Laddie Morse
Alright, a win is a win is a win. Right? Well, if you want to go by the Kansas City Chiefs overall defensive performance, it was not so much of a win as it was a feat of survival. It wasn’t until the defense came up with a forced fumble and recovery, that the Chiefs offense was able to come to life and then the game turned around.
The Way To A Win
Game one between the Cleveland Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs was played in two halves, like to sides of an evil coin. The first half was easily won by the Browns 22-to-10 and left Chiefs fans wondering if the defense was even on the field as Cleveland didn’t punt once and scored a 2 point conversion on their first touchdown.
The second half was a near complete turnaround by the Chiefs who ended up with 2 sacks by Chris Jones and an interception to close out the game by CB Mike Hughes. A half the Chiefs won: 23-to-7. Final result: a 33-to-29 victory for the good guys.
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View From the Cheap Seats
If even one thing goes the Browns way in this game, they win in all likelihood. While I’m supremely happy the Chiefs came away with a victory, it’s hard to feel satisfied by this win. With a high probability that the Chiefs meet the Browns again in this year’s playoffs, this games only goes to make me more nervous, not less.
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Stat of the Game
Patrick Mahomes was 27-of-36 for 337 passing yards, with 3 TDs, zero INTs, 2 sacks and a 131.4 passer rating.
Baker Mayfield was 21-of-28 for 321 yards, no passing TDs, 1 INT 2 sacks, and a 97.5 passer rating.
One of the sacks given up by Mahomes was because Travis Kelce turned the wrong way so Mahomes had to eat the ball. The other sack was Mahomes dropping too deep and both Lucas Niang and Orlando Brown couldn’t push their DE deep enough to miss their QB.
While the Chiefs won the Time of Possession battle: 32:17 to 27:33, and the discrepancy in rushing yards is a stats that’s bothersome, it was the 2-to-0 turnovers that made all the difference in this game. Add a failed punt attempt by their punter, Jamie Gillan, and the Chiefs rode those flaws to the finish line.
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Stat of the Game – Honorable Mention
OC, Creed Humphrey. It’s hard not to mention at least one of the three rookies who started along the offensive line so…
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Play of the Game
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Part of the reason this is the “Play of the Game” is that Tyreek didn’t draw a foul at the end of it by doing a backflip (which he said he wanted to do) or by flashing the Peace Sign. A bigger reason this was the play of the game is that the Browns had just marched 75 yards on 9 plays eating up the clock and ending in a touchdown. The play by Hill and Mahomes came on the very next play from scrimmage. One play all the way, and K.C. was back in the game.
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Tweet of the Game
The Tweet of the Game has to go to Harold R. Kuntz who shared what Andy Reid said to Adam Teicher in the post game interview who had (repeatedly) asked about the foul called on Greg Lewis who was helping Clyde Edwards-Helaire which also resulted in the eventual ejection of Ronnie Harrison Jr., the Browns Safety:
I’d sure like to see Reid get down there and give Adam Teicher the business.
Note: This might be the Tweet of the Year.
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Game Ballzezez
I have four game balls in all:
- Chris Jones – 2 sacks (uh, that’s a 34 sack pace, for the year)
- Travis Kelce – 2 TD (his legend keeps growing)
- Tyreek Hill – 11 receptions for 197 yards (OMG, that’s a lot of yards in one game)
- Mike Hughes – Game Saving INT (Welcome to Kansas City Mister Mike!)
Don’t forget to get yourself a free second Big Mac.
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Concern of the Week
Losing the rushing battle 153 to 73 is disturbing. The good news? The Chiefs will be getting LB Willie Gay back soon and Tyrann Mathieu should be back next week. The scoop on Frank Clark? He’s an “I don’t know” even if and when he plays. In any event, rookie LB Nick Bolton showed us his rookie side on some plays, but a very good side on others. He ended up tied for the Chiefs lead in tackles with seven.
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Quote of the Week
“Patrick Mahomes’ record against: Baker Mayfield 3-0, Lamar Jackson 3-0, Josh Allen 3-0, Amazing. Anybody gonna do something about it?” –Kyle Brandt
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Looking Ahead
The Chiefs travel to Baltimore next Sunday for an evening game at 7:20 PM CDT. While many will be predicting that this is the year that the Ravens break through, lets not forget that they’ve already lost three starting RBs to injury for the year.
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“In the span of 10 days, the Ravens lost all three running backs
on their depth chart — J.K. Dobbins, Justice Hill and Gus Edwards.”
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Although some will down play that loss, figuring that Lamar Jackson is their primary weapon, the Ravens hold the NFL team rushing championship for 2020 by over 380 yards and they’re the only team to surpass 3,000 yards last year.
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Parting Shots
Although Arrowhead Stadium was 36 people over capacity for the Browns game at — Attendance: 72,973 — three attendees included these beauties:
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Song of the Game
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Cheer Up, It’s Only a Game
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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