Random thoughts about Chiefs/Patriots playoffs game

[Frankenchief]

1- Thank you KC Chiefs. It was a great ride. 11 in a row, after we all had left you for dead. 12 would have been nice, but you have already treated us to a great season.

2- This was another reason to lament the stupid loss in the 2nd week to the dirty Donks. We lost that game more on our own than on any Denver prowess. Without that loss we win the division and play a woefully depleted Pittsburgh Steelers at Arrowhead tomorrow. EVERY freaking game in the NFL regular season means something and losing just one can come back to bite us in the behind.

3- This was a game of two teams who were on two different trajectories. NE had all of their crucial players back and rested. We, for all practical purposes, were without Maclin, Houston, Ware, and DAT. Not to mention Jamaal Charles and Half of Tamba hali.

4- #2 looms large here, because we would have won this game if WE were the ones who had the opportunity to rest our banged up players and playing the Pats at Arrowhead.

Now enough of positives and justifications (notice I did not say excuses). To be fair lets get a bit negative here:

5- In the first half the Pats had two long drives to our two. They finished theirs with TDs and we only came up with FGs. We left 8 points on the field. Guess what, we lost the game by 7. If we want to play the big boys and beat them for the big prize we need to learn to finish our drives.

6- Travis Kelce, I'm still a big fan, but if you don't want to be called Baby Gronk you don't disappear. You got a lot of work to do and dedication to get to the next step. Use the off season to get Gronky.

7- Hammond is a better receiver than a kick returner. But that's not saying much. He needed to take one home to get back to my good graces. He didn't. I had a feeling DAT would have had one today. I am very excited about Chris Conley and I think he will have a break out year next season, but we should still add to our WR quality either from the draft or FA market.

8- Speaking of receivers (a temporary return to positives) Jason Avant was our best receiver today. Kudos.

9- Alex wasn't sharp on his deep throws. The pass to Maclin with Maclin having a step on the defender should have been 6. He was high on a couple of other deep throws to.

10- (Another temporary return to positives) Alex did have an overall good game. Alex had some effective runs for 1st down and good short/intermediate passes. On a 3rd and 7 he did a total Russel Wilson and avoided like 4 sure sacks in one play and connected with Avant for a much needed 1st down. Matt Cassel would have crapped his pants 4 times in one play there.

11- The stadium was almost Arrowhead-loud and it affected our O. Don't these guys know they live in Boston?! Anyway I chalk up Fisher's jump and the earlier delay penalty to the loudness of the stadium. Fulton did not hear Alex's signals and was late with the snap. Just another way to say home stadium is a warm and fuzzy place in the playoffs.

12- Andy Reid = at least one stupid sequence in time management. But I think he is the best HC we have had since the great Hank Stram.

13- The offense was not the main reason we lost. Sad to say, I blame the D a bit more. They played subpar to the standard they have spoiled us with. Sutton had no answer for Edelman. The two step drop and quick toss to him was working for them all day. And where was DJ? And is it me or did sean Smith leave his heart in KC?

14- Knile was playing with a chip on his shoulder and then he inexplicably fumbled. I doubt if he is with us next year. I will miss his returns though.

15- The 42 yard pass in the 3rd quarter from the golden boy to Martin originating from their 2 yard line was pure luck. Brady was aiming for Gronk whom we had covered with 3 defenders. Martin was running the wrong route (too close to Gronk) and found himself with a gift ball. That, along with the game sealing deflected pass that ended up in Edelman's grasp for 1st down were incredible strokes of luck worthy of Denver Broncos. The latter could have very well wound up in the hands of our defender for a last minute game-tying pick 6. Frustrating.

Now let's finish with more positive thoughts.

16- This team played far from its A-game and only lost to a sharp Brady and a fully loaded New England club that was playing very close to THEIR A-game in their house. Considering all of our essential players who did not contribute, I am very proud to be a KC Chiefs fan.

17- There are things to be excited about. I truly think Dee Ford will have a breakout year next year. I hope Hali stays and plays at least on a part time basis to extend his career with us. Also as I mentioned, I think we will see Chris Conley get over the hump and become a dangerous receiver. I also actually think our Oline is one very good RT away from approaching awesome next year. Maybe Decker in the first round? Barring injuries, next year could be ours for glory. Let's hope so.

[Almighty chief]

all i saw was a scared team... its like we were playing not to win.. Smith was shaky, overthrowing open targets. guess it don't help either our OL banged up making it harder, they were mostly playing out of their position too like Fulton.. it's not like they blew us out, we could of had a 10 pt lead if we executed.. oh well nice run im proud of our team. it wouldn't haven't felt right anyway making the SB WITHOUT Jamal Charles.

[Eydugstr]

To the OP -

Good post.

1. Complete agreement. It's weird because even though we lost against the Patriots, it's hard for me to be too angry with this team. Going from 1-5 to win out to go 11-5 was amazing. Getting a playoff win against Houston after all these years, was awesome.

2. IMHO the Green Bay, Vikings and Cincinnati losses were worse, because we were NEVER in those ball games it seemed. What stung about the Denver loss was because we shot ourselves in the foot, in front of our home crowd. The first Denver game loss sucked (and yes it did contribute to losing the next four) but paybacks are a (&*ch and the Chiefs did EXACTLY what they needed to after losing to Denver in KC - They marched into SA stadium and kicked trophy boy in the nards. The Bears game was another game that we should've won but didn't.

3. Agreed. Injuries suck. No offense to CW or Ware, who've done a wonderful job trying to fill JC's shoes, but if JC had been available, it might've forced NE to play closer to the LOS and opened up more holes in the secondary.

5. We've got a good team but we have some work to do before we're a DOMINANT team. Dominant teams finish tough drives with TD's. Those eight points plus KD's fumble were the backbreakers of this game.

6. If Kelce improves his blocking, and becomes more of a complete player at the position (like Tony G was), he'll make himself that much more of a weapon. Tony G had some growing pains, too.

7. If Hammond had taken one back against NE...People would forget all about DAT. To be fair to Hammond, he did have some good moments in that game but just didn't deliver a great punch to NE when it was really needed. Not sure if Reid will let him go, though - He tends to be really patient with players (look at how long he kept Avery and Bowe around despite all the drops and issues)

8. Am assuming that the only reason why we didn't make better use of Avant earlier in the season was simply to invest more reps in Wilson and Conley. I'm hoping that pays off next season, when they've gotten more of Reid's/Childress' playbook more absorbed. If they kept Avant around I wouldn't complain, but we need to get another WR threat opposite of Maclin to make our deep pass game more effective.

9 & 10. Agreed. Alex was consistently throwing the ball too high, throwing jump balls. Alex isn't going to break away from what he does, one or two checks and if that's not open he's off to the races.

11. Paybacks are )&%ch. We were plenty loud to them when we beat them soundly last year. With that being said, the '15 Chiefs were better on the road than they were at home!

12. Yes Reid sucks at time management. Until someone steps it up and wins a couple Lombardi trophies for KC, no one is going to forget Hank Stram. Neither DV or Marty could, hopefully Reid can.

13. While I think the entire team did play a little "flat" (did they fall for the old trick of partying with NE players all night before the game?) keep in mind Brady was threading needles the entire game. It didn't help to have our best pass rusher on the sidelines. It could've been much worse but thankfully Edelmann was dropping passes left and right at the beginning of the game.

14. I'm hoping Reid doesn't give up on Knile. Yes the fumble sucked, and he does have a history of fumbles, but we have no idea what JC is going to be like when he gets back (JC has a history of fumbling at bad times, too.) If anything I trust KD with the kick return duties over Hammond.

15. We have way too many "almost interceptions". We need to turn those into more back-breaking INT's for other teams to deal with. Peters did a really good job of that this year. To the point it seemed like Brady was not throwing the ball Peters way very often at all.

17. Definitely agree there's a lot to be excited about. While we need to get the RT/RG situation fixed, and another WR developed to complement Maclin, we really don't have any glaring weaknesses that stand out. Which means Dorsey can go after more BPA's instead of being hand-tied to getting team needs, and that alone might generate some surprises for our opponents. The ship is pointed in the right direction.

[Frankenchief]

2. IMHO the Green Bay, Vikings and Cincinnati losses were worse, because we were NEVER in those ball games it seemed. What stung about the Denver loss was because we shot ourselves in the foot, in front of our home crowd. The first Denver game loss sucked (and yes it did contribute to losing the next four) but paybacks are a (&*ch and the Chiefs did EXACTLY what they needed to after losing to Denver in KC - They marched into SA stadium and kicked trophy boy in the nards. The Bears game was another game that we should've won but didn't.

6. If Kelce improves his blocking, and becomes more of a complete player at the position (like Tony G was), he'll make himself that much more of a weapon. Tony G had some growing pains, too.

7. If Hammond had taken one back against NE...People would forget all about DAT.

8. If they kept Avant around I wouldn't complain, but we need to get another WR threat opposite of Maclin to make our deep pass game more effective.

12. Yes Reid sucks at time management. Until someone steps it up and wins a couple Lombardi trophies for KC, no one is going to forget Hank Stram. Neither DV or Marty could, hopefully Reid can.

17. Definitely agree there's a lot to be excited about. While we need to get the RT/RG situation fixed, and another WR developed to complement Maclin, we really don't have any glaring weaknesses that stand out. Which means Dorsey can go after more BPA's instead of being hand-tied to getting team needs, and that alone might generate some surprises for our opponents. The ship is pointed in the right direction.

2- If the we hadn't lost to the Donks the way we did we would have not lost to the Bears and would play Green bay a lot closer. That Denver loss messed with our players' heads and morale. That's why I call that one our most important loss of the season. Without that loss we would have been the #1 seed in the AFC.

6- Talking about messed up heads, that fumble in a game (I forget which) where he caught a much needed first down pass and instead of stepping out foolishly turned inside really messed with his head for the season. I really think it did. He is an emotional guy and emotional guys tend to allow failures affect them negatively. He did some good blocking in the playoffs as well as subpar ones. Because of his emotional nature I think the Chiefs need to make it a priority work with his head this offseason. But like you said even Gonzo took a few years before becoming great. Keep in mind Kelce did not have his first year head start either.

And speaking of TEs I saw encouraging signs that Demetrius Harris was finally getting a hang of it. I have been rooting for his development all along and frankly by midseason this year started having my doubts. Glad he the coaches didn't give up on him. I love the potential of those ex-basketball players playing TE. That was one of the main ingredients in Gonzo's greatness. As ex b-ball players turned TEs go Harris was as ray as they come. Now maybe not so much. He is turning into a football player before our eyes.

7- Yeah but he didn't. On the one return that looked hopeful, Hammond had ONE bigger guy to juke out and sail home. I think that would have been DAT's 6 point return for this game.

8- Yeah but is there a 9 foot tall wide receiver in the upcoming draft? Alex needs to get more accurate with the deep ball especially in big games. He tends to go too high. On the one to Maclin if it is half a foot lower it would have been 6 and a totally different game.

12- DV could have. If he didn't treat the D like a ******* child from a drunken one night stand with an ugly shrew. If he fielded a D remotely resembling what we have now we could have had a couple of Lombardi trophies in a row. That offense was awesome.

17- Not a total BPA. If at pick 28 of the draft there is total stud at any of the RT, WR, ILB positions there he should pounce on him. If, for example, OT Decker falls, he is my choice. Pitt WR tyler Boyd might also be a great pick there.