What Are the Chiefs Cooking This Weekend? BBQ

What Are the Chiefs Cooking

This Weekend?  BBQ

Frank Leggio

Based on the title, you might be expecting a tailgate recipe to try in the beautiful and spacious parking lot around Arrowhead. If you need one, then I suggest trying Pinterest because that isn’t happening here. What you will get here is a recipe the Chiefs will need to whip up in the comfy confines of Arrowhead.

The BBQ I am talking about is Bell, Brown, and a Quarterback Clown. The recipe for victory is going to involve stopping, or at least slowing down, these three. If we can’t do that, then I am not sure our offense is going to be up for a shoot out. The most we scored all season was 37 points against the Chargers and that included a ST Return touchdown and a few field goals.

Bell

Who is Le’Veon Bell and what has he done lately?

Bell is listed as a 6’ 1”, 225 lb running back in his 4th year out of Michigan State.  He was drafted in the second round (Pick # 48) of the 2013 draft.  You might remember that draft, as we picked Eric Fisher #1. We didn’t pick again until #63, when we snagged our own gem, Travis Kelce.

In the 2016 regular season, Bell only played in 12 games due to a suspension. During that time, he accumulated the following stats:

          Rushing

          1,268 yards, 261 attempts, 4.9 yard average, 7 touchdowns, 69 first downs, 3 fumbles

          Receiving

          616 yards, 75 receptions, 8.2 yard average, 2 touchdowns, 31 first downs, 1 fumble, 685 YAC with 9.1 YAC average

That is better than 100 yards rushing and 50 yards receiving per game. While his touchdown total isn’t off the charts, he is a first down machine. With 100 first downs on 336 touches, that is about 30% of the time. Percentage wise (at 40%), most of his first downs are coming when he catches the ball. That, of course, translates into ball control and points for his team. This should be of particular interest to our defense when they game plan.

Take away his space and make sure tackles on contact. The yards after catch needs to be cut down drastically. If they can do this, we should be able to shorten up those average yards per touch and cut down his first downs. I’d suggest the defensive think tank in KC take a long look at the Baltimore and first Miami games. There may be some secrets in there.

Brown

Who is Antonio Brown and what has he done lately?

Brown is listed as a 5’ 10”, 181 lb wide receiver in his 7th year out of Central Michigan.  He was drafted in the sixth round (Pick # 195) of the 2010 draft.  That wasn’t the best draft for KC, but we did pick up a franchise player in the first round. He is none other than the man that beat cancer and came back even stronger, Eric Berry. Instead of getting Brown we did pick Dexter McCluster, Javier Arenas, Jon Asamoah, Tony Moeaki, Kendrick Lewis, and Cameron Sheffield. Lots of misses there.

In the 2016 regular season, Brown played in 15 games, skipping the season finale. During that time, he accumulated the following stats:

          Returning

          163 yards, 16 attempts, 10.2 yard average, 0 touchdowns, 15 fair catches

          Receiving

          1,284 yards, 106 receptions, 12.1 yard average, 12 touchdowns, 64 first downs, 0 fumbles, 387 YAC with 3.7 YAC average

That is only 85.6 receiving yards per game, but a 12.1 yard per catch average. While he scores a touchdown about every 9 catches, it is his 60% first down rate per reception that is more concerning. As with Bell, that translates into ball control and points for his team. This also needs to be a major part of the defensive game plan.

Take away his space and make sure tackles on contact. His yardage after catch isn’t as high as I would have thought, so we need to focus on making the tackle and not stripping the ball. He has been pretty sure handed in his career, only fumbling 4 times and losing 3 in over 100 games played. If they can do this, we should be able to shorten up those average yards per catch and cut down his first downs too. It seems the Bengals and Miami (first game) had his number, so I hope Bob Sutton is spending a lot of time looking at that film.

Quarterback Clown (Roethlisberger)

Who is Ben Roethlisberger and what has he done lately (when not appearing in court)?

Big Ben is listed as a 6’ 5”, 240 lb quarterback in his 13h year out of Miami (OH).  He was drafted in the first round (Pick # 11) of the 2004 draft.  Other than Jared Allen, that was pretty much a bust draft.

In the 2016 regular season, Quarterback Clown, I mean Roethlisberger played in 14 games, skipping the season finale and one game due to injury. During that time, he accumulated the following stats:

          Passing

          3,819 yards, 328 completions on 509 attempts, 64.4% completion rate, 7.5 yard average per reception, 29 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, 67.4 QBR and 95.4 rating

          Rushing

          14 yards, 146attempts, .9 yard average, 1 touchdown, 3 first downs, 2 fumbles

He is averaging 273 yards through the air, with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception per game. Ben is throwing about 36 passes a game, but they tend to be short yardage passes. He is obviously not a mobile quarterback and wouldn’t be expected to surprise us in this game given his injury history.

Get him moving in the pocket and throw off his timing. Sacks won’t come easy, with as big as he is, but hits and hurries are needed at a minimum. If the defense can do this, we should be able to reduce his completion percentage to the guys in the ugly uniforms and increase it to the guys in Red & Gold. It seems the Browns and Miami (first game) had his number, so let’s take a peek at those games.

Strangely enough, Alex Smith has very similar passing numbers this year, but is obviously a better running QB. (3,502 yards, 328 completions on 489 attempts, 67.1% completion rate, 7.16 yard average per reception, 15 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, 63.4 QBR and 91.2 rating).

Add those 3 ingredients to the Arrowhead pressure cooker, crank up the volume to 142.2 decibels, and roast for 60 minutes. At this point ESPN is showing the Chiefs with a 63.9% chance at victory.

Trash Talking Fun

With that serious business out of the way, I think we should have some fun and enjoy the week with some friendly trash talking.

The Steelers are known to be a close-knit family.  Yes, this close.

If you are lucky enough to attend the game this weekend, please be kind and help out the visiting fans.

The Rooney family is branching out a bit and has started to develop a line of snack foods. These should be available in mass quantities on Monday.

There is some new signage up in KC this week. Be on the lookout so you don’t make a wrong turn.

There is a guest commentator on this weekend. Steve Harvey will be joining the team in the booth to provide color to the game and announce the winner.

This really has no relevance to the article, but I came across it and enjoyed it so much, I wanted to share.

My final prediction for Pittsburgh…

Win or lose, I hope we see a well-executed game by a well prepared Chiefs team.

And there’s The Rub.

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