If I Ran the Circus… Uh, CHIEFS! – Sure, I’ve made some good calls when it comes to the Kansas City Chiefs, but not enough to think I could do a better job than General Manager Brett Veach. Yes, I was in favor of moving up in the 2017 draft and taking Patrick Mahomes, but remember, I also thought it was a super duper move to take WR Jonathan Baldwin in the 2011 NFL draft. After all, Baldwin was destined for greatness, right? Oh how wrong could a Scuppernong be?! Neverthelesserlings… I shall do my best, to do my duty, to report with unnerving alacrity, with the accuracy of an abacus, like a superfluous syllabus supreme. You you know what I mean? Did that make any sense? Gee, I hope not.
Chiefs, a Runaway Train: Not DTrain
There’s just so much you can take when you’re on a Dynasty trajectory. My first prediction here is, that Darwin Thompson is done being a Kansas City Chiefs running back/special teams player. It might be after this season, but it would not surprise me at all if Thompson is out by the second quarter of this season. After a rather dismal rookie year, Thompson not only fumbled the ball away in a game that saw these mighty Chiefs abusing the Ravens like some kind of kid brother they’d taken behind the shed and put a whuppin’ on… but he didn’t set the edge on a Special Teams kickoff to the Ravens allowing rookie speedster Devin Duvernay to cut outside and down the sidelines for a 93 yard touchdown run.
Then, of course, he’s so humble that he could only stumble-bumble-fumble and forgot to rumble:
Darwin Thompson almost single-footedly and single-handedly helped those Ravens beat our Chiefs. It’s hard to see how he survives such a logarithamizmlic, kismetaslizmic, cataclysmic performance… especially when he’s not been a stellar propeller, previously.
Safe With Mathieu
Tyrann Mathieu has become synonymous with: “must be automatically walked.” I’m not fond of baseball metaphors either, but it totally works in this case.
If the Chiefs can get more of Tyrann Mathieu, they should do exactly that. Thornhill is becoming another Mathieu and he’s growing into that role game by game. He had another strong performance and when you consider that he’s coming off a knee surgery just 9 months ago, he’s doing a blazing amazing job. The points is, Mathieu is such a leader, during and between plays, that some football “experts seem to get it totally wrong… especially by PFF. Apparently.
Those are good numbers, sure, but PFF just can’t get their grades to truly reflect just how good someone like Mathieu has been for K.C.. I give Mathieu at least some credit for the outstanding job everyone in the secondary did vs the Ravens on Monday night. I’m convinced that Mathieu’s impact can’t be measured.
Landlord? Perhaps. Godfather? For sure.
A MIKE that Matters
No, Mike Pennel doesn’t play linebacker. However, if he did, he’d likely do a better job than the LBs the Chiefs are putting on the field right now. Pennel returned from his 2-week suspension and was in on about one-third of the defensive snaps, mostly versus the run. Although he only had one tackle, he helped to clog up the middle and make running between the tackles rough sledding for the Ravens usually proficient running attack. Bravo Mr. Pennel, nice to have you back!
Punts-R-Us… Err, Not Us
The Chiefs offense was so proficient that they only had to punt one time in this game. When they did, Tommie Townsend hit on a 58 yarder. Why is that important to note? Because, last week in Los Angeles, the Chiefs had to punt 5 times. Five. In the first game this season versus the Texans? Three times the Chiefs punted. So, one punt vs the Ravens just shows exactly how good the Chiefs were at sustaining drives and then scoring. The Monday night game against the Ravens may have been the best game I’ve ever seen the Chiefs play in the Patrick Mahomes era — minus a couple of buttheads like Butker and DTrain — and that’s highlighted by the fact that the Ravens are a very good football team.
Is There a Linebacker in the House?
Maybe I’m spoiled. Having seen Derrick Johnson dominate the middle of the field for a decade and become the Chiefs all-time leader in tackles might have something to do with that. However, it wasn’t that DJ just had a boatload of tackles. It’s about the place on the field that those tackles took place. Watching the Chiefs current group of starters can give you a jaded view of LBs. Let’s not forget what excellent LB play involves. Namely, vision. A really good LB can read a play before it unfolds and that takes vision. He looks at the offensive set, and detects the play by pre-snap motion and then places himself in the best position to make a play, and of course, is physically capable of making that play. Over the past 30 years, I can think of no one better to show excellent LB play than Derrick Johnson. Here were a few of his performances:
Taking these 5 plays, one play at a time:
- It’s been so long that I’ve seen a K.C. LB fill the hole where a RB is going to run, then make a play on the ball that I’d almost forgotten just how good DJ really was.
- DJ’s ability to blitz while sidestepping a blocker showed his athleticism, which we’d witness on a routine basis. Plus, it’s always a good day when you see Philip Rivers go down.
- DJ could come off the edge when called upon as well. Here, he not only gets around the RT but goes for the strip-sack.
- One of my biggest gripes about the current LB corp is their inability to take on an OL and defeat that blocker. A smaller and more agile LB should always be able to slip past a lumbering blocker, just like DJ does here. Then DJ works his way into the path of the RB, BEFORE the play ends up gaining any yards. Instead, the Chiefs current LBs are making plays, after they’ve been blocked, 5-to-15 yards downfield. Not DJ. You’d rarely see DJ allow an OL to get into his body.
- DJ shows here that he could hit a hole between the blockers and come on a blitz then strip the ball from the QB. Oh, how I miss me some DJ!
There’s some reason that Steve Spagnuolo is holding LB Willie Gay Jr. back, so it’s hard to question a defense that is meeting David Bell’s 20 point limit in every game this year… so far. However, the linebacker optics are not good. Not good at all:
Patrick, Not Pat
Now, how can anyone write a piece about he Chiefs without mentioning Patrick Mahomes? “Patrick Mahomes”… there you have it. Oh, and don’t you have to love a momma’s boy? I also love that she called out the game announcers when they wrongly referred to her son by any other name than the name she gave him when he was born: Patrick Mahomes. Go Randi!
Long Live King Patrick the Second!
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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