Mahomes-less Chiefs Dial Up The Defense

Mahomes-less Chiefs Dial Up The Defense – Thursday night was a night of revelations. Other than the Chiefs won their eighth in a row against the hapless Broncos 30-to-6, we also learned a great deal about our beloved Chiefs:

• • Patrick Mahomes is mortal
  • In surprising news, the Chiefs have a defense
  • The Chiefs can win without PMII
  • The Chiefs Special Teams are not like unicorns – they exist
  • Frank Clark is who we thought
  • And (most surprising of all) our “backup-to-the-backup” QB is fullback Anthony Sherman

Let’s first address the elephant in the room. Mahomes went down on a quarterback sneak at the 10 minute mark in the 2nd quarter on a 4th and 1. Mahomes got the first down, but didn’t get up. Chiefs Kingdom collectively held their breath. Indications on the field were not good as Mahomes was obviously in pain. We saw the trainers pop his kneecap back into place and walk Mahomes to the locker room for x-rays.

Ten minutes later Mahomes walked back on the field (to the sidelines) and we received word that there would be no more Mahomes for the night. Early indications, if Twitter is to be believed, is that Mahomes dislocated his kneecap, and it does not look to be a fracture. We’ll learn more tomorrow when our ailing QB gets an MRI, but based on the reporting during last night’s game and his upbeat post-game speech, there’s every reason to be optimistic.

I won’t second-guess the Chiefs playing Mahomes last night, nor HC Andy Reid making a call that put Mahomes at risk. The harsh reality is a quarterback, or any player, is at risk of injury when they are on the gridiron. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, Mahomes is no exception.

However, even without last year’s MVP, the Chiefs won. They did it with a QB over a year removed from the league, Matt Moore, and a defense unseen this season… that is until last night.

As I struggled to find words that adequately describe the Chiefs impressive defensive performance last night, ArrowheadOne editor, Ladner Morse, emailed me the following graph which shows just how effective the Chiefs front seven were last night.

Said Morse of the timely graph,

“Not one guy in the front 7 was kept

from making a contribution.”

Well said, Laddie! Were it not for the injury to our QB, the story of the game would have solely been the defense. These guys were awesome all game long. The Chiefs D recorded nine sacks for 79 yards, and forced three fumbles, recovering one of them for a touchdown. They held the Broncos to 284 total yards (71 rushing and 213 passing). Broncos QB, Joe Flacco finished the game 21 of 34 in passing attempts, no TDs, and a 79.7% passer rating.

I dare say that the Chiefs defensive performance will be the best in the NFL this week, and will catapult them from the NFL’s 24th-ranked defense to at least 20th come Monday morning.

Will I don’t mean to overlook the Chiefs offense, I’m just pleasantly astounded at the defensive performance that our gridiron gladiators ground out. The Chiefs offense were there normal stellar selves. Before his injury, Mahomes was 10 for 11, no INTs, 1 TD, and 76 yards. His passer rating was 125.8%.

Backup Matt Moore picked up where Mahomes left off, going 10 for 19, 117 yards, 1 TD, no interceptions, and a 89.1% passer rating.

Chiefs RBs contributed to the win running a combined 25 times for 80 yards total, but no TDs. Wide receivers Tyreek Hill (3 catches, 74 yards) and Mecole Hardman (2 catches, 28 yards) clowned with 2 touchdowns. Kelce was his solid self hauling in 6 clutch passes for 44 yards. Demarcus Robinson also joined the fray grabbing three for 31 yards.

In fact, the Chiefs offensive line silenced the great Von Miller.

Looking ahead, the Chiefs obviously must wait for the results of today’s MRI on PMII and make their decisions from there. We have Matt Moore at the helm for now, but depending on the outcome of the MRI, do we need to look elsewhere for a QB solution? If so, who?  If not, who do we get to back Moore up? Pull Kyle Shurmur from the practice squad, perhaps? Obviously, we won’t have these answers until the MRI results, but I can honestly say that I don’t want to depend on Sherman as our QB. Besides, he looks so much better in a fullback uniform.

It was a bittersweet victory. While I’m always happy when we beat the Broncos and absolutely ecstatic about our defense’s punishing performance against the Donkeys, the injury to Mahomes puts a pallor on an otherwise ‘Rosey’ win.

However, as I anxiously await the MRI results along with the rest of Chiefs Kingdom, I’ll pacify and calm myself with happy thoughts of a well-deserved victory and sense of satisfaction in the outstanding defense “we knew not we had.”

Michael Travis Rose — ArrowheadOne

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