Laddie Morse
If I told you the San Francisco 49ers would have the ball 7:30 longer than the Kansas City Chiefs, you’d likely have thought the 49ers would be the winners of this game. However, K.C. scored 30 points in the second half and outscored S.F. 44-to-13 after going down by 10-to-zip. Why these Chiefs always seem to think going down by double-digits is acceptable, I don’t know, but this team knows how to score, and score they did: a 44-to-23 victory.
Rookie WR and Punt Returner Skyy Moore fumbled the ball twice on punt returns. Before that, he was the intended WR on an interception of Patrick Mahomes by Safety Talanoa Hufanga. The INT led to a TD for the 49ers and they’d already kicked a FG so that put them up 10-to-0. The next drive, K.C. took 9 plays to score a TD by WR Mecole Hardman and we were off to the races.
Note: It’s good to know HC Andy Reid supports his players, even when they have a sub-par day.
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S.F. then drove far enough to kick another FG to make the score 13-to-7. K.C. drove the length of the field again and Mecole Hardman scored on an end-around making the score, 14-to-13, and K.C. never trailed again. I should note that PK Harrison Butker missed on a 39 yard FG before the half.
The Chiefs received the kick after the half because they won the toss at the beginning of the game and chose to defer. When Isiah Pacheco received the kick he returned it to the 48 yard line of the 49ers but because of an Unnecessary Roughness call, the ball was moved to the 49ers 33-yard line. Three plays and Mahomes led the Chiefs into the end zone with Clyde Edwards-Helaire running it in from 16 yards out. “Untouched” as they say.
That made the score 21-to-13 Chiefs, and later in the second half the 49ers got as close as 28-to-23, but because of a 2-point score on a Safety instigated by Frank Clark on the 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo, and three more TDs by the Chiefs, the final became 44-to-23.
The Chiefs Defense came away with 5 sacks in this game and did a good job overall. It was another solid game for the rookie DBs who got some more experience… in a winning effort this time.
National Tight Ends Day
Sunday was designated as “National Tight Ends Day” by someone. Actually:
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“The 49ers edged the Detroit Lions in Week 2 of the 2018 NFL season with help from Garrett Celek and [George] Kittle. Celek scored an 11-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and Kittle said a conversation between the two tight ends and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo sparked the idea of National Tight Ends Day. Jimmy G was like, ‘What is it, National Tight Ends Day? We’re like, “Yeah, it’s a holiday, man!” Kittle said. The NFL took the 49ers idea and made it a league-wide festivity beginning in 2019.”
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On National Tight Ends day this year, the game between the Chiefs and the San Francisco treat 49ers featured George Kittle and Travis Kelce, two of the best TEs in the NFL. Oddly enough, both Kelce and Kittle had 6 catches each, for 98 yards each. How weird! Exactly! I know!
Rushing Totals
The 49ers had 101 yards rushing while K.C. won the rushing battle by not only rushing for 112 yards but by averaging 5.3 yards per carry and adding 3 TDs.
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Player of the Game
The player of the game would have to be WR Mecole Hardman. Although Hardman had only 4 catches (on 4 targets) for 32 yards receiving, he also had 3 TDs and it’s those TDs that has him winning this award! Add his 28 yards rushing and he came out with 60 total yards from scrimmage. Here are his second and third TDs of the day:
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Tweet of the Game
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.Sure glad they didn’t have a recluse WR on the team asking to have a video game, along with a ping pong table, removed.
Two 100+ Yard Receiving WRs
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MVS had 111 yard receiving on three (3) catches? Wow. That’s just wow! BTW, I think JuJu is proving to be the real deal, and a great 2nd choice for Mahomes behind Kelce. Dang it all, we came so close to having three 100 receivers in this game. Dang it all! BTW, Mr. Kelce has 553 receiving yards so far this season, after just seven (7) games, with ten games to go. Looks like he’s headed for another 1,000 yard season! Knock on wood. Here’s a look at JuJu Smith-Schuster’s long catch-and-run TD:
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2nd Tweet of the Game
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K.C. had 44 points and 529 total yards… against what some considered the best defense in the league. It’s hard not to pick Patrick Mahomes for “Player of the Week,” every week, but I doubt he’ll mind my giving it to Mecole Hardman this week.
Quote of the Game
“From Russell Wilson to Chandler Jones, JC Jackson
to Randy Gregory, Khalil Mack to Davante Adams…
the AFCW pulled out all the stops to beat the Chiefs
this offseason. And yet, KC – minus Tyreek Hill &
the 1st round pick he was traded for – sit alone
atop the AFCW standings.” –Scott Loring
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AFC West Standings
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My Favorite Moment
When Chris Jones forced a fumble with 4:08 left in the game and Malik Herring recovered it, that was a favorite moment for me. That’s mostly because the Chiefs need a guy like Malik Herring to develop and move up if he can. Plus, I’ve been pulling for him all along.
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Post Game Injury Report
HC Andy Reid said there were no injuries to report after the win over the 49ers. K.C. is almost totally healthy heading into the Bye Week — good news all the way around — and are about to be even healthier with Trent McDuffie, Rashad Fenton and Mike Danna all returning next week.
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Song of the Game
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Future for the Team
With the team getting this next week, Week 8, off, HC Andy Reid will have them back and firing on all cylinders next week in preparation for the game against the Titans in Arrowhead Stadium. In fact, the next two games are at Arrowhead as K.C. takes on the Jacksonville Jaguars the in Week 10 right after they take on the Titans. After that, they travel to L.A. to face the Chargers.
You may recall that before the season began, I was saying that if the Chiefs arrived at this point of the season with a 4-and-3 record, they’d be in good shape because the hardest part of their schedule was these first 7 games. Well, now that they made it to 5-and-2, they’re in even better shape than what I’d hoped for.
With the Buffalo Bills beating the Chiefs last week, the Chiefs are essentially two games behind them. It looks like one game because they have only one loss, but the reason for the two game separation is that if they tie at year’s end, the Bills will have the tie breaker. If that happens, the Chiefs will have to travel to Buffalo in mid-January, assuming each team takes care of the business of beating all other comers in the playoffs.
Go Chiefs!
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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