and the defense had 3 INTs… the final score of this contest was not decided until 1:49 left in the game. Point fingers where you will but leading the league in penalties is not a step in the right direction. And… it doesn’t appear to be getting better. 15 against the Patriots on their home turf, you might reason that it goes with the territory. 5 penalties at home was a marked improvement but 13 against the Changers is abysmal. If this is something Andy Reid is focusing on… it’s not working.
Look, down from your sky-box, it’s a bird, it’s a plane… no… it’s Kareem Hunt flying down the field again. Yes, while I will celebrate this win with the best of them, I also want to be realistic because this 2017 version of the Chiefs is not blowing anyone out. Even the 42-27 win in New England was only a one-score lead until 4:00 left in the game. The Chiefs need to watch out because a dangerous Washington team just blew out the Oakland Raiders and held them to 118 passing yards and 32 rushing yards and they’re getting ready to visit Arrowhead… a place where the Chiefs lost two games last season. So, while it’s great the our Chiefs are one game up on every team in the AFC West as well as one game up on every team in the AFC, the question is, how long will it last if they continue to play the way they’re playing?
A special shout out to John “Brainiac” Dorsey for pulling the trigger on drafting Kareem Hunt. He appears to be everything and more that we’d hoped for. I don’t know if this is a good time to remind fans that I’ve said previously… before all is said and done, Kareem Hunt will be the best #27 the Chiefs have ever had. No? Not now? Okay… I’ll remind you later.
KAREEM HUNT FOR HEISMAN @Kareemhunt7 pic.twitter.com/hA3iogq0Lf
— Reporter Liam 🦖 (@Blutman27) September 24, 2017
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