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Kansas City Chiefs fall to Jaguars 24-21
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It was the same old song yesterday for the Kansas City Chiefs. Better defensive play sabotaged by a handful of mind-numbingly bad ones. An offense that self-destructs so much that they no longer have feet to shoot themselves in. And, special teams play that, with the exception of a single botched coverage on a punt return, thoroughly outplayed everyone else on the field.
In the end, the Chiefs fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-21 and saw their record drop to 1-7 for the season.
Watching yesterday's game was much more frustrating than any other loss the team has this season. The Chiefs defense bottled up one of the premiere players in the league, Jags running back Maurice Jones-Drew, holding him to 97 rushing yards on 29 carries. That's a very respectable 3.3 yards-per-carry average against a guy who ripped off 177 yards on eight carries the week before.
I was very pleased with some of the defensive pressure that the team put on David Garrard. Tamba Hali and Glenn Dorsey, especially, played well. And even Wallace Gilberry got into the act, sacking Garrard on a crucial 3rd down play that pushed Jacksonville to the edge of field goal range. And once again, linebacker Derrick Johnson forced a turnover in his limited playing time. (Better bench him quick, Todd!)
And yet, for the umpteenth time this year, a receiver ran untouched throughout the secondary and burned the team badly at the worst possible times. Mike Sims-Walker caught 6 passes for 147 yards, including the aforementioned 61-yard touchdown stroll where the closest Chiefs defender was five yards away from him.
Offensively, I realize that Todd Haley isn't a run-first kind of coach, like Marty Schottenheimer or Herm Edwards, but when your running game is averaging five yards a carry and your passing game just isn't clicking, you may want to run the ball more than 12 freaking times! You would have thought that the Chiefs were being blown out by 40 with the way we abandoned the run game.
Face it, folks, this team is going to blow on offense until next season no matter who they run out there. CBS color analyst, Steve Beuerlein, pointed out that because Haley fired offensive coordinator Chan Gailey right before the season, the Chiefs have only had about 30 practices in the new offense. Before they fired him, the offense had about 50 practices under Gailey's system.
Imagine waking up today and walking into your office and your boss informs you that the software system you've been using has been completely replaced by a different one with completely different functions and terminology. He hands you a 1,000-page manual and tells you to learn it by lunch. Oh, and the customers are all expecting answers to their questions by 9:00 a.m. Good luck.
Meanwhile, 320-pound linemen are crashing through your cubicle walls trying to rip your head off.
Welcome to Matt Cassel's world.
Well, enough venting. There really were a few things to be happy about in yesterday's game. For instance:
- Dustin Colquitt is the team MVP right now (which tells you how bad this team is). Colquitt is booming his punts like crazy and isn't afraid to tackle ball carriers.
- Tamba Hali continues to impress with his non-stop motor. Remember, he's learning a new position in a new defense and is seemingly getting better every week. How many other Chiefs can you say that about right now?
- Chris Chambers seems like a pretty good pick-up right now. 70 yards and two last-minute touchdowns isn't bad for a guy who literally didn't know what the plays were.
- Can Derrick Johnson play safety? Seriously. This guy needs to be on the field every defensive snap. If Demorrio Williams is playing too well to let Johnson get on the field, figure out a way to have both guys on the field.
- Matt Cassel is far from perfect, but I will scream if I hear more Chiefs fans put all the blame for our offensive woes on him. Cassel plays the hardest position in professional sports and isn't getting much help out there. No, not every throw is perfect, but geez ... how many times do you have to hit your receivers in the hands and watch them drop the ball before you check yourself into the psycho ward?
I'd go into the bad stuff, but that's another article. Besides, you don't have enough time to read that long of an article. Now get back to work and learn that 1,000-page manual. Watch out for that big guy in the helmet standing over by the printer!
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