CHIEFS THIRD QUARTER REPORT: The Good, The Bad, and The Lovely

CHIEFS THIRD QUARTER REPORT: The Good, The Bad, and The Lovely – With three-fourths of the 2020 season over, it’s time to take a good look at what’s working, what’s not, and what is truly beautiful about being a Chiefs fan this year.

The Good

The first thing that’s working that comes to mind is Patrick Mahomes. No matter who he’s throwing the ball to, his performances seem like ballet on a beach in the midst of a blizzard. As someone recently said, we are all living in Patrick Mahomes world now. Even his off field exploits are renowned. From the 15 and Mahomes: Foundation to… his famous Commercials to… Ketchup… We see his face everywhere and every day now.

More Good

Travis Kelce is climbing the ladder of the best Tight Ends of all time. By not only setting a new standard a year ago when he reached 4 straight seasons with 1,000+ yards receiving, he’s already done that again this season extending his streak to five years straight, which… no other TE has even come close to. HoF TE Tony Gonzalez had 4 (four) total seasons in which he had more than 1,000+ yards receiving… in a 17 year career (but only two 1,000+ yards years in a row). National pundits like to claim Rob Gronkowski is the best TE (some of them say, EVER… I say NEVER) but, he’s had only 4 (four) 1,000+ yards seasons in his 10 year career (but, once again, only two 1,000+ yards years in a row)…. and he’s not likely to come close to that milestone this season with only 505 yards receiving after 12 games.

Other shameless pundits like to mention TE Greg Olsen’s career 1,000 yard seasons. However, there were only three, yes, three in a row, but only three in his 13-year career, a career which is still going on in Seattle (his third team).

One of the reasons that Kelce may be having such a great run is the way opposing teams have chosen to scheme up their defenses against the Chiefs. Most teams now like to rush four DL and leave 7 men back in coverage in the hopes of alleviating as many of the Chiefs long ball chances as possible. While that may work sometimes, Safeties still have to stay deep and CBs still have to play way off the line of scrimmage, because of the speed of Kansas City receivers like: Tyree Hill, Sammy Watkins and Mecole Hardman, as well as others. Is this an unfair advantage for Travis Kelce? Who cares. However, Kelece is a definite advantage for the Chiefs.

More Good

WR Tyreek Hill is also having a breakout year. Hill has also already broken the thousand yard barrier and has 1,079 yards, second among all NFL wide receivers, 40 yards behind WR, DK Metcalf. More good can be seen by noting that Kelce and Hill are number one and two — overall — in receiving in the AFC. In a recent game vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, by the end of the first quarter of the game, Hill had 7 catches for 203 yards and 2 TDs. That had most national talking heads spouting that Hill was the best WR in the league, and why not?

Hill has become not only the reason teams must adjust — and play max coverage because of his dangerous deep speed — but he’s become the newage NFL blueprint other teams build their own offensive design around. That’s why the Raiders went out and got WR Henry Ruggs and the Broncos snapped up WR KJ Hamler and WR Jerry Jeudy or why the Ravens took speedy WR Marquise Brown. Yes, the Chiefs 5th round pick out of the University of West Alabama in the 2016 draft, a speedy RB with kick return potential, has become the torch bearer in the NFL for all other wide receivers.

Even More Good

Kansas Citians and Chiefs fans everywhere still find themselves basking in the glow and glory of Super Bowl LIV and the parade in February earlier this year… pre-pandemic. While 2020 has turned into a dumpster fire for many, the year started out as good as any Chiefs fan could ever hope for.

The Bad

Did you know that the Chiefs have played from behind in 8 out of 12 games so far this season? The Patriots, Broncos (the first game), Jets, and the Bucs were the only teams that did not score first against the Chiefs in 2020 (not counting those playoff games back in January). While that means Patrick Mahomes has been forced to play from behind the majority of the time, I can’t figure out if that’s truly a bad thing, or not… or if it’s just part of some kind of maniacal twisted mad scientist experiment with Andy Reid throwing the switches, because he knows that Patty can raise his team from the dead, like a 4th quarter Frankenstein.

More Bad

I won’t belabor the point — too long — but I’ll just mention: Linebacker Play. Sometime in the next 6 months, the Chiefs should announce the addition of players who will help make the LB corp much improved. Historically, epically dominant NFL teams have had some of the best linebackers of their era, and those LBs had a big hand in their team’s highfalutin achievements. Consequently, I expect the Chiefs to make the necessary modifications to their LB-ing lineup prior to camp next summer.

The Lovely

The recent engagement of Patrick Mahomes to his girlfriend Brittany Matthews is not only an ethically aesthetical move, but a symmetrical one as well: it came on the same day that Patrick got his ring for Super Bowl LIV. Ahhh, what’s better than a double ring ceremony? If there ever was a couple who should be dancing to, Ring-around-the rosey, it’s Patrick and Brittany!

Brittany and Patty sitting in a tree,

K – I – S – S – I – N – G,

First comes love,

Then comes marriage,

Then comes baby,

In the baby carriage.

Truer words were never spoken, or chanted (by children usually). Some might say what comes next is even better than an engagement: a baby shower and becoming parents. I can say from personal experience, nothing has changed me for the positive, more than becoming a parent. Congratulations to Brittany and Patrick.

More Loveliness

Even More Loveliness

The site of the Chiefs last playoff victory — Super Bowl LIV — and for this Sunday’s game vs the Miami Dolphins. Long live Hard Rock Stadium (and the incredible memories that go with it)!

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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