Random thoughts about Chiefs/Bills game.

[Frankenchief]

In no particular order:

1-
They say the great Mohammad Ali was never the same after winning the Thrilla In Manila. Ali and Frazier took so much punishment from each other that for the rest of their careers they were reduced to mere mortals for the rest of their careers. Well today's Dread In Arrowhead could have that effect for the rest of this season for both teams involved. I'm dreading the final injury report. Especially heading into Oakland next week. Losing Justin Houston, Jeff Allen, Mitch Morse, and the emerging Eric Fisher may end up being more than this team can bear. And just when we were putting things together for a run.

2-
The Bills were somewhat depleted to begin with. They also had a short week to prepare for a road game which is quite the piss poor scheduling by the NFL. And when their bus broke down on the way to Arrowhead I figured the stars are for once lining up for the Chiefs and not against them. But the way that first quarter was quite the opposite of my expectations. I always dread the of the Bills in our schedule anyway. They are one of those teams who seem to always play us tough and scary, no matter who is the coach and how they are doing in the season.

3-
The think I hate the worst, watching the Chiefs, is those ALMOST sacks we seem to always get involved in. Just when I jump up to celebrate a sure sack, the opposing QB throws what looks like a Hail Mary and it almost always a long completion against the Chiefs. Am I suffering from homer sympathy or are the Chiefs just about the unluckies team with seeing good pressure go for big gains for the enemy? In the words of the great Herm Edwards, "FLUSTRATING!"

4-
Tyrod Taylor is a clone of Russell Wilson. He'll be the Bills' QB for years pending more experience.

5-
Sammy Watkins is a monster WR. One of the best I have ever see. He was repeatedly clowning Sean Smith in the first half.

6-
The monster Sammy Smith was held to no catch (or maybe one) in the second half. Hats off to the aforementioned Sean Smith and Bob Sutton for the adjustments he made at halftime. While in the first our CBs were playing their WRs scared and loose, they were playing tighter man-to-man in the second half and managed to shut them down. That was at least one of the adjustments. I'm sure there were more that I did not pay a lot of attention to. Great job Bob Sutton.

7-
While we are on the subject of defense, I LOVE YOU TAMBA HALI! I have quit looking for holds against him because I know they are there. But This man comes to play. Dee Ford should follow him like a noon shadow throughout the week to absorb his work habit and attitude.

8-
Still on the subject of Defense did you all see when their Olineman violently pulled down DJ by his facemask pretty much out in the open without being flagged. He refs, I know a good eye doctor who does miracles with near blindness. That play was a run for like 11 yards and a Bills 1st down when as it should have ended up being 3rd and 20.

9-
Alex is getting bold and self confident, even with all the depletion and shifting around in our Oline. I like that.

10-
Speaking of 8, kudos to the bench boys of the Oline who still made the plays without a big noticeable dropoff. Yes I mean you too, Stephenson. I didn't watch individual performances at the Oline, but like I said I didn't see a big dropoff there.

11-
Welcome back Travis Kelce and Spencer Ware who were pretty much ineffective (Kelce outright disappeared) in the first half but lit it up in the second. Good job boys.

12-
Our O is scoring over 30 these days. One big reason we officially currently have the 3rd longest winning streak in the NFL. Hopefully some of our injuries are minor and we can keep this up against the Raiders.

13-
If there is a head coach with worse boneheaded sideline decisions than Andy Reid it is rex Ryan. Thanks for the two red flags you didn't throw and the one you did at the end of the game. Rex got completely out coached by Andy and not necessarily because of Andy's genius calls or sideline decisions.

Well there you have it. Feel free to agree/disagree and add more.

[Frankenchief]

12-
Still too many drives end up with FGs though.

[brdempsey69]

The offside by Harris on 4th down gave the Bills a chance to score again that they shouldn't have had.

Buffalo is a better team than the Donkeys, I think.

[TopekaRoy]

12-
Still too many drives end up with FGs though.

No they don't.

Over the 5 game winning streak the Chiefs have scored exactly 32 points per game. That's a lot of points and a lot of those points came on FGs. Every drive that ends in a FG is a drive that did not end in a punt or a turnover. If we can't get in the end zone, I'll take another FG every time.

Today the Chiefs had 10 offensive drives and scored on 6 of them (60%); 3 TDs and 3 FGs. Take away those FGs and the Chiefs lose by one point!

Sure it would be nice to score more TDs but when you can't get in the end zone at least come away with something. In fact I want to see MORE field goals (and more touchdowns, too)!

[Seek]

8. Yes I saw that play. It was Richie Incognito who pulled on DJ's face mask. I don't know how the ref missed it. It happened right by the ball carrier. There was about three plays in a row where it looked like he was trying to hurt our players.

[Frankenchief]

Today the Chiefs had 10 offensive drives and scored on 6 of them (60%); 3 TDs and 3 FGs. Take away those FGs and the Chiefs lose by one point!

I understand your point. But when your scoring drives split evenly between TDs and FGs you are a very good offense. But when you have 6 scoring drives and they are split 4TD/2FG you are an elite O. I wouldn't feel all that comfortable with our O regarding our chances in playoffs (if we make it there) if we are not scoring TDs at the 60% or better on our scoring drives.

It looks like teams like Denver and New England score TDs on the majority of their scoring drives. Maybe there is a stat about that out there to show if I'm wrong or right.

[Frankenchief]

8. Yes I saw that play. It was Richie Incognito who pulled on DJ's face mask. I don't know how the ref missed it. It happened right by the ball carrier. There was about three plays in a row where it looked like he was trying to hurt our players.

And it wasn't like it was in a pile or congested area. there was a lot of air between them and other players. How the refs missed that is beyond me. It looked quite deliberate. And dirty too. The kind that might have had Incognito ejected.

[ctchiefsfan]

In no particular order:

1-
They say the great Mohammad Ali was never the same after winning the Thrilla In Manila. Ali and Frazier took so much punishment from each other that for the rest of their careers they were reduced to mere mortals for the rest of their careers. Well today's Dread In Arrowhead could have that effect for the rest of this season for both teams involved. I'm dreading the final injury report. Especially heading into Oakland next week. Losing Justin Houston, Jeff Allen, Mitch Morse, and the emerging Eric Fisher may end up being more than this team can bear. And just when we were putting things together for a run.

Hopefully we will find that some of these injuries will not be serious and we will get the players back quickly. We still need to go at least 4-1 down the stretch to be likely to make the playoffs and next Sunday we have the damned Raiders in Oakland!

2-

The Bills were somewhat depleted to begin with. They also had a short week to prepare for a road game which is quite the piss poor scheduling by the NFL. And when their bus broke down on the way to Arrowhead I figured the stars are for once lining up for the Chiefs and not against them. But the way that first quarter was quite the opposite of my expectations. I always dread the of the Bills in our schedule anyway. They are one of those teams who seem to always play us tough and scary, no matter who is the coach and how they are doing in the season.

That the Bills are...just like the Raiders and donkeys.

Broken down bus? Hadn't heard that. Care to fill me in?

3-

The think I hate the worst, watching the Chiefs, is those ALMOST sacks we seem to always get involved in. Just when I jump up to celebrate a sure sack, the opposing QB throws what looks like a Hail Mary and it almost always a long completion against the Chiefs. Am I suffering from homer sympathy or are the Chiefs just about the unluckies team with seeing good pressure go for big gains for the enemy? In the words of the great Herm Edwards, "FLUSTRATING!"

One of the risks associated with an aggressive attacking defense is that you will get those cases where even a slightly mobile QB can elude the first rush, buy a few extra seconds, the coverage breaks down because they have been asked to cover too long and you get burned. But all in all I think an aggressive, get after the passer defense is best.

5-

Sammy Watkins is a monster WR. One of the best I have ever see. He was repeatedly clowning Sean Smith in the first half.

6-
The monster Sammy Smith was held to no catch (or maybe one) in the second half. Hats off to the aforementioned Sean Smith and Bob Sutton for the adjustments he made at halftime. While in the first our CBs were playing their WRs scared and loose, they were playing tighter man-to-man in the second half and managed to shut them down. That was at least one of the adjustments. I'm sure there were more that I did not pay a lot of attention to. Great job Bob Sutton.

The way our defense adjusted starting in the latter part of the second quarter was truly impressive. It really started before the end of the first half. It almost seemed as if Sutton had 2 different game plans because he wasn't sure what the Bills were planning so he had Plan A and Plan B. The Bills came out with something different than he expected so after the first quarter he started implementing Plan B and got it fully installed during half time. Or anyway that is how it seemed to me.

7-

While we are on the subject of defense, I LOVE YOU TAMBA HALI! I have quit looking for holds against him because I know they are there. But This man comes to play. Dee Ford should follow him like a noon shadow throughout the week to absorb his work habit and attitude.

SO TRUE on all counts!!! Tamba is having an AMAZING YEAR. Perhaps most impressive was how much pressure he was still able to put on after Houston went down. I've said it before but it bears repetition...Houston is a GREAT player. Tamba is too. By themselves either one would do exceptionally well. But with both of them on the field at the same time they become something that is better than the sum of their parts. I just hope like hell we keep Tamba for as long as he wants to play. Maybe he is not so young any more but he is still having a GREAT season and his leadership and desire to win transmits itself to the rest of the team. Besides...we need him to finish training Dee Ford to do things "The Hali Way".

9-

Alex is getting bold and self confident, even with all the depletion and shifting around in our Oline. I like that.

It was said a lot in the off-season that what Alex needed was more confidence in his O-line and receivers. Well he seems to have found some of that confidence. The O-line is still a work in progress but it's getting there and Maclin has been a dramatic improvement in our WR corps. If we can get Conley a bit more up to speed and Kelce stays healthy we could have a pretty scary passing attack.

10-

Speaking of 8, kudos to the bench boys of the Oline who still made the plays without a big noticeable dropoff. Yes I mean you too, Stephenson. I didn't watch individual performances at the Oline, but like I said I didn't see a big dropoff there.

Without a doubt. The way the "Next Man Up" philosophy worked yesterday when players started dropping like flies was a REAL TESTAMENT to the quality of the "Second Tier" players Dorsey has brought in and what Andy Reid has been able to do with them. I'm sure they both have their faults, but together they are a pretty good "Dynamic Duo".

11-

Welcome back Travis Kelce and Spencer Ware who were pretty much ineffective (Kelce outright disappeared) in the first half but lit it up in the second. Good job boys.

Yup!

12-

Our O is scoring over 30 these days. One big reason we officially currently have the 3rd longest winning streak in the NFL. Hopefully some of our injuries are minor and we can keep this up against the Raiders.

Without a doubt! In this 5 game winning streak we have scored 160 points--an average of 32 per game. Of course the Defense has been responsible (directly or indirectly) for some of those points, but no matter how you slice it 32 points per game is A LOT in today's NFL. I'd love to know what teams have averaged more PPG the last 5 games than we have.

13-

If there is a head coach with worse boneheaded sideline decisions than Andy Reid it is rex Ryan. Thanks for the two red flags you didn't throw and the one you did at the end of the game. Rex got completely out coached by Andy and not necessarily because of Andy's genius calls or sideline decisions.

Well there you have it. Feel free to agree/disagree and add more.

Rex wrecks teams. Andy doesn't.

[N TX Dave]

12-


Without a doubt! In this 5 game winning streak we have scored 160 points--an average of 32 per game. Of course the Defense has been responsible (directly or indirectly) for some of those points, but no matter how you slice it 32 points per game is A LOT in today's NFL. I'd love to know what teams have averaged more PPG the last 5 games than we have.

For the year only 4 teams have scored more and one the same points, and no one is not Denver. We have 287 points for 11 games that's 26 points a game. We have the 7th best scoring defense at points 220 that's 20 a game. We have 67 more points scored than given up, which only 4 teams have better the same 4 that have scored more than us, and they are all in first place and no Denver is still not in there, these are the NFL on AFC.

[TopekaRoy]

It looks like teams like Denver and New England score TDs on the majority of their scoring drives. Maybe there is a stat about that out there to show if I'm wrong or right.

I couldn't find what I was looking for so I got out my calculator and crunched some numbers. The Chiefs lead the NFL with 26 FGs, but are actually ranked 6th in total pts per game (26.1). That is pretty elite. That includes their 5 game losing streak, too. If you could look at just the last 5 weeks I'm sure the Chiefs would be in the top 3 in ppg. They have averaged 32 ppg in the last 5 games which is higher than the number two Patriots average of 31.5 ppg for the entire season.

So I made two charts. The first ranks the top 7 teams in points per game and looks at field goals as a percentage of total points scored. The second ranks the top 5 teams in field goals and looks at their total points per game.

Team	Rank	Total Pts	Field Goals	% of Total
Arizona	1st	355	18	15%
New England	2nd	347	24	21%
Carolina	3rd	332	25	23%
Cincinnati	4th	297	14	14%
New Orleans	5th	261	10	11%
Chiefs	6th(T)	287	26	27%
NY Giants	6ht(T)	287	23	24%

Team	Rank	# of FGs	Scoring Rank	Points Per Game
Chiefs	1st	26	6th(T)	26.1
Carolina	2nd	25	3rd	30.2
Chicago	3rd(T)	24	24th(T)	21.0
Minnesota	3rd(T)	24	24th(T)	21.0
New England	3rd(T)	24	2nd	31.5
NY Giants	6th(T)	23	6th	26.1
Pittsburgh	6th(T)	23	12th	24.2

Notice that the Chiefs, NE, CAR, and NYG are all on both charts. That's 4 out of the top 7! ARI, CIN and NO are all scoring a lot of points without a lot of FGs. (I didn't break down defensive scores and safetys from the total points category. That would have been too much work, but not all non FG points are offensive TDs.)

In the 2nd chart, CHI and MIN are also kicking a lot of FGs but are not scoring a lot of points.

Conclusion? It's hard to say. If you are scoring a lot of points you are probably kicking a lot of field goals, but if you are kicking a lot of field goals, you aren't necessarily scoring a lot of points. If anything, I would say that it is because of all those FGs that the Chiefs, Panthers and Patriots are near the top in scoring!

BTW, you mentioned Denver as an example. They missed both lists!