Kansas City Chiefs Lose To San Diego Chargers After Failed Two Point Conversion

by Joel Thorman on Nov 9, 2008 6:28 PM CST in 2008 Campaign Comment 36 comments

Chiefs_chargers_helmet_medium

San Diego Chargers 20

Kansas City Chiefs 19

Notable performances:

Jamaal Charles (3 carries for 8 yards) - Charles missed time due to an ankle injury.

Mark Bradley (8 catches for 81 yards and 1 touchdown) - Bradley continuing to prove that he was an excellent signing. He's very quickly established himself as the #2 receiver in this offense. I'll be very curious to see how many times Thigpen looked Bradley's way this game. They are quickly building a nice chemistry.

Tony Gonzalez (10 catches for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns) - Another outstanding performance from our future Hall of Famer.

Tyler Thigpen (27/41 for 266 yards and 3 touchdowns) - Thigpen pulls in the best performance from a Chiefs quarterback since 2006. He's quickly making a name of himself and forcing a difficult decision for Chiefs management.

Wow. Although we lost, I'm happy with the performance. First and foremost, we threw the ball and did it effectively. Secondly, going for the two point conversion at the end of the game down by one point was an excellent decision. A big knock on Herm Edwards has been his decision making late in games but I think he passed the test in this situation.

Poll

The decision to go for two when the Chiefs were down by one with seconds remaining in the game:

Agree

389 votes

Disagree

137 votes

526 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

i agree with it

would have been pissed if we didnt go for it.

by nfamous209 on Nov 9, 2008 6:32 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

re: going for 2

The general rule of thumb in a situation like that is to go for the tie when you’re at home and go for the win on the road.

by Joel Thorman on Nov 9, 2008 6:32 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Dorsey Lives

how about Glenn Dorsey’s first career sack? not a monstrous, big-loss sack, but still… mark it up on his stats…

by ManDude on Nov 9, 2008 6:33 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

I made sure to note that moment. Hopefully he’ll have plenty more to come.

by Joel Thorman on Nov 9, 2008 6:34 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

We did learn one thing though

Barth needs to work on his onside kicks. Not a knock against him cuz he’s doing great, but that’s something he could improve. He needs to get those higher.

by Vince D on Nov 9, 2008 6:35 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

and

his ability to kick it in the end zone without help from the wind… we haven’t had a kicker do that consistently in a while

by ManDude on Nov 9, 2008 6:37 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree with going for 2..

heres why.. i thought we had a less than 50% shot at converting it… and we had a 50% shot at winning the coin toss in overtime (giving they didnt kick a field goal with the remaining 24 seconds left in the game) and the way that it was going i thought whoever won the toss was going to win so i liked our chances more than going to overtime then going for 2

ugh.

by focs on Nov 9, 2008 6:36 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah but after an OT loss last week?

I’d hate to see another OT loss.

by Vince D on Nov 9, 2008 6:36 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Obviously the play call would have looked better had there not been pressure

but i just thought we could of ran a better play too for the 2 point conversion

ugh.

by focs on Nov 9, 2008 6:38 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Go for 2 or not

Either way I would have been ok with it. OT you have a shot the way the D was playing. Going for two shows that you have confidence in Thigpen. It is really a win win situation for a young team. I don’t really like moral victories but this was a good won. This team has played it’s ass off for the last three weeks and it is encouraging that Thigpen is making this his team.

by cmpotter on Nov 9, 2008 6:50 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

cottam

i think we need to bring cottam in the mix a llil more. a 2 tight end set will be good. i think our offense is established. maybe another good offensive line men, defense needs a lil more work. mostly the line and we’ll be good.

by nfamous209 on Nov 9, 2008 6:36 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Could have been a better call

I liked the move to go for it and I would have been pissed if they didn’t but thought the play call could’ve been better. We need LJ back!!!

by KC4Life on Nov 9, 2008 6:41 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I agree with the call

because the defense was beat up and unlikely to stop the Chargers. plus we already missed an xp

I strive to be the person my dog thinks I am.

by KCking on Nov 9, 2008 6:42 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

They were awesome.

Young pups

by AngryJesus on Nov 9, 2008 6:44 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

god my dad pisses me off he says hes a chiefs fan but hes like yall aint gonna get in then gonzalez caught it and hes like oh man thigpens the real deal then he gets pissed cause we go for it and when we dont get hes like oh man the chiefs are garbage god he pisses me off!!

by kcchiefsfan56 on Nov 9, 2008 6:46 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I pose a question to the faithful

Does LJ play next week? If so will it be good or bad for this young team?

by cmpotter on Nov 9, 2008 6:53 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I say he plays

And my guess is that he comes in with his mind right – that’s part of the point benching him before the suspension. The big question is can he sustain the turnaround, or does he slip back into old habits? Can’t say, there.

If he comes in being all about getting his carries, he’s screwed, and so are we, football-wise. If he’s all about helping the team win, and proves it by keeping his mouth shut and learning to pass-block, then we should see an uptick.

My $0.02

by Bleedingredandgold on Nov 9, 2008 7:48 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I am thinking that if we are able to move the ball

without him like we have……..then he may be able to pick up some big gains.

by cmpotter on Nov 9, 2008 8:16 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I would almost rather him NOT play.

He doesn’t fit in with Tyler Thigpen’s strengths (working out of the shotgun, spread-type stuff) and I like the fact we are throwing the ball as much as we are.

Thigpen’s development is what is most important right now, along with the rest of the young players. I don’t want to jeopardize all of that to make LJ happy.

by rockchalk on Nov 9, 2008 8:51 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Completely agree

by DThomasReigns on Nov 9, 2008 9:12 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

agreed

that’s why I said he needs to keep his mouth shut (about the carries he’s getting), and learn to pass-block. Team first, not Larry-christ, Stuporstar.

by Bleedingredandgold on Nov 9, 2008 9:31 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

LJ can't block

LJ will get Thigpen killed and our season will truely be over. LJ refuses to pick up blocks and right now with the offense that we are playing he will be a liability and of no help to the team except when we play in the I formation. And he will get pissed off if we only play him the 10-15 snaps that we actually run that formation.

by tevans96 on Nov 9, 2008 11:39 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

"LJ refuses to pick up blocks"

watch the last two games before his de-activations – he actually blocks people – it’s just that Damon “I’m as mobile as a tree” Huard has the pocket presence of a blind radish

by PVChiefsfan on Nov 10, 2008 11:38 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah.

LJ’s gotten a bad rap as a blocker. When he came into the league, a lot like Tony G, he sucked as a blocker. But it’s obvious he has worked on it, and is probably about average now.

I am all for re-inserting LJ into the offense, as long as it is in a limited capacity. I’m talking 15 touches max a game. I mean, it would be nice to have him in in situations like the two-point conversion yesterday, but we should still see plenty of Jamaal Charles (when he gets healthy) and even some Dantrell Savage until Charles is healthy.

by rockchalk on Nov 10, 2008 8:28 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

But he'll prolly bitch

About not getting enough touches. he’s done it before.

As for his “average” pass-blocking – that ain’t good enough for a top-tier RB. Time for LJ to wake up

by Bleedingredandgold on Nov 10, 2008 11:52 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

My take

Man what a frustrating game.

Ok I’ve said before you can’t rely on good umpires to make your luck for you but there were some dumb calls. But really we shouldn’t have been in the position that were looking to tie for OT. The first half was great. But that third quarter really killed us. We got all conservative, strung together some punts and were gone from that point.

Thigpen played his heart out and put up some great numbers and you cannot blame this loss on him. TonyG, Bradley, DBowe all played great. I will note that it even looked like Thigpen had a pocket and time to work in. What was lacking was some good RB play, not that I think LJ would have helped, we would have just ended up punting more.

Going for 2 at the end speaks volumes for the lack of confidence in the kicker. It was a straightforward chance for the kick team to redeem themselves for earlier and send it into OT. Instead, Herm basically said “I don’t trust you”. Bone head.

Blame my wife!

by sir eccles on Nov 9, 2008 7:06 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Disagree with your 2 point analysis

A lot of things can be read into regarding the 2 point attempt but a lack of kick in the kicker is not one of them. A 2 point attempt gives you 1 play with your better 1/2 on the field to win the game. You are relying on a coin flip, defensive stop or a turnover to give your team a chance. You have the ball at the 2.5 yard line…you make it you win you don’t you lose. Simple as it comes. Overtime is too risky given how many second teamers we have out there.

I could see not having confidence in the long snapper but not having the confidence in a kicker making an extra point is like saying you don’t think that stripper is going to steal those cigarettes you left on the table…it’s a given.

by ashleylat on Nov 9, 2008 7:11 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

It was not the kicker's fault

Herm might have not trusted the snapper but I don’t think he has a problem with Barth. I think it was more about belief in the Offense than anything else. I loved the 2 point call and if it had worked Herm would look like a great coach.

by tevans96 on Nov 9, 2008 11:42 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I liked the idea of going for two....

but our defense was playing decent, our offense showed they wanted it in the end. We had a better chance of getting the ball in overtime, than we did of converting the 2-point play. On that two point conversion why not go big package with ten guys blocking and have Tyler run it?

by Eric Allen on Nov 9, 2008 7:09 PM CST reply actions 0 recs