My Playoff game break-down

[Bigchiefatl]

Well, I have had time to de-compress from that dissapointing loss. I have re-watched the game, and come up with a drive by drive breakdown of how and why we lost the game.

1st Quarter

Drive One: Baltimore first offensive possesion from the BAL 30-
Key Play: 2-10 from the BAL 20...27 yard completion to Boldin
TOP: 5:59

After the play to Boldin that got the drive rolling, the Ravens went to Heap early and often. The Chiefs inability to get pressure on Flacco without blitzing burned us. That being said, we had a heck of a goal-line stand, and forced a field goal. This was a win in my opinion.
Score: KC 0-BAL 3

Drive Two: KC first offensive possesion from the KC 25-
Key Play: 2-8 from the KC 27, incomplete pass to Moeaki
TOP: 1:34
We came out throwing on the first two plays, and the Ravens were ready. It was evident that the pressure the Raiders put on Cassel the week before would continue. Cassel had to scramble on the first play, threw incomplete on 2nd down, and we went three and out. This possesion was a loss.

Drive Three: BAL second offensive possesion from the BAL 15-
Key Play: 2-10 from the KC 46, Tamba Hali sacks and strips Joe Flacco
TOP: 4:29
The Chifes mixed up their blitzes better, and started taking Heap out of the mix(1 catch for 3 yds on this drive). So Flacco started dumping the ball off to Rice.
It worked, but Hali came up with what seemed to be a momentun changing play. This possesion was a big win.

Drive Four: KC second offensive possesion from the BAL 46-
Key Play: 2-5 from the BAL 41, Charles 41 yard touchdown run
TOP: 0:49

After the turnover, Jamaal Charles ripped off a 41 yard TD run on the second play of the drive. This possesion is a big win.
Score: KC 7-BAL 3

Drive Five: BAL third offensive possesion from the BAL 20-
Key Play: 2-3 from the BAL 27, Houshmandzadeh 28 yard catch
TOP: 2:21

Although the defense did hold them to a punt, the 28 yard catch by Houshmandzadeh put them into Chiefs territory and resulted in bad field position to start our next drive. This possesion was a push.

2nd Quarter.

Drive Six: KC Third offensive possesion from the KC 14-
Key Play: 1-10 from the BAL 48, Jamaal Charles runs for 4 yards then fumbles the ball, recovered by BAL
TOP: 3:24

This drive features one of my key plays for us losing. We had the Raven's defense on it's heels. Quick counts combine with Charles runs of 11, 8, and 9 yards had them reeling. Then one of the biggest plays of the game happened. Charles fumbled the ball. If we could have just gotten 3 points out of this drive, it would have been huge at this stage. Remember, it was 7-3 Chiefs, and our defense had already made a big play...and Charles was getting in a groove. This possesion was a loss.

Drive Seven: BAL fourth offensive possesion from the BAL 45-
Key Play: 3-4 from the KC 49, Flacco is sacked at the 49 by Hali
TOP: 2:12
The defense showed up after the turnover. After runs of 5 and 1 yard by Rice, on third down, we finally got off the field with a huge sack by Hali. This possesion was a win.

Drive Eight: KC fourth offensive possesions from the KC 13-
Key Play: 3-3 from the BAL 47, penalty on Albert for false start.
TOP: 3:23

The Chiefs were again moving the ball with a 22 yard pass to Moeaki and an 11 yard run by Charles(although i suspect Charles took a pretty big hit on the end of his run...he didn't come back in the rest of this drive and his touches were limited for the remainder of the game, and when he did play he wasn't effective.) A false start by Albert turned third and three into third an eight. This is where the injury to Charles hurt us. Charles has picked up third and longs before in situations like this. This possesion was a loss.

Drive Nine: BAL fifth offensive possesion from the BAL 20-
Key Play: 3-13 from the BAL 32, 13 yard completion to Heap for a first down.
TOP: 5:30

Although Belcher got our third sack on Flacco, McGraw wasn't able to cover Heap on a third and thirteen and they converted. Heap then turned around and caught a 21 yard pass to get into KC territory. The drive resulted in a Baltimore touchdown...9 yard pass to Ray Rice. This possesion was a loss.

Score: BAL 10-KC 7

Drive Ten: KC 5th offensive possesion from the KC 16-
Key Play: Cassel takes a knee
TOP: 0:19

This ended the first half.

My thoughts on the first half.
Defense: Considering we were losing the TOP battle 20:31 to 9:29, more than 2 to 1, the defense played well. They had a tough time getting off the field on third down, but they had a huge goal-line stand, sacked Flacco three times and foreced a fumble.Baltimore had five possesions. I believe the Chiefs D won 3 of those, lost one and had a push. Not too bad.

Offense: The turnover by Charles, and the false start penalty by Albert killed two good drives. They really only had 4 possesions (the last one was a one play kneel-down at the end of the half) Of those four possesions, one was a touchdown, one was killed by a turnover, one was killed by a penalty and the other one was our first possesion. we always seem to start off slow. Of the three possesions, one was a win, three were losses.

Even after all that, we still were only down by three with possesion to start the second half.

Second half analysis to follow.

[matthewschiefs]

Well, I have had time to de-compress from that dissapointing loss. I have re-watched the game, and come up with a drive by drive breakdown of how and why we lost the game.

1st Quarter

Drive One: Baltimore first offensive possesion from the BAL 30-
Key Play: 2-10 from the BAL 20...27 yard completion to Boldin
TOP: 5:59

After the play to Boldin that got the drive rolling, the Ravens went to Heap early and often. The Chiefs inability to get pressure on Flacco without blitzing burned us. That being said, we had a heck of a goal-line stand, and forced a field goal. This was a win in my opinion.
Score: KC 0-BAL 3

Drive Two: KC first offensive possesion from the KC 25-
Key Play: 2-8 from the KC 27, incomplete pass to Moeaki
TOP: 1:34
We came out throwing on the first two plays, and the Ravens were ready. It was evident that the pressure the Raiders put on Cassel the week before would continue. Cassel had to scramble on the first play, threw incomplete on 2nd down, and we went three and out. This possesion was a loss.

Drive Three: BAL second offensive possesion from the BAL 15-
Key Play: 2-10 from the KC 46, Tamba Hali sacks and strips Joe Flacco
TOP: 4:29
The Chifes mixed up their blitzes better, and started taking Heap out of the mix(1 catch for 3 yds on this drive). So Flacco started dumping the ball off to Rice.
It worked, but Hali came up with what seemed to be a momentun changing play. This possesion was a big win.

Drive Four: KC second offensive possesion from the BAL 46-
Key Play: 2-5 from the BAL 41, Charles 41 yard touchdown run
TOP: 0:49

After the turnover, Jamaal Charles ripped off a 41 yard TD run on the second play of the drive. This possesion is a big win.
Score: KC 7-BAL 3

Drive Five: BAL third offensive possesion from the BAL 20-
Key Play: 2-3 from the BAL 27, Houshmandzadeh 28 yard catch
TOP: 2:21

Although the defense did hold them to a punt, the 28 yard catch by Houshmandzadeh put them into Chiefs territory and resulted in bad field position to start our next drive. This possesion was a push.

2nd Quarter.

Drive Six: KC Third offensive possesion from the KC 14-
Key Play: 1-10 from the BAL 48, Jamaal Charles runs for 4 yards then fumbles the ball, recovered by BAL
TOP: 3:24

This drive features one of my key plays for us losing. We had the Raven's defense on it's heels. Quick counts combine with Charles runs of 11, 8, and 9 yards had them reeling. Then one of the biggest plays of the game happened. Charles fumbled the ball. If we could have just gotten 3 points out of this drive, it would have been huge at this stage. Remember, it was 7-3 Chiefs, and our defense had already made a big play...and Charles was getting in a groove. This possesion was a loss.

Drive Seven: BAL fourth offensive possesion from the BAL 45-
Key Play: 3-4 from the KC 49, Flacco is sacked at the 49 by Hali
TOP: 2:12
The defense showed up after the turnover. After runs of 5 and 1 yard by Rice, on third down, we finally got off the field with a huge sack by Hali. This possesion was a win.

Drive Eight: KC fourth offensive possesions from the KC 13-
Key Play: 3-3 from the BAL 47, penalty on Albert for false start.
TOP: 3:23

The Chiefs were again moving the ball with a 22 yard pass to Moeaki and an 11 yard run by Charles(although i suspect Charles took a pretty big hit on the end of his run...he didn't come back in the rest of this drive and his touches were limited for the remainder of the game, and when he did play he wasn't effective.) A false start by Albert turned third and three into third an eight. This is where the injury to Charles hurt us. Charles has picked up third and longs before in situations like this. This possesion was a loss.

Drive Nine: BAL fifth offensive possesion from the BAL 20-
Key Play: 3-13 from the BAL 32, 13 yard completion to Heap for a first down.
TOP: 5:30

Although Belcher got our third sack on Flacco, McGraw wasn't able to cover Heap on a third and thirteen and they converted. Heap then turned around and caught a 21 yard pass to get into KC territory. The drive resulted in a Baltimore touchdown...9 yard pass to Ray Rice. This possesion was a loss.

Score: BAL 10-KC 7

Drive Ten: KC 5th offensive possesion from the KC 16-
Key Play: Cassel takes a knee
TOP: 0:19

This ended the first half.

My thoughts on the first half.
Defense: Considering we were losing the TOP battle 20:31 to 9:29, more than 2 to 1, the defense played well. They had a tough time getting off the field on third down, but they had a huge goal-line stand, sacked Flacco three times and foreced a fumble.Baltimore had five possesions. I believe the Chiefs D won 3 of those, lost one and had a push. Not too bad.

Offense: The turnover by Charles, and the false start penalty by Albert killed two good drives. They really only had 4 possesions (the last one was a one play kneel-down at the end of the half) Of those four possesions, one was a touchdown, one was killed by a turnover, one was killed by a penalty and the other one was our first possesion. we always seem to start off slow. Of the three possesions, one was a win, three were losses.

Even after all that, we still were only down by three with possesion to start the second half.

Second half analysis to follow.

That's something that I think gets lost. We lost by the amount we did because we gave the better more experaniced team the worst thing we could in that game momentum. That's what put the nail in our coffin.

[4everchiefsfan25]

That's something that I think gets lost. We lost by the amount we did because we gave the better more experaniced team the worst thing we could in that game momentum. That's what put the nail in our coffin.

Agreed. There is no way a young team like us would beable to turn the ball over 5 times to a very experienced football team and expect to win.

[Bigchiefatl]

2nd Half

Drive Eleven: Chiefs sixth offensive possesion from the KC 20-
Key Play(s): 4-1 from the Baltimore 33, Charles runs for -4 yards and we turn over on downs, also the bizarre interception/fumble/recovery play
TOP: 5:22

I want to spend a lot of time on this because this was one of the key drives in this game. After an incomplete pass and a loss of 1 yard, Cassel threw downfield to Moeaki on third down. The pass was way high, this was on Cassel. Moeaki would have been better not to jump up for it, because he tipped it right to Nakamura. Then he fumbled and Charles recovered. Not only does this allow us to retain possesion, but we get 13 yards out of it and a new set of downs. After a 15 yard pass to Charles and a 10 yard pass to Jones we were in Baltimore teritory. We soon found ourselves at fourth and literally 6 inches. I have no issue with going for it in this situation. A field goal would have been tricky from 51 yards and a punt would have given them the ball at the 20. I really don't have an issue with the play call. The design was to fake a fullback dive to draw in the defense and then pitch it to the halfback(Charles) and have him sprint to the corner. Here are the two reasons why this play didn't work. First, Cassel did a horrible job selling the fake. The other problem is that it's hard to sell a fake when Charles is in there. He gets a lot of attention. The play didn't work, and we turned over on downs. This possesion was a loss.

Drive Twelve: BAL sixth offensive possesion from the BAL 38
Key Play: 1-10 from the BAL 38, Hali is called for Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yard penalty
TOP: 3:02

The possesion opened up with an 11 yard pass to Mason, with 15 yards added on for unnecessary roughness on Hali. This put them on the edge of field goal range. The defense held them out of the endzone, and they taked on a field goal. This possesion was a push, the penalty was bad, but after that, they held them to three.

Score: BAL 13-KC 7

Drive Thirteen: KC Seventh offensive possesion from the KC 23
Key Play: ALL OF THEM
TOP: 0:56

This possesion was a total disaster. On first down, Cassel gets called for intentional grounding, on second down he gets sacked for a 5 yard loss, and on third down he dumps off an 8 yard pass (on 3rd and 25) to McCluster. McCluster fumbles the ball to to Ray Lewis. Definatley a loss.

Drive Fourteen: BAL Seventh offensive possesion from the KC 17-
Key Play: 2-7 from the KC 9, Flacco is sacked for a two yard loss
TOP: 1:20

On the first play of this drive, Berry gets called for illegal contact (personally I think we got hosed, but what do i know) . It didn't really matter, because we got a sack on Flacco and forced a field goal. Considering the position we put the defense in, you couldn't ask for more...this possesion was a win.

Score: BAL 16-KC 7

Drive Fifteen: KC Eighth offesnive possesion from the KC 20-
Key Play: 2-9 from the KC 21, Cassel is intercepted by Landry.
TOP: 0:54

After a one yard gain by Jones (as I stated before, Charles, at this point was being used sparingly I believe due to a minor injury) Cassel threw down the middle to Moeaki after scrambling, and it was intercepted by landry. I studied this play a lot, because I feel it was the nail in the coffin, since it resulted in a Baltimore touchdown. This one, unlike the last interception, was on Moeaki. Moeaki did a horrible job comming back to the ball. He allowed Landry to get inside position on him. He held up, instead of comming back inside Landry to the ball.

Drive Sixteen: BAL Eighth offensive possesion.
Key Play: 2-8 from the KC 18, 13 yard pass to Heap
TOP: 2:59

After the turn over, Baltimore used a 13 yard pass to Heap to get in scoring position. Flacco threw a 4 yard pass to Boldin for the score. I can't really pin this on the defense. You can only ask so much out of them. They didn't have anything left in the tank. I guess for scoring purposes, I will call it a push.

Score: BAl 23- KC 7

Drive Seventeen: KC Ninth offensive possesion from the KC 46-
Key Play: Who cares
TOP: 0:41

On first down, Cassel was sacked, and lost the ball. The ruling was challenged, and called an incomplete pass. Second down, 3 yard pass to Curtiss, 3rd down incomplete to Tucker...punt...GAME OVER.

I won't go any further, because after that Baltimore took advantage of our tired defense to drive 80 yards and put the game away. But in truth, the game was over long before that. we got the ball back once more, but Cassel was sacked twice, then threw an interception on fourth down.


Final conclusions.

There were several key plays early on that could have made this game different. The Charles fumble was the first one. If we finish that drive and go up 14-3, it becomes a different ballgame. There were also some penalties at key times in the first half that killed drives. The 4th down play that didn't convert and the fumble by McCluster put the final nail in. By the time Cassel started throwing interceptions, it was already to late. we got outplayed by a confident experienced Baltimore squad that made very few mistakes, and we made too many. I personally chalk it up to inexperience. We will live to fight another day!

[Coach]

Excellent analysis!!!

[Bigchiefatl]

Excellent analysis!!!

Thanks. I really enjoy going back over the games and breaking down the plays to see where the turning points were. I get so worked up and excited during the games that doing this helps me go back and really understand what happened. I started doing it this season. I plan to continue doing it next season. Hopefully everyone here will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.