Jake? Now Look at What You’ve Done!
David Bell
Things in the NFL have great TV viewership and appeal. The games are powerful draws of the overall public audience, especially on Sunday and Monday Nights. The Kansas City Chiefs game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was no exception, not in the least. The score ended up with the Chiefs scoring 38 points on Touchdowns and Point Afters. Substitute placekicker, Matt Wright, filled in nicely for Harrison Butker — out with a twisted ankle in week one — with solid kickoffs, PATs, and he also added a Field Goal. After the Colts game fiasco, K.C. found the game’s third phase to be a pleasant turn-round for Dave Toub’s Special Teams.
The TV ratings for Sunday Evening’s game have yet to be released. However, I am confident that the SNF game between the two clubs would exceed 20M viewers, despite the recent hurricane disaster in Florida.
Andy Makes Headlines in a State Farm Commercial
Generally, I ignore Advertisements and Commercials on television, but I laughed at this one. Andy Reid appears with Jake from State Farm and Patrick Mahomes in a commercial. But, of course, it had its humor built in, plus Andy was wearing one of his favorite Hawaiian Shirts.
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This indicates the appeal of the players and coaches to the national audience. Andy has joined in too.
Big Win in the Tampa Storm Over a
Very Good Buccaneers Football Club
Andy Reid’s game plan was top-notch. The players fulfilled their promise in each phase of the game. There were many great plays, two by QB Patrick Mahomes, and Travis Kelce’s night was stellar. He moved ahead of Gronk in receiving yards on the night.
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L’Jarius Sneed on defense was utterly involved in defending against the pass, covering often, a top NFL WR, Mike Evans. The Offensive Line was dominant, and the Chiefs used multiple contributors to make plays. If I were to call attention to WRs, I liked the passes to Marques Valdez-Scantling…
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… and JuJu Smith-Schuster…
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… and Skyy Moore got into the mix with a reception as well. I have been calling for him to get more opportunities.
One noticeable thing was the Chief’s #2 and #3 TEs — Jody Fortson and Noah Gray — were part of the excellent play-calling and were both successful contributors in the offensive effort…
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… and both TEs made plays and scored a TD. In large part, this was due to the OL, which was a force throughout the game. The run-game plan of Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy was more than evident. Tampa had three (3) total rushing yards, K.C.? –> 189.
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In the first half, the Chiefs gained 104 yards on the ground and converted 8 of 9 – 3rd down plays to keep moving the chains.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Isiah Pacheco, who displayed some patience in the running attack, had great games. Game Balls? Who do you give the game balls to? Patrick Mahomes put up pedestrian numbers, but made two outstanding — magical — plays.
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You expect to see Travis Kelce to play the way he played. Who was the most significant performer on offense?
Will I give a Game Ball to either Mahomes or Kelce, who played well, but at the level we expect them to play?
wrinkle in with Wylie lining up left of Brown. A huge Counter player. Note Thuney
is sealing on the right side along with Kelce! – Steve Sanders photo credit
I give the whole OL Unit a Game Ball
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not just one player.
Ryan Tracy of RGR Football gave out his Game Balls too:
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On defense, L’Jarius Sneed gets my nod for the award. Sneed made big plays on pass defense, including a forced fumble while sacking Buccaneer’s QB Tom Brady on a sack.
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That was a huge play and significantly affected the game’s outcome. In addition, Sneed had the most challenging coverage assignments all game long. For run defense, Sneed ended up with nine total tackles. Getting Trent McDuffie back from the 4-week IR stands out to me and when I think about it, the absence of Willie Gay Jr. is going to be a glaring factor. The return of both should help fortify an already very good defense.
For Special Teams? That’s tougher. Wright proved himself capable, but had no great plays as the place-kicker.
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Providing capable kicking duty was missed the previous week with Matt Ammendola. Wright provided that solidarity and deserved that credo. The various players were the usual suspects, but perhaps this game ball should be given to Special Teams Coach Dave Toub. Why? Special Teams as a whole more than did their job. My point is this: after a complete flop by special teams in the game against the Colts, the entire unit turned that around and did their jobs. It was inspiring and a huge turnaround, a big reason why the Chiefs, as a team, clicked in all three phases of play. You decide, though. Wright or Toub?
Previously on This Channel
The Cardinal football club is not a bad team. However, the Chiefs beat them handily. Games 2 and 3 of the Chief’s season saw anemic play by the offense, with week 3 being a horrid showing. Week 4 saw something that many of us have been anticipating: multiple contributors on both offense and defense stepped up and made significant plays.
The offense was potent and dominating against a top-drawer defensive unit. What I saw in recent months from the public was doubt that trading away Tyreek Hill was the right thing for the Chiefs to do this past offseason. At the time that Veach allowed Hill to seek a trade partner, there was a hue and cry from fans and pundits alike. It was then that I saw what was in the offing when Veach was making player acquisitions — and I wrote positively about the outlook.
Note: I also covered the players drafted in 2022 and,
gave the draft an A+. I still stand by this view.
I came away from watching this game with the feeling of being comfortable. However, all this is now in the past. When the Chiefs play “Chiefs football” in all three phases of the game, they will likely win each game they play that way.
It’s Now Hate Raiders Week!
Go Chiefs. I have been thinking about a predicted score, but I think the Raiders are pretenders, and the Chiefs will turn in another outstanding performance. The Chiefs will not lose the MNF Game played at Arrowhead!
I want to see Raider’s nutcases look like this on Monday Night.
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Ah, too bad, so sad. Also, I seriously doubt there will be any Raiders busses circling Arrowhead in the parking lot after the game.
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David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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