Monday Morning Quarterback: Saints 27, Chiefs 20
November 15th, 2004 @ 1:29 pm; by Raider Hater
156 Views l Comments Off
I just don’t understand this team, and quite frankly, I’m done trying. The Chiefs dropped to 3-6 yesterday and all but ended their playoff dreams. I just don’t understand how a team can look so good in victories over Atlanta and Indianapolis and so bad in losses to Tampa Bay and New Orleans. It’s maddening. Oh well, here are some of my thoughts on yesterday’s game:
Any wonder why these two teams were both 3-5? That was one of the sloppiest football games I’ve ever seen. Let’s face it folks, the Chiefs are not a very good football team. All that matters is wins and right now the Chiefs only have three of those. In fact, the Bears, Lions, Cardinals and Bengals all have more wins than the Chiefs.
The Chiefs lack the killer instinct that separates the good teams from the midiocre. Up 7-0 and looking for more and Johnnie Morton fumbles. Then on their next possession they don’t capitalize on six plays from inside the Saints ten yard line and half to settle for a field goal. The score could have easily been 21-0, instead the Chiefs were only up 10-0.
Not to make excuses here, but we seem to get called for every little thing we do, yet our opponents seemingly never get called for any of the same ticky-tack things. When was the last time our opponents were called for offensive holding or illegal contact? But Kansas City gets flagged for these infractions several times a game.
For the game, the Chiefs were flagged ten times for 94 yards. The Saints were flagged eight times for 57 yards.
How is Jared Allen called for a late hit when the ball carrier is not down, still fighting forward and the whistle hasn’t blown? Dante Hall was not down, in fact, Allen’s contact with the Saint caused Hall to finally be tackled.
Johnnie Morton has played better as of late, but today he made three mistakes that really hurt the Chiefs. His fumble when Kansas City was in scoring position really swung the momentum in the Saints favor. Then he couldn’t get out-of-bounds when time was running out in the first half and the Chiefs missed a chance at trying a field goal. Finally, he slipped and fell when Kansas City was driving for a potential touchdown and the pass was intercepted.
It’s not enough that Jerome Woods missed several tackles and also got burned several times in pass coverage, but getting flagged for a personal foul after the Chiefs had stopped the Saints on third down is reason enough to bench him. Luckily for him, Greg Wesley intercepted Aaron Brooks on the next play.
Dante Hall damn near returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown – he made serveral nice moves and had several blockers with him – but no one made the key block and Hall was caught from behind.
Any questions on who the running back of the future should be? Derrick Blaylock filled in nicely for an injured Priest Holmes, running for 186 yards on 33 carries. Problem is, he’s a free agent next season and with this performance, the Chiefs won’t be the only team interested in him.
The Chiefs defense simply lacks playmakers and lacks a leader. The team as a whole seems to be playing without any heart. One mistake, and the offense seems to go to hell. The Saints finaly woke up in the second quarter and the Chiefs didn’t want to fight. That just makes me sick.
The Chiefs may not be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet, but another loss would just about do it. The Chiefs have seven games left, four at home, and road games against Oakland, Tennessee and San Diego. Winning all of them is possible, but this team has shown me no evidence that they can do it. The only good news then is that the Chiefs can look forward to perhaps playing the spoiler role in the next few weeks. What’s really sad is that the Chiefs could go 5-1 in the AFC West and still not qualify for the playoffs.
The way things have gone this season, I won’t be the least bit surprised if the Chiefs knock off the Patriots next week.
This entry was posted on Monday, November 15th, 2004 at 1:29 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Have something to say about this post? Please leave a comment.
