Here we are. The Chiefs are 5-2 and sitting atop the AFC West with a solid 1 ½ game lead on everyone else in the division. On top of that, the Raiders sit in second place at 4-4 and the Chiefs go to Oakland next week for the game nobody saw coming, battle for first in the AFC West. While the Chiefs will technically have the lead in the division win or lose, the winner puts themselves in the driver’s seat for the division title and a playoff berth. But that’s next week, this week we have some stuff to go over after the Chiefs eeked out a 13-10 victory in overtime against the woeful Buffalo Bills. As always, here are the good and the bad from the game:
Good:
Tamba Hali – Tamba does nothing but get to the QB. With absolutely no help in rushing the passer Tamba single handedly impacts the game in the Chiefs favor by being the only player to consistently get to the QB. He added another 1.5 sacks to get to 7 on the year, meaning that if he replecates this in the second half of the season it will be extremely hard to keep him out of the Pro Bowl.
Glenn Dorsey – I am consistently amazed at his intensity. Dorsey continues to improve, impress and become the player we all wanted him to be. He’s never gonna pile up the stats, he’s never gonna get the recognition, the Pro Bowls, and only maybe some all-pro mentions because of his position, but I assure you, he is and will be deserving of all of the above. He’s the anchor of our defense.
Running Game/Offensive line – Nothing more to be said here that hasn’t already been said, but you gotta put it on there. 274 yards on the ground!!! The O-line shoved the Bills off the ball on every play. They dominated and Jamaal Charles was absolutely out of his mind. OUT. OF. HIS. MIND. 22 rushes for 177 yards. BOOM! Jam is the man. ‘Nough said.
Eric Berry – People wanted to jump all over him after the first couple of weeks, but he has gotten better every game. He has come up big time and gotten two big interceptions in the last two weeks. Now, I know it was a bad throw by Fitzpatrick this week, but that’s not the issue, the issue is that he was in the right position to make the play. People like Ed Reed have made a history of being in the right position to make the play, and Berry is starting to show the flashes of those kind of skills. He’s not there yet, but these are encouraging signs.
Bad:
Defensive breakdowns late in the game – Cornerbacks get beat, linemen get tired, linebackers aren’t supposed to be covering receivers, I get it. However, that still doesn’t discount the fact that there were some pretty costly defensive breakdowns late in the game. Now, lots of people point to Brandon Carr, I think this is unfair. Carr is an above average starter in the league this year, we are just spoiled by having Flowers on the other side. Carr occaisionally gets beat, but he also makes a good amount of plays, he is in the top half of the corners in the league.
People also talk about Derrick Johnson and rag on him for not getting interceptions that were in his hands. Really? Here is what I heard at the game “come on DJ, make a play!” I could not believe this statement. DJ did make the play! He knocked the ball down and it was an incompletion, an interception would have been game changing, but so would a big time completion. You can’t get down on him when he doesn’t make the play, and then get down on him again when he does make the play but not to your liking. This was asinine. I want DJ to makes those picks, but I am fine with being in position and making a play, even if he doesn’t make the play he could have. This is like getting mad at Dwayne Bowe for blocking downfield but not blocking far enough. If his block springs the runner for a 20 yard gain but it might have gone for a touchdown if he would have held it longer, do you rag on him for not making the block? No, you say he should’ve held it longer or needs to, but the fact that he was blocking and it helped the play, he did was he was supposed to. Sometimes I feel like people really don’t know what they’re talking about.
Coaching – I am all for Todd Haley and his 4th down gambles. Any Madden player knows that in the right situation, there is little difference between a 4th down and a punt and there is a lot of difference between 3 points and 7 points. That being said, I think Haley needs to assess based on the game situation. I would rather he let the game dictate 4th down gambles and not his whim.
Also, I think the playcalling has stagnated a bit. This is no doubt due to how well we’re running the ball, if it aint broke don’t fix it; however, I still feel like they could do so more things in the passing game to get receivers involved and Cassel some confidence. At some point we are gonna have to depend on Cassel and he needs to have the confidence when that happens.
Passing game/wide receivers – It’s been said but it’s atrocious. A lot of the blame is on Cassel’s inability, but I think the WR’s inability to get open has been downplayed. The O-Line is giving Cassel the time to make the play, but I watch the receivers and they CANNOT get open. There is no separation, no position, nothing. I don’t know if they’re getting jammed or if they can’t run routes or what, but fact of the matter is this, they are not getting the job done. It’s easy to stack the box against the run because all our receivers can be single covered and they won’t go out that much anyway cause of Cassel’s deficiencies. If the Chiefs make the playoffs this is their undoing, the Steelers and the Ravens can hold the run offense in check and they will have to open up the passing game. Something needs to be done.
Final Thoughts: A win is a win is a win, right? True, but there were definitely a lot of things in play during the game. It was very windy and I think it affected the game much more than we would know, but still. The Bills are terrible and we couldn’t muster more than 10 points on them? This offense needs to find a way to get the passing game more involved or they are headed for a bunch more losses.
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