Shawn Sorter
This seemed like the sort of game where the Kansas City Chiefs could get right the things that ail them. They did… and they didn’t… but sill came out with a win over the Washington Football Team, 31-to-13.
The Good
It felt good to have the defense come out and get a stop on the first drive. That has seemed like a very rare occurrence this year. Early on I liked the Chiefs going for it on 4th down from mid-field. I think more of this is warranted unless by some miracle our defense starts to really pick things up.
What an amazing catch by Jody Fortson early on. He has really stepped into the role of being the Chiefs number 2 Tight End at least as a pass catcher, the best at that role I recall in quite some time.
Jerick McKinnon may have had the all effort play of the game in the 1st quarter when after receiving a pass in the flat that looked like it was going to be well short of the 1st down just powered through several defenders to keep the drive alive. I still want more of him.
Early on it seemed the defense put more pressure on Taylor Heinicke. Here’s to hoping Chris Jones comes back soon. It would be nice to see what our starting line can do if we have them all there for once.
Mecole Hardman had a very impressive early catch and run and followed up that with a great punt return.
I’ve wondered if the pass catching displays by the receivers lately have gotten some motivation from the arrival of Josh Gordon.
I’m starting to feel that KC fans take Harrison Butker for granted. Hitting a 52 yarder to put the score to 10-3 early just seems like something we have grown accustomed to.
It was great to get our first turnover in the past 4 games. That has been magnified by how many we have given up and we need to still turn that ratio around. Nick Bolton did a great job punching the ball out. Something underrated is the smarts of Travis Kelce. Committing offensive pass interference may seem like a bad thing, but he tackled a guy who very likely would have had another Mahomes interception.
It’s pretty nice to see Tyreek Hill and Joe Thuney out there fighting through injuries. Maybe the offensive line is a place that you can still perform at a high level with a broken hand, but it’s very impressive to see, Thuney gutting that out.
Patrick Mahomes extended several drives with his legs. I really like the way he avoids getting hit and seems to have a real sense of the field and when to run and not to run. Our running game looked really solid today. We were hitting holes that were created with a lot more burst than when CEH is in there. The early results are that we are a better running team without him in the game. Still wishing him all the best, but I’m coming over to the side of those who believe that may have been a wasted pick when other guys do just as well or better.
Our last offensive drive where we put the game away was pretty impressive. Lots of 3rd down conversions.
It was nice to just finish the blowout. Tershawn Wharton made a Big-Boy play. After the way a Mahomes interception really crushed us last week, when a lineman took his ball away, it was neat to see one of our guys do something even more impressive. The way he used one hand to pin the ball on the lineman and then finish the play was a real sight.
The defense giving up only 13 points has to be considered a win at this point in our season. There were still a few times receivers were way wide open, but it seemed to be less today. The offense getting nearly 500 yards ended up as an impressive display overall.
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The Bad
The last few weeks Patrick Mahomes seems to hop quite a few balls short to his receivers. Part of that is likely because the pocket seems to be collapsing a lot. The strength of WFT’s defense is their pass rush, and that may have been part of the issue today.
The fact that we had our first take away today in 4 games is good, but that it took 4 games, is also a bad thing. Some of that is luck, but some of that is desire. Mecole Hardman tainted what was an otherwise great game for him with a couple of poor plays. The first was a fumble, and the 2nd was deciding to fair catch a ball on the 4-yard line with no defenders around him. I just don’t trust him to make good decisions, and if the coaches are ok with that fair catch decision then I have concerns about their sense as well.
The only kick off that we decided to return today was again baffling. First off, it was super deep in the end zone. Byron Pringle, we don’t need you to be a hero. We just need you to be a guy. We ended up with a penalty and started with the ball on the 7 rather than the 25. I will continue to complain about this until we stop doing it.
The way we ended the half on offense was questionable. We make a play on the WFT side of the field and rather than call timeout with under a minute, when we had 3 left, we hurried to the line and ended up getting a false start penalty. So, in essence we lost time, and we still lost the timeout. Way too often we go into halftime with timeouts still left. They don’t do you any good if you refuse to use them.
We seemed to abandon the run in the 2nd quarter when it had been working well and giving us balance. More on the 2nd quarter later. Here’s the passing to running plays breakdown for the game:
I found it amusing when DE Chase Young got a sack and started telling someone to be quiet. Was he talking to the Chiefs fans in the stands? I don’t believe he was talking to the Chiefs bench? On the topic of players trying to do too much and be heroes, Demarcus Robinson single handedly killed our first 2nd half drive all by himself when he decided to try too hard….. on a running play no less, and got the hold.
I’m not sure Josh Gordon made any sort of positive play at all today. I must say I expected him to be doing a bit of contributing by now. Tommy Townsend is a fine punter, but it seems like when the team is struggling are the times he also struggles. Could just be overcompensating, who knows? However, an 18-yard punt is not the way to go.
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The Ugly
Injuries, the damage is starting to pile up. Jody Fortson’s injury looked ugly.
Kelce has been banged up for a few weeks now and he is always holding his wrist/arm area. Trey Smith had to limp off the field today and Hill is banged up too, not to mention Joe Thuney is playing in a cast. Here’s to hoping they can all be back to full health and soon.
Tyreek Hill cost us a turnover last week with a ball hitting both of his hands and bouncing to a receiver for a pick-6. He had another one today that caused a turnover. Hill also had another play that almost had the same effect when he fell down and the ball went right into the defender’s hands, but thankfully it was dropped.
Between these sorts of plays and early season plays that looked similar to Marcus Kemp and other times receivers didn’t run the correct route not only are they really hurting Patrick’s MVP chances but they are also hurting my fantasy team. Thankfully we only had one blown coverage that allowed Ricky Seals-Jones to look amazing. The Chiefs thought so much of him that he was inactive most every week he was with us, but our defense had a couple of plays that made him look way better than he is.
Patrick’s 2nd interception may have been the worst play I’ve seen from him.
I’m sure he was pressing and trying to make something happen, but take the sack man, call the timeout, and get the 3 points. Thankfully it was not needed.
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Ugly Turnovers
The Chiefs had 3 more turnovers: one on Hardman, one on Mahomes, and one on Hill. At some point, it nearly becomes comical. I believe all 3 happened in the 2nd quarter, so it’s remarkable that the Chiefs were able to win this game 31-13. The way that 2nd quarter felt I never would have expected the Chiefs would be able to run away with this game, and win by 18. It could have been a 50-6 game if we were hitting on all cylinders. Thankfully we were able to use this get right game to work on some things. If this had been one of the AFC Contenders we were playing, the result likely would not have been the same. The Chiefs now have a 3-and-3 record for the year (.500), and will travel to Nashville next Sunday to face the Titans at noon.
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Shawn Sorter — ArrowheadOne
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