Another trip to Florida, and another disappointing loss, this time to the 2-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This team is maddening, they win two in a row over solid playoff contenders to jump right back in the race in the AFC West, and then they go and lay an egg in Tampa. I just don’t understand it. Here are some of my thoughts from the game:
It’s one thing to give up 500 yards of offense to Indianapolis, but giving up almost 500 yards to Tampa Bay was disgusting.
Tampa came in with the NFL’s 24th ranked offense, and finished the day averaging 7.6 yards per play.
The defense gave up 128 rushing yards and three touchdowns to Michael Pittman, who entered the game with 269 yards on the season.
The defense as a whole looked as bad as they did at any point last season. The secondary was especially disappointing. They couldn’t cover or tackle anyone, and their lack of aggressiveness was appalling. I don’t know about you, but if someone slaps me in the face three times on one reception, I’m going to do something about it.
The Chiefs have no real leaders on the defensive side of the ball; no one to rally the players or chew some ass when need be. You would think veterans like Jerome Woods or Eric Hicks would assume that role, but they obviously haven’t.
How many times can you get beaten by the bootleg? It looked like week one against Denver all over again.
The real telling defensive statistic from this game: the top five leading tacklers for the Chiefs were all defensive backs.
The Chiefs offense converted on 8 of 13 (62%) third down opportunities and ran 74 plays compared to Tampa’s 55. But you won’t win many games when your -3 in turnover differential as the Chiefs were on Sunday.
Trent Green had another good game statistically and showed the toughness to stand in the pocket and take a hit and still deliver the ball, but his two second half interceptions were backbreakers.
The wide receivers all need to work on protecting the ball this week in practice. Eddie Kennison fumbled for the second time this year when being caught from behind and all the receivers are careless with the ball.
The offensive line had two great games in a row coming into this one, but yesterday they looked like they did the last time they were in Florida against the Jaguars. They couldn’t open any holes for the running game (longest run was 15 yds. by Kennison) and they completely self-destructed on the Chiefs last drive. When was the last time you saw a three-man rush sack Green?
I cannot understand why Priest Holmes takes a rest late in the second quarter with the score tied and the Chiefs inside the Bucs twenty. Larry Johnson came in and did nothing and the Chiefs had to settle for a field goal.
I’ve never played in the NFL, and I’m not one to question a player’s toughness. But I cannot understand why Holmes stands on the sideline and watches the entire fourth quarter with the game and possibly the season on the line because of a bruised knee.
Speaking of Larry Johnson, he looked like he was moving in slow motion out there, but what did you really expect. He had carried the ball one time this season and had been inactive in over half the games. Yet there he was, asked to carry the load with the game on the line.
This was another horribly officiated game. I’m not making excuses here because I thought the bad calls went both ways. The Chiefs were penalized 10 times for 97 yards and the Bucs were flagged 9 times for 95 yards.