Kansas City Chiefs Laddie Morse

And To Think That I Saw It on ArrowheadOne

LadnerMorse January 17, 2020 No Comments Gallery

 

And To Think That I Saw It on ArrowheadOne – I’ve been a huge fan of the creative children’s book writer, Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) for as long as I can recall and why wouldn’t I be, I spent 39 years in the classroom. With that kind of creativity in mind let’s take a new look at some of the issues facing the Kansas City Chiefs right now.

 

[Note: if you know a child and want a good trivia question for them, then ask, “What was the first book ever published by Dr. Seuss?” The answer is: “And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.”]

 

So much is being made of the Chiefs facing Titan RB Derrick Henry that it seems to be getting out of hand. Sure, they have to stop him… er, slow him down… enough to win this game, but some fans are acting like the Chiefs are being asked to do the impossible. The Chiefs D started the season in Jacksonville holding Leonard Fournette to 66 yards rushing. Fournette finished the season in 7th place among all rushers. In the Chiefs 3rd game of the year, they did allow the Ravens Mark Ingram to run for 103 yards, but it was early in the season. That may also have been because the Ravens were running an option with Lamar Jackson running point. Ingram finished 14th in the league in rushing. In the Chiefs 4th game of the season they allowed Kerryon Johnson to rush for 125 yards. The Colts Marlon Lack went for 132 in the Chiefs 5th game and then Carlos Hyde went off for 116 yards the next week.

 

The Chiefs defense against the dark arts of evil rushing attacks, took a turn for the better after that… for the most part. Phillip Lindsay for 36, then Aaron Jones for 67 and Dalvin Cook for 71… were all held to manageable gains before Derrick Henry went off for 188 in Nashville. The Titans have scored 27 straight TDs without having to kick a FG. That can mostly be attributed to Mr. Derrick Henry. So, he’s to be respected.

 

I know, I know… I’m depressing you with what sounds like some very bad stats as far as the Chiefs are concerned but, consider this before having an arterial infarction… in the 7 games since the Chiefs faced the Titans in Nashville: they have held their opponents leading rusher to an average of 55 yards per game. Or an average of 13.75 yards per quarter. Those RBs include:

 

    • Melvin Gordon (twice)
    • Josh Jacobs (8th in the NFL in rushing)
    • James White (also, Sony Michel had 8 yards on 5 carries)
    • Phillip Lindsay
    • David Montgomery
    • Carlos Hyde

 

It looks like this Chiefs defense will become the real story,

For suppressing Oh Henry would reveal an allegory,

Yes, anything less than a hundred yards rushing,

Would have the Chiefs Kingdom unabashedly blushing,

With football delight,

A cure for frostbite,

And would reverse the curse after and a half century of cussing.

 

It looks like this Chiefs defense has developed to the point that they should be able to hold Derrick Henry to a lot fewer yards than the 188 he had in Nashville in week 10. Let’s hope so.

 

 

Yep, it’s being reported that Patrick Mahomes will become the first player in NFL history to break the $40M per year barrier. CBS Sports says,

 

“The record for biggest overall contract currently belongs to Matt Ryan, who signed a five-year, $150 million extension with the Falcons in May 2018. Although Ryan has the biggest overall contract, Russell Wilson currently has the highest average annual salary on his deal. The Seahawks quarterback is pulling in $35 million per year thanks to a four-year, $140 million extension he signed in April.”

 

Mahomes could end up with a 5-year contract at $40M per year which of course comes out to $200M. While it would seem that a contract of this heft would place an incredible burden on the Chiefs cap for the next half a decade, we can’t be sure that will eb the case. As with any large contract, it will certainly limit the opportunities for the Chiefs for sign any upscale Free Agents but that just means it will be more important than ever to draft well and develop lower tier FAs. There is another year on Mahomes rookie deal but temas who get out in front of that process usually are able to save money so I’d expect the Chiefs to tie up PMII this coming offseason. If you were hoping for a hometown discount, you’ll probably have ot wait until his third contract. You never know. Mahomes has made $11.2M so far and is scheduled to make another $5.2M in 2020. A new contract will change all of that. Jared Goff holds the record for a total guarantees at $110 million and I’d expect Mahomes new deal to top that.

 

 

There are those who think the Chiefs can merely win this game on Sunday by clamping down on Derrick Henry and forcing Titans QB Ryan Tannehill to beat them. While that “might” be true, you should know he’s had three 310+ yard passing games this year and 6 games over 250 yards passing. In fact, he threw for 391 yards in week 14 against the Oakland Raiders. By comparison, Mahomes threw for 443 in his first meeting against the Raiders and 175 in his second matchup with them in Arrowhead. Yes, the Vegas Raiders have only the 25th ranked passing defense in the league but anytime you can throw for more than 350 yards against an NFL team, you’re accomplishing something. The Titans WR A.J. Brown had 1,051 yards receiving in his rookie year this season. Corey Davis added 601 yards. Tight ends Jonnu Smith. Delanie Walker, and Anthony Firkser combined for more than 800 receiving yards and don’t forget that Derrick Henry can catch the ball out of the backfield.

 

While I think the Chiefs DBs will handle the Titans receiving threats, it should not be assumed that Ryan Tannehill and crew will be easily contained. However, I seriously doubt Tannehill can lead the Titans to a win while throwing for under 100 yards again, like he did in his first two playoff games and… BetOnline agrees with me. There’s this from nflsuperbowlbetting.com:

 

“BetOnline has set the odds at +1500 for Tennessee to win and Tannehill staying under the 100-yard mark in passing yards.”

 

 

There’s a great quote from Punter Dustin Colquitt, who said this about envisioning what he would do after a win on Sunday,

 

“… on the dash to the middle of the field, “Tyreek (Hill) is fast, Mecole (Hardman) is fast, I’ll be faster. Probably not (but) in my mind.”

 

Coming from the Miami Dolphins, both the Chiefs Damien Williams and the Titans Ryan Tannehill, have a special connection:

 

 

The Tennessee Titans ran… or should I say, stole, the play called, “The Hungry Pig” which Dontari Poe once ran for the Chiefs:

 

 

Fans should be prepared for the Titans to run a trick play or two this Sunday… I’m sure the Chiefs will be ready. I became an even bigger fan of Daniel Sorensen when he made a season saving open field tackle of the Texans Safety Justin Reid.

 

DJ Blunders Aplenty

I love how the game announcer called Tyreek Hill a, “Former track star at USC” at the 3:20 mark. East and West Coast brains at their best.

 

 

A Super Bowl Rematch?

Of all the possible matchups that could happen in Super Bowl LIV, I most want to see the Chiefs against the Green Bay Packers. Yes, the two best teams are the Chiefs and the 49ers but a SBI rematch would be lovely. Too bad the Vikings were ousted last week but beating the Packers would be a special kind of vindication for long time, long suffering Kansas City Chiefs faithful. Who would you like to see?

 

Netflix: Hernandez

I’ve watched the special on Netflix about the Aaron Hernandez trials and his eventual suicide. I’m still amazed at how little the Patriots and Bill Belichick knew about the man they drafted when he said they had vetted him so thoroughly and in so many different ways, including how he would impact the team once he got there. Hernandez said, after going to jail, that he felt like he was in training camp, and that’s how he had compartmentalized his transition from living in a multimillion dollar home to a 7’x10′ jail cell. The fact that he murdered multiple people then went on to play a whole season for the Patriots makes me want to vomit and I wondered if I watch him play after he’d committed such atrocities? Hearing him joke and laugh with his agent about not being able to get a Nike Swoosh put on an orange jumpsuit but then to also hear him also jest and crack up at the idea of getting a gun deal while he was in prison, asking, “Well, could you get me a Smith and Wesson deal“… it just turns my stomach. From such a seemingly happy kid portrayed in this piece, to someone who had to… be the toughest s.o.b. in the room… so much so, that he’d kill you to shut you up. What can you say about someone like that? What can you say?

 

Later, the special made attempts to turn his story into a narrative on CTE, and that may be, however, they also try to tie that to Hernandez’ embarrassment about his sexual preference. No one knows why he made the decisions he made and I don’t approve of using hollow reasons for justifying murder. His is one incredibly, and horrendously, sad life story.

 

Quote of the Week

The Quote of the Week come to us from Gregg Rosenthal at NFL.com and he said:

 

“Andy Reid is the most influential offensive mind of the last two decades with the greatest collection of talent he’s ever coached, including the quarterback with the most ridiculous skill set in NFL history.”

 

Wow. Gotta smile on that one!

 

The World According to… Others

Thought it might be a good idea to end on a positive note:

 

 

Not everyone is caught up in the sensation of the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. There is life outside of football… but I wouldn’t know about that.

 

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

 

 

 

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