CHIEFS WERE THE BEST TEAM YESTERDAY
It's nice to be able to write an article after a Chiefs game that doesn't include the line "I don't know when the Chiefs will be able to win a game". They were the best team yesterday at FedEx field, which isn't so much a pat on the back for the Chiefs, but rather an indictment of how horrid the Washington Redskins are at this point. They were really awful. The Chiefs played faster, harder & with more intensity yesterday. They ran the ball with some success, LJ looked like he gave a sh*t. Dwayne Bowe was hot & cold. He caught 6 passes for 109 yards, but he dropped 2 & he whiffed on a block inside the 5-yardline preventing Matt Cassel from scoring a touchdown. The rest of the receiving corps was pretty sad. A bunch of dropped passes, poor downfield blocking, routes run short of the first down marker, etc.
The makeshift offensive line wasn't particularly effective pass blocking, Cassel was sacked 5 times & hit another 10 times. I thought he would get squashed a couple of times by Albert Haynesworth. They settled down later in the game, but I think that had a lot to do with Haynesworth being knocked out of the game & the whole defense sort of packed it in, they quit.
The 3 sacks we got by Vrabel, McGraw & Hali's safety could be attributed to the fact Washington was also playing with a makeshift offensive line. But I saw a much better effort & they played smarter. Glenn Dorsey had 7 tackles, 1 for a loss. Despite his short arms, he might be a serviceable DE. Derrick Johnson got in the game & made 4 stops. Other than a 78-yard run by Clinton Portis, Kansas City stopped the run very effectively. Subtract their 78-yard run from their 11-yard total for the game & the Redskins got 41 yards on 14 carries, pathetic by any standard. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how smartly safety Mike Brown played Clinton Portis' 78-yard run. He had a blocker in front & all they had to do was beat Brown for a touchdown. Brown played it by the book, he pinned them against the sideline, kept giving ground but slowing them enough for help to arrive or making the tackle himself, which he did. No touchdown on the play, no touchdown at all, just a field goal. A very big play by a veteran who is better than he played last week.
Other notes I made were about Terrance Copper, quickly becoming a terrific special teams player. Jamaal Charles ran well returning kickoffs & protected the ball. The Chiefs committed only 4 penalties, quite an improvement. Focus, focus, focus. The man dubbed "Mr. Irrelevant" as the last player selected in the NFL Draft, Ryan Succop, is proving to be anything but irrelevant. His 4 for 4 day kicking was just what we needed. After getting one blocked by Dallas the week before, did you notice how high every kick was yesterday?
The Chiefs need to win 5 games to get out of the top-5 in the draft. The top-5 is tough to trade down out of, it commits way too much money to one player if you're forced to pick that high. It really limits draft day maneuverability. Get down around pick 6-8 & you're still going to get an elite player or trade out of the spot & get equal or better value. I doubt they can win 5, but you never know. I know for sure they'll regret losing to the Raiders after dominating them all day long.
It's been awful waiting for a win & I know it may be a while before we get another one. But at least we don't have the Redskins to watch every week. They have lost 3 games to teams that have won 1 stinkin' game. That's brutal. Or how about Tennessee? From 13-3 last season to 0-6 this year with a 59-0 drubbing yesterday. Their performance was shameful, I don't care about the snow, I don't care that they were 0-5 going into the game & virtually out of all contention. They're paid professionals & Titans owner Bud Adams deserves a refund from most of his team. Brutal doesn't begin to describe the Titans.
The makeshift offensive line wasn't particularly effective pass blocking, Cassel was sacked 5 times & hit another 10 times. I thought he would get squashed a couple of times by Albert Haynesworth. They settled down later in the game, but I think that had a lot to do with Haynesworth being knocked out of the game & the whole defense sort of packed it in, they quit.
The 3 sacks we got by Vrabel, McGraw & Hali's safety could be attributed to the fact Washington was also playing with a makeshift offensive line. But I saw a much better effort & they played smarter. Glenn Dorsey had 7 tackles, 1 for a loss. Despite his short arms, he might be a serviceable DE. Derrick Johnson got in the game & made 4 stops. Other than a 78-yard run by Clinton Portis, Kansas City stopped the run very effectively. Subtract their 78-yard run from their 11-yard total for the game & the Redskins got 41 yards on 14 carries, pathetic by any standard. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how smartly safety Mike Brown played Clinton Portis' 78-yard run. He had a blocker in front & all they had to do was beat Brown for a touchdown. Brown played it by the book, he pinned them against the sideline, kept giving ground but slowing them enough for help to arrive or making the tackle himself, which he did. No touchdown on the play, no touchdown at all, just a field goal. A very big play by a veteran who is better than he played last week.
Other notes I made were about Terrance Copper, quickly becoming a terrific special teams player. Jamaal Charles ran well returning kickoffs & protected the ball. The Chiefs committed only 4 penalties, quite an improvement. Focus, focus, focus. The man dubbed "Mr. Irrelevant" as the last player selected in the NFL Draft, Ryan Succop, is proving to be anything but irrelevant. His 4 for 4 day kicking was just what we needed. After getting one blocked by Dallas the week before, did you notice how high every kick was yesterday?
The Chiefs need to win 5 games to get out of the top-5 in the draft. The top-5 is tough to trade down out of, it commits way too much money to one player if you're forced to pick that high. It really limits draft day maneuverability. Get down around pick 6-8 & you're still going to get an elite player or trade out of the spot & get equal or better value. I doubt they can win 5, but you never know. I know for sure they'll regret losing to the Raiders after dominating them all day long.
It's been awful waiting for a win & I know it may be a while before we get another one. But at least we don't have the Redskins to watch every week. They have lost 3 games to teams that have won 1 stinkin' game. That's brutal. Or how about Tennessee? From 13-3 last season to 0-6 this year with a 59-0 drubbing yesterday. Their performance was shameful, I don't care about the snow, I don't care that they were 0-5 going into the game & virtually out of all contention. They're paid professionals & Titans owner Bud Adams deserves a refund from most of his team. Brutal doesn't begin to describe the Titans.
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