Chiefs 30, Chargers 27: Game Review

Laddie Morse

We should have known that the Los Angeles Chargers would give the Kansas City Chiefs a good game. Somehow, the Chiefs just know how to win. The Sea of Red Nation had the headline: The Chiefs Win a Thriller, and they got it exactly right. The Chiefs are the best draw for Prime time games and I’d bet dollars to donuts that this was another huge TV audience.

Play By Play

The game started with K.C. losing the toss. Since the Chargers won that toss, they decided to defer so they could get the ball first in the second half, much as the Chiefs often do when they win the toss. As Patrick Mahomes started out on the field first he helped the team drive the ball down the field but the drive stalled and Kicker Harrison Butker kicked the Chiefs into a 3-0 lead on a 33 yards Field Goal.

When the Chargers got the ball it only took them three plays to get into the end zone and most of that came on a 50 yard pass from Justin Herbert to Joshua Palmer. I was surprised that the Bolts didn’t go long again because once you have luck in that way, why not try again. 7-to-3 Chargers.

Next, K.C. got a FG, then L.A. got a FG, and the Chiefs followed that up with a TD to take a 13 to 10 lead. 13 to 10 Chiefs.

Both teams Punted then the Chargers got a TD and after K.C. Punted again, the Chargers got a FG and going into the half had a 20 to 13 lead.

After 5 plays, the Chargers were forced to Punt, and next K.C. made a field Goal to pull within 20 to 16. After the Chiefs Defense forced a 3-and-out, the Chiefs scored a TD on a 10 play drive making it 23 to 20 as Butker made the extra point.

Each team fumbled on back-to-back possessions and when the Chargers got he ball back they drove on 10 plays and scored a TD to take a 27 to 23 lead. The problem for the Chargers was that they left 5:01 on the clock.

Mahomes drove the Chiefs on 6 plays into the end zone and Travis Kelce made his 3rd TD of the game. That left 1:15 on the clock and when LB Nick Bolton came diving for the ball and ended up with an interception, the Game was essentially over.

With :16 seconds to go the Chiefs kneeled down and the game was over.

Mr. Travis Kelce

In his post game interview, Patrick Mahomes said of Travis Kelce:

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Player of the Game

Travis Kelce is the Player of the Game and not just for his 6 receptions but he had perhaps the best Safety covering him all game long in Derwin James and Kelce still had 115 receiving yards, tying him with Rob Gronkowski for the most 100+ yard receiving games in NFL history.

The Chiefs Defense

Many will say that when you allow 27 points in a game, your defense is not doing it’s job. Sure, there were plenty of plays they could have made, but when you consider that almost the whole defensive backfield is age 25 or under, you check you blood pressure again.

The Chargers allow 1.8 sacks per game but K.C. had 5 sacks in this contest: 2 by Chris Jones, 2 by Mike Danna, and 1 by Willie Gay. Add the 10 (ten) QB Hits K.C. had to that total and you get a very pressured and uncomfortable Justin Herbert. The problem was, it didn’t seem consistent, or timely. In the end, it was just right.

DT Chris Jones could have been named the Player of the Game too, but it was Travis Kelce’s ability to makes moves to get open then score when he caught the ball.

While I’d still like to see Brett Veach go after a top defensive lineman somewhere around the first two rounds of the coming 2023 draft, both Khalen Saunders and Mike Danna have elevated their games to the point where we could see this defense as a championship defense by year’s end. With Frank Clark playing better, and Carlos Dunlap often playing at an elite level, it seems more and more possible that this defense could end up playing for a championship..

The Chiefs Offense

100+ Yard Rusher

With Isiah Pacheco rushing for 107 yards in this game, the rest of the league must be in panic mode. Dealing with an elite and highly successful passing game led by future Hall of Famer, Patrick Mahomes is one thing, but adding another dimension like an effect running back is quite another. It just means the Chiefs will, and can, beat you in different ways. If Mahomes can get the lead for the Chiefs… Pacheco can run it down their throats and run the clock out as well.

Skyy Moore a #1 WR?

I’ve been hiding out for a few weeks because Skyy Moore hasn’t had many touches recently. However, with several WRs in front of him who were out of this game, he had a chance to touch the ball and he did really well. Besides Kelce (who had 6), Moore had 5 touches on 6 targets which was the most of any WR for 63 yards.

Many of his catches came at important moments as well. I had been saying that Skyy Moore would be the Chiefs #1 WR by the end of this year. Now, I’m hoping JuJu Smith-Schuster comes back next year (which requires him being resigned) but if he does return, JuJu would likely be WR #1 but in the long haul, I can see Moore climbing that ladder.

329 Passing Yards

Patrick Mahomes has made many of us Chiefs fans impervious to his greatness. The regularity with which he is able to not only make Harry Potter throws, but put Einstein numbers up so high that we don’t even recognize them, is beyond our comprehension. Maybe that comes with decades of being dealt QBs such as: Todd Blackledge, or Steve DeBerg, or Elvis Grbac… or even Trent Green or Alex Smith, even though they were both excellent QBs. Jacob Milham at ArrowheadAddict has an article called: “Four stats that prove Patrick Mahomes is NFL’s best quarterback” and he says those four stats are:

“1. 4,000+ passing yards in four of his first five seasons – If Mahomes exceeds 4,000 passing yards in 2022, he and Manning will be the only quarterbacks in league history to reach that production in five of their first six years.

2. The NFL’s career leader in passer rating – His 105.8 passer rating leads all quarterbacks with at least 10 career starts.

3. The best winning percentage among active quarterbacks – Mahomes’ eight postseason wins tie him with the likes of Dan Marino, Steve Young, and Eli Manning. While Mahomes, or any quarterback, will likely never exceed Brady’s 35 postseason wins, Mahomes is already one of the best. It doesn’t matter if it is September or January.

4. NFL record for passing yards per game – … Mahomes has been the best at doing it week in and week out. He averages 301.4 passing yards per game, which leads all quarterbacks with at least 10 career starts.”

Note: This article by Jacob Milham was written two months ago.

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Over and out. 10-4 Good Buddy! That’s a period on a last sentence in another chapter in a book called “The Chiefs 2022 Season.”

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Chiefs Injury Reports

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Comment of the Game

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Tweet of the Game

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Quote of the Game

“That’s 9 straight prime time wins, and the Chiefs under Patrick Mahomes

have yet to lose a road division game. 14-0. Unreal.” –Trey Wingo

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Song of the Game

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Days of Future Past

The Chiefs will go back home and face the other team from L.A. this next weekend. That’s right, the Rams. Not this other team from L.A., the one they just beat 30-to-27, but the 3-and-7 Rams, the ones who are on a 4 game losing streak. Despite the legend of Aaron Donald at DT, the Rams have proven they are beatable. So what if they are Super Bowl champions from this past February, in 2022, they can be had. Especially in Arrowhead, and I’m pretty darn sure this game won’t match the score of the game they played in 2018 in The LA Memorial Coliseum (when K.C. lost 51-to-54).

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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