Week 1 Pre-cap Re-cap: Chiefs vs Browns

If you are reading this hot off the press I wish you the happiest of Tuesday mornings. We are officially 94.44% of the way through the NFL season. This puts us just over 5% through the year, which means… mathematically… we know nothing. However, the greatness of the NFL is the fact that every game matters, so the knowledge gained is not insignificant. Let’s talk about what we learned from the Chiefs.

Full disclosure: I did not write this article starting at 6:30 PM CDT on Sunday. This was written on Saturday. What does that really mean? This is my game pre-cap recap as I see it playing out. Next week I will revisit and shame myself appropriately for everything I get wrong here. Deal?

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Fantasy Feels and Long Season Potential

I do have to start on a good foot, and it is what I do know. We have a game in the books, and I can give some definitive truths from it:

1. Fantasy football is back baby, and man did it come out of the gate. One of the most interesting times of the fantasy week is at about 11 on a Thursday night when you survey the league scoreboard to see how everyone started. This Thursday gave everyone who spent time drafting Bucs and Cowboys player not named Zeke Elliott a great start. I spend a good part of that kickoff game kicking myself for not believing in Amari Cooper during drafts, and also thinking I maybe should have reached for Dak. It’s only one game, and I’m just sayin’.
2. The Bucs are back, and the league will be dealing with them all year. Tom Brady looks great as always, and their WR corps is elite. To be fair the Dallas D is not really known for being world beaters. The Cowboys managed 6 passes defended and 2 QB Hits. To quote Yoda: “A plan to beat Tom Brady, that is not.”
3. All 3 Bucs fans are going to be a bit much to deal with this year. I have a bit of a transient residential history, and road warrior work travel resume. I have friends all over the country from meeting people at jobs, games and bars. Last season let me leverage some of these connections into opposing team smack talks, which were awesome. The most notable is this gem from the AK CHIEFScast, and I still see comments every week. For the record I love, and hope they continue. Tampa has some great and knowledgeable fans, and I am already seeing the 1-0 social media posts. We need a Bucs loss stat. I see the Rams week 3 as the only thing between now and long wait for it.

Let’s talk about the game I believe I will watch.

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Offensive Line as Advertised

The O-line reinvention was Brett Veach’s offseason project, and boy did he deliver. Word on the street was Veach’s first comments to Mahomes off the field from Super Bowl LV were about correcting the protection. The mission: make sure Mahomes never takes a sack again. This is a tall order as teams have been spending insane draft capital getting elite edge rushers in the league, and the NCAA game is developing them. Add to it that week 1 featured Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney bringing the heat. If the mission was zero sacks it was a failure. Mahomes did take a couple.

However, in fairness to the line we cannot totally pin them. The magic of Mahomes is his ability to improvise out of the pocket, but the other edge of that sword is his propensity to do it. Both sacks came from Patrick bailing from a cleanish pocket early to run, and he could have taken the 5 yard move the chains out. I have long been a proponent for what I will call fair correction stats. A WR lazily breaking a route to avoid contact resulting in an INT is not fair to the QB, but he has to carry it. We need a stat collected for that. The O-line did their job in this one and Patrick created his own sack opportunities. It was not the lines fault, and we need a stat collected for that.

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Chiefs Offense Picks Right Back Up

We all knew the Super Bowl was an anomaly. The offense was back on schedule with usual offenders. Kelce had a day against the team he grew up watching further cementing himself as the top TE in the league. Hill saw a ton of pressure and coverage from Ward and Newsome II, but it did not stop him finding the end zone and crossing the 100 yd mark like normal. But the real revolution was Mecole Hardman showing up to play. His line of 159 yds and a TD is what we have been looking for all preseason, and pretty much his whole career. The mission for Mecole: do it again.

Also, was that a little bit of balance I saw? A great effect of an upgraded line is a better run game. Watching Clyde go for 100+ yds was incredible. His 50-yds receiving out the backfield is what we pictured the moment he was drafted. If he turns into Christian McCaffrey Lite we will have a monstrous season of scoring.

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The Big Question

Do we have a solid D or does Cleveland have a problem? Snead and Jones are our studs. Baker lived in a world of constant pressure from our “new” DE, and Snead was all over the OBJ/Landry duo. Snead also flashed those brilliant instincts on the jumped cross route that was a Nick Chubb away from gong to the house. The fans may have stomped Arrowhead to China if that happened. The D looked good.

Let’s be measured: Baker looked bad. He constantly bailed out of cleanish pockets to improvise, but has a distinct lack of Mahomes. So it didn’t work. He reiterated that his best ball movement motions remain handing the ball to Chubb and Hunt. Don’t get me wrong, those two deserve the ball in every way, but it doesn’t make much sense having OBJ on the field with a QB that can’t get him the ball. I expect the Browns to get the “well, they played the Chiefs” pass for this one, but that is probably the one get out of jail free card they get. Another one of these and the “OBJ needs to leave town” rhetoric will be as hot as ever.

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9/11 Reflection

I cannot be sitting and writing on 9/11 and not reflect. As a 40 year old I was a little young to fully understand the Challenger, so this is my defining tragedy. I still vividly remember that morning, which feel both like yesterday and a lifetime ago. Like many I remember where I was: at a Fraternity house across from campus. I had just gotten home from milking cows at my dairy farm job, which left me about as wound up and awake as a college student could be at 8:30 AM. All of the sudden my attention was pointed by a couple others to the TV and I was right there with the rest of the world, in horror and disbelief.

The last thing I will say about 9/11 is make the time to head to NYC to see the Freedom Tower and memorial, and also make the trip to Shanksville, PA. I was on the way back to MKE from a Philly road trip with the family. We saw the billboard and felt incredibly compelled to stop. I cannot really put into words how powerful the United 93 Memorial actually is, and I don’t want to try. All Americans owe it to those 40 to stop and see their story.

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Josh Kingsley — ArrowheadOne

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