The Chiefs Lose Their First Game of the Season

The Chiefs Lose Their First Game of the Season – In what I am hoping was an extremely off day for the Kansas City Chiefs, because this team was outclassed by the Indianapolis Colts, all the way from the General Manager to the water people (I’m attempting to be politically correct, I see water bottles carried by young ladies as well as young men). Although I’m sure not a popular opinion, the Chiefs defense was adequate in this game. Even though they gave up a ton of rushing yards, they held the Colts to just 19 points. The Colts lone touchdown came on a QB scramble, on their very first drive.

If I had told you last week, that Jacoby Brissett would finish this game with only 151 passing yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT, everyone would have rejoiced at those stats. That the defense allowed 180  yards rushing was due to several reasons. 

Reason El Numero Uno

First and most importantly, for the second week in a row, the Chiefs offense has failed to build a lead at any point in the game. Against the Colts, the Chiefs only led on the scoreboard twice, the final time was with 11:13 left in the first half. Many are wanting to blame the coaching or the play calling, and while there is truth to those issues, it still boils down to the players having to execute and make plays.

Reason: Dosey-Doe

Second: penalties. There were 14 flags thrown against the Chiefs in Sunday’s game. 11 penalties were accepted for 125 yards. Bashaud Breeland led the team with 4 penalties for 68 yards, giving the Colts four 1st downs in the process. Another very costly penalty was the ridiculous Unnecessary Roughness call on Wylie after the non-interception, that knocked the Chiefs out of potentially, a long field goal try or the option to go for it on 4th and 2.

Tracing Reason Tres

Third, the inability of the offense to move the ball. The Chiefs only had four second half possessions, but only accumulated 93 yards of offense, resulting in two punts, one fumble lost and a turnover on downs after a failed 4th down attempt. That just isn’t anywhere near good enough production from the league’s best offense.

A Case of the Dropsies

Dropped passes are an issue, this is why, in my opinion, Travis Kelce will never supplant Tony Gonzalez as the Chiefs best tight end ever. Tony G had a hands problem early in his career, but he worked his tail off, especially between his 3rd and 4th seasons, to improve in this area, and he took great pride in making catches and hanging onto the ball. Gonzalez had 5 fumbles in his first 3 years in the league, and only 1 the remaining 14 seasons. Kelce isn’t the only one struggling in this area, Sammy Watkins has lost 2 fumbles already this year and dropped several passes. Not all passes will be caught, I realize this, but ball security has to be taken seriously. 

Oh, the OL Woes and More

As many of you know, I’ve written and made comments numerous times, lamenting the inadequacies of the Chiefs offensive line. Andrew Luck was drafted 1st overall, seven short years ago, in 2012. He is now out of the game because the Indianapolis Colts front office failed to put an offensive line in front of him to keep him healthy. This is not what we, as Kansas City Chiefs fans, want to see happen to Patrick Mahomes II, but it’s happening right in front of our eyes, and if changes and adjustments aren’t made, the same thing that happened in Indy could happen here. I don’t know how many times Mahomes was hit Sunday, but he was sacked 4 times, one other hit re-injured his ankle, and then his ankle was injured once more when our “versatile” swing tackle couldn’t hold off a 250 pound LB and stepped on Mahomes ankle. Our mediocre left guard was injured, and replaced by a kid, in Ryan Hunter, that would struggle to make a D-1 college squad. 

The Colts have invested heavily in their offensive line, but they have had the advantage of early draft picks because they stunk so bad when Luck was injured. However, their OL now consists of three first round round draft picks and one early second rounder, and it showed Sunday night, as they were able to impose their will on the Chiefs defensive front. The Chiefs, on the other hand, with the exception of RT, have late round picks, other teams cast offs, and players not even good enough to be drafted.

Are There Any Solutions

That’s a good question. The coaches can make adjustments, giving the left tackle help on a regular basis. They can devise planned rollouts, moving Mahomes out of harm’s way. Fortunately, Mahomes didn’t seem all too hobbled at the end of the game, so hopefully his ankle isn’t a major setback, but we should still provide extra protection for at least the next two games.

An Approaching Trade Deadline

Many fans have been calling for the Chiefs to make a trade to shore up either the defensive line or at cornerback. I still believe our biggest weakness is offensive line. The $64,000 question is, who to trade for. There are currently four teams in the NFL that have yet to win a game. one of them has already fired their head coach and all four of those teams could be looking to sell, in order to build for the future. Two of those teams, the Washington Redskins and the Cincinnati Bengals, both currently with an 0-5 record, have players that I believe the Chiefs could put to use currently and in the future.

The Washington Redskins

If I were the Chiefs GM, I would be pushing the Redskins hard for a trade or two. First would be to acquire Brandon Scherff, currently the Skins RG. Scherff was a first round draft pick in 2015 and is playing on the 5th year option of his rookie contract. A contract extension would need to be worked to make the deal, but Scherff was an excellent player at Iowa, where he played both left tackle and guard, winning the Outland Trophy in 2014. Scherff could immediately step in as the starting left tackle or left guard for the Chiefs.

My second potential trade with the Redskins would be for DL Tim Settle. With the injuries incurred to our interior DL during the Colts game, DT could be a need for us. Settle was a 5th round draft pick for the Redskins. If memory serves, Settle was a favorite of Ransom Hawthorne’s, coming into the 2018 draft, and Ransom does an excellent job of scouting later round picks that will perform well in the NFL.

As much as I like Demarcus Robinson, I would be willing to trade DRob to the Skins in order to help acquire Scherff, if not both Scherff and Settle. This is how much I believe our O-line needs improvement. Washington could use the help at WR, especially in the future, with DRob’s familiarity with Alex Smith, when AS11 makes his comeback next year, and could be a boon for the Skins.

The Cincinnati Bengals

Another team with an 0-5 record, the Bengals could be looking to trade for the future. If I were Veach, I would be pushing hard to acquire Billy Price, a first round draft pick in 2018, but is not starting for Cincinnati. Price played college ball at Ohio State (see Ransom Hawthorne’s write up on Billy Price here). Price played all three interior positions in college and won the Remington Trophy as a senior. Price would be an immediate upgrade at either center or left guard, if Wylie is out for an extended period.

One other player that I would definitely inquire about from the Bengals, is defensive tackle Andrew Billings. Billings, a 4th round pick in 2016,  is in the final year of his rookie contract. His cost would be minimal, and a decision to retain him for future play could be made at a later date. 

Patrick Mahomes was sacked, hit, or flushed out of the pocket in over half of his dropbacks Sunday, and that was with the Colts primarily rushing just four defensive players. Plus the running game was virtually nonexistent for the entire game. Both of these issues boil down to subpar play by our offensive linemen, and this simply can’t continue. Eric Fisher returning from injury will help, but it’s not as if he is a top flight offensive tackle. Left guard looks like a huge problem if Wylie misses much time, and Reiter playing center will continue to be a weakness. 

All prayers being that Mahomes remains fleet of foot and that our receivers have hands of glue. I’m expecting a bounce back game this week, and a Chiefs victory over the Texans.

On a personal note, I went 12-3 in this past week’s selections, picking straight up. All three of my misses were in games involving AFC West teams.

Paul Pulley — ArrowheadOne

See you at noon today for David Perkins piece called,

“The Chiefs Defense at Fault? Are you Kidding me?”

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