I don't understand this last sentence. Why would this week be any more important than any other week? It wasn't the Tennessee defense that hurt Jake Locker.
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Yup. We are currently in 1st place in the Wildcard hunt with a 1 game lead over every other team that is in the running for a Wildcard. 10-6 should get us in the playoffs.
The "doubters" will say we have only beaten bad teams as no team we have beaten is currently better than 2-2. So we still need to prove we can beat winning teams. The Titans will be our first test in that regard. The teams we play the rest of this year currently have a combined record of 27-21. Remove Denver from that mix and 10 of our remaining 12 games are against teams with a combined record of 19-21. 6 of our remaining 12 games are against teams that have given up more points than they have scored...those teams are Raiders (2 games), Houston (1 game), Cleveland (1 game), Buffalo (1 game) and Washington (1 game). The teams we have played so far are a combined 3-13. So it looks as if the toughest part of our schedule is ahead of us.
Trying to look at it objectively, I see the game against the Titans as by far our toughest game so far this year. If we can put together a win against them on their home turf then the road to at least a Wildcard slot is wide open and we win at least 10 games this year....probably 11. If we lose to the Titans then I see only 4 more SURE wins [Raiders x 2; San Diego (1) and Washington(1)] with a remaining 8 where we'd have at least a fighting chance.
Ultimately I think it comes down to how good our defense really is once we start playing the better teams we have ahead. We currently have the 2cond best point differential in the AFC at + 61 and the third best point differential. We have allowed only 10.25 points per game and have scored 25.5 points per game. 25 points will win us most of our remaining games if our defense continues to play the way it has.
All in all, I am worried sick about the Titans. I think this game is going to tell us a great deal about how good our 4-0 Chiefs really are.
GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!! Beat the Titans!!!!!!!!!!
I'm going to put this to you bluntly -- this perspective is being nothing but a gutless pu$$y -- cut and dried. And it doesn't matter what level of competition, whether it's college or NFL or Pop Warner. And right along the same line as having your team win because of a botched call by the officials that went against the other team & then acting like your team won outright when they didn't ( like I've seen so many times from Bronco fans ).
I do not want Peyton Manning KO'd just so the Chiefs have a better chance of beating the Donkey's. I want Manning on the field so the Chiefs have the chance of meeting the challenge head-on & getting a true measuring stick of where the Chiefs really stand -- same as they would if Locker were on the field this coming Sunday.
That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying we do not want to lose Alex Smith for any extended period of time, because it's going to hurt their chances of winning on Sundays. Common sense ought to have told you that.
I agree with you in principle....I think we would all prefer that every win came against a team that was at 100% and in which there were no meaningful penalties called. That said, injuries and penalties are part of the game. So are big momentum-changing plays. A big part of a coach and GM's job is having the depth the be able to overcome injuries and be able to overcome those big momentum-changing plays. Cruz' touchdown less than a minute after we scored our first touchdown could have been a momentum-changing play. That fluke interception where the ball bounced off several players and the Giants wound up with the interception could have been a killer for us. They weren't. The Chiefs just kept doing their jobs and won the game despite adversity. They didn't shake the confidence of our offense or defense one bit. And it didn't give the Giants a big boost. That's Andy Reid. He has built a team that can overcome those confidence busting plays. And Reid and Dorsey seem to have put together enough depth that we have been able to overcome some important injuries and keep on winning.
Injuries, bad calls and momentum-changing plays are all part of football in the NFL. How a team handles those things is one of the things that separates good teams from "parity" teams. One of the things that is going to make our Chiefs a real force in the NFL again (maybe not this year but real soon) is that we have a better GM and a better Coach than most teams. They are building a team that can overcome injuries, overcome bad calls and overcome those often heart-breaking big plays by the other team.
So yeah....I'd rather beat every team when it was at 100% and there were no killer penalties by either side, but in the end a win is a win and if we win when our opponent has injuries or killer penalties or we make a heart-breaking big play then the truth is we have a BETTER TEAM......because our GM and Coach did a better job of preparing our team to overcome adversity.
Overcoming adversity is one of the things that separates the men from the boys in the NFL.
I understand, but remember this....Injuries are part of the game...and potentially more so when a team picks up an older QB with a long history of injuries. If Peyton Manning goes down and we beat them as a result, it doesn't make us any less a good team. It simply means that Denver took a risk in an effort to "Win Now" and that it blew up in their faces. In short, it will mean they gambled and lost. Just like going to Las Vegas. Reid and Dorsey are not trying to build a team based on gamblers odds. Reid and Dorsey are not trying to build a team that gets lucky in Vegas. They are trying to build a team where the odds are stacked in their favor.
Naturally. We certainly don't want to lose Alex Smith right now. But in my opinion Dorsey and Reid have been working on the "after Alex Smith" time since about 60 seconds after they completed the trade for him. And as you have said many times, they may have pulled off the miracle of getting our QOTF as an Undrafted Free Agent. If that turns out to be true, then getting Alex Smith for 2 second round picks will go down in history as one of the best moves ever made in the NFL.
So no....I don't care if we are playing the Titans with their backup QB. It's THEIR job to overcome that. It's our job to beat the hell out of them no matter who they put on the field. Because injuries are part of the NFL. We are gonna win or we are gonna lose and beating their backup QB will not make 5-0 even one tiny bit less sweet.
ctchiefsfan,
I understand injuries occur, but you do NOT go wishing them upon your opponent just because it gives your team a better chance to win. There is an old saying -- "what comes around, goes around". Chiefs fans didn't think it was too funny when Jamaal Charles got KO'd two seasons ago.
I don't see anyone in the TN media saying that they are up a creek because Locker got hurt. Fact many of think there will be no drop off. Again, the Titans are winning just like the Chiefs. Good defense and taking what they can on offense and win the field position battles.
Should the Cheifs win, and people discredit the win because we didn't get their starter. They aren't sounding wounded right now.
Personally, I'd almost prefer to be facing Locker. We have virtually no film of his replacement in this Titans offense and I seem to remember "Tebow Time" in Denver and Orton beating Green Bay. Far too often a new QB gives opposing defenses a very hard time.
IMO this game will be our most important test this year.
Personally, I will be yelling for them to sack him or pick his passes off, but not maim him.
There is a dropoff. Locker is the superior talent over Fitzpatrick. They may not be saying the Titans are up a creek, but that doesn't mean they aren't apprehensive about Lockers absence in the coming weeks. I know that their HC Mike Munchak is.