What Is Going On: General Ranting About the Chiefs, Officiating and Other Football Stuff

May I have your attention please? Will the real Kansas City Chiefs please stand up?

Who are these guys? Aren’t they supposed to be good? That’s what we were lead to believe, isn’t it? Everyone said before the season that this would be the best iteration of head coach Andy Reid’s Chiefs that we had seen yet.

The offense had matured into a unit that would now be able to win games and not rely on the defense to bail them out. That’s what we were told.

The defense, while it would be missing all-pro pass rusher Justin Houston would still have returning stars like Dontari Poe, Allen Bailey, Derrick Johnson and Marcus Peters.

But to this point, after eight full quarters of football, the Chiefs’ offense has played about 22 minutes of good football. That came last week during the frantic second half scoring spree when they came from behind to beat the San Diego Chargers.

This week?

They looked like the team that lost five in a row last season. They looked like one of the worst offenses in the National Football League.

Were they the victim of some bad calls?

Absolutely. I’m still scratching my head on how Marcus Peters committed pass interference on the play where Houston Texans wide receiver De’Andre Hopkins scored a touchdown. No. Really. Somebody please explain to me how this is defensive pass interference.

I know, good teams are supposed to overcome bad calls by the officials, but when those bad calls lead to points staying on the board that shouldn’t have been there, it’s tough to overcome. That wasn’t the worst penalty called on Peters yesterday, though. I wish it were.

On a second and five in the second quarter, after quarterback Brock Osweiler missed on a deep pass to rookie Will Fuller, Peters pulled a page from J.J. Watt’s playbook and wagged his finger as if to say “not on my watch.” That brought a flag from the official for “taunting.”

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It’s extremely curious why that particular motion drew a flag. Especially since the NFL’s Twitter account opened the second week of the season with this beauty.

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Really? I mean, really? And it’s J.J. Watt even. If there was ever a “Come on…man!” moment. That’s it. These officials should be ashamed of themselves. Speaking of being ashamed of themselves, some caller on the local Kansas City sports talk radio show called in and said that Marcus Peters should go back to Oakland and get shot on a corner…so there’s that too, I guess.

Stay classy.

Again, the team needs to overcome some of these bad calls, but a 15-yard penalty coming at a critical moment that ultimately put the Texans into field goal range and allowed them to put three more points on the board is tough to overcome.

But perhaps the worst penalty of the game was the holding call against Stephon Nelson during Tyreek Hill’s 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. It was a penalty that shouldn’t have been called. It was weak and it was chincy.

I know, I sound like I’m complaining. And I am. It was a bad weekend for football. The Broncos eeked out a victory against the Indianapolis Colts and the Chargers looked like a Super Bowl team. My fantasy team was winning all day–the bright spot on my Sunday–and suddenly lost because of Derek Carr and Tevin Coleman touchdown.

To top it off, the damn Chiefs didn’t even score a touchdown, and I’m not writing an article called “Anatomy of a Freaking Field Goal” this week, so I’m going to have to figure that out too.

Hey. At least the Oakland Raiders lost. So…there’s that.

Jason Seibel