Chiefs Go Scoreless in the Second Half in Loss to Broncos
by Chris Thorman on Dec 7, 2008 6:05 PM CST
in 2008 Kansas City Chiefs Campaign
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via ESPN.com
Talk about getting shut down. Zero points in the third quarter. Zero points in the fourth quarter. Game over. Chiefs lose 24 to 17.
Blame falls on the Chiefs offense, who came up 1 yard short of tying the game with five minutes left. Tyler Thigpen came up a yard short of a touchdown. Thigpen ran a QB draw on 4th and goal from the five yard line and got four yards.
Blame also falls on the Kansas City Chiefs defense, who, again, were unable to stop a fourth quarter Bronco drive that started at the Broncos' 1 yard line.
The offense as a whole struggled mightily today. The offense only managed one touchdown and one field goal against one of the league's worst defenses.
Consistently inconsistent.
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so...
was that a designed QB draw, or did Thiggy just decide to pull it down and run?
Looked Like It Was Designed
But not sure.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Breaking With Tradition
I thought Herm’s decision to go for it on the final Chiefs possession was a smart one and I didn’t think it was a bad play if he did call the draw. The defense can simply not be trusted to get a stop, ever.
But I will blame Herm for having a defense that is still that inept 14 weeks into the season. Cutler didn’t play that well and the Chiefs were the beneficiaries of some big calls and still the defense was so horrible that they couldn’t stay in the game. Anyone else think Gunther should consider himself lucky if he keeps his job until the end of the year?
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Eh
I know the defense is bad but the Broncos have more 10+ play drives than anyone. They’re pretty darn good on offense. Holding them to 24 points was enough that it should have put us in position to have shot to win the game (which it did).
Agreed
Our defense out right SUCKED today. When you give up 2 80 yard drives and a 95 yard drive, IMO this loss belongs to the piss poor defense.
Our offense should have been able to get 24 points though.
That’s the Chiefs lucky number or something. If we had done what we were supposed to on offense, this game would have been different.
Not defending Gunther's job...but on each of Denver's three TD drives
there were big problems that weren’t Gunther’s fault…whiffed tackles. All over the effin’ place…
How Are Whiffed Tackles Not Gunther's Fault
When they’ve been a problem all season? If it was one game where the defense wasn’t executing on their tackles, I might agree…but this has been a season-long failure of defensive fundamentals. The defensive coordinator deserves to be blamed for not these problems persisting for 14 weeks.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Correction
The defensive coordinator deserves to be blamed for letting these problems persist for 14 weeks.
There’s been no improvement at all that I’ve seen in regards to the defense.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
You can tell them how to tackle
But it’s very difficult to have “tackling drills” without running the risk of getting players injured. Gunther can keep telling them how they need to tackle but until the players do it, nothing will change.
Personally,
When it is this far into the season and we still can’t tackle, I think the DC definitely has to shoulder some of the blame, if not most. It is embarrasing to watch our defense tackle, you would think that Gunther would try and address it somehow.
A simple solution would be to bench someone like Derrick Johnson for a game just to let the other players know that there garbage tackling won’t be tolerated. What do we have to lose? (Only three more games, I guess.)
Players Risk Getting Injured Every Time They Step On The Field
Learning how to tackle properly in practice is what minimizes the chances they’ll get hurt and insures they’re doing the job for which they’re paid. There is no excuse for fundamentals that poor.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Lets keep in mind a lot of these players..... not all
are people signed off the street. There is a reason these guys weren’t playing when we picked them up from U Wrench It. From what I understand DJ didn’t do bad his first game at MLB.
Indecision is the key to flexibility
He Didn't Do Bad At His Old Position Either
But he wasn’t anything special at outside linebacker, and now he’s nothing special at middle linebacker, and the defense still can’t stop the run. The best thing you could say about the move it that it was a wash.
As for the players being signed off the street, the Chiefs were the ones who decided to completely gut the roster of players and replace them with scrubs. They could have had Napoleon Harris this year playing MLB (who wasn’t that great, but who was competent) but they dumped him because Gun didn’t like him. They could have had Casey Wiegmann as center instead of Rudy Niswanger, but they dumped him. Several of the problem areas with this team are a direct result of management either driving players who could play those positions off or of management never filling those holes with good players to begin with. So it’s management’s fault for the quality of the product on the field…they’re not victims of fate.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
I am torn between Gun Leaving now and waiting till the off season
Leaving now, I think would show the other coaches, no one is expendable and you will be held accountable. We would possibly see a little improvement in our technique and fundamentals. But it’s got to be a two for one (Gun and Krumrie)
Leaving at the end of the season we find a coach who can get the job done, that could be coaching for another team right now.
We need a future defensive leader, his name is James Laurinaitis and he can be selected in round 1 of the upcoming Draft.
"But what do I know, I’m like an empty room with a large ECHO"
Thinking It Through
It’s probably better to wait until after the season to fire Gun if he’s getting fired. Mainly because while the Chiefs could elevate one of the position coaches to fill Gunther’s slot as coordinator they’d also have to find someone to fill his slot as linebackers coach in season, which means they aren’t going to get anyone that great because a) there’s not enough time left in the season for them to have much of an impact and b) they’re a prime candidate to get replaced next year. If they fire both Gun and Krumrie in season they’ve got at least three people to replace in-season (linebackers coach, defensive line coach, defensive coordinator) and maybe four if they promote someone from within to replace Cunningham (and five if they do the same with Krumrie).
Smarter move is to wait until the offseason to make any changes…then they’ll get a better caliber of replacement and not create the instability they would otherwise. Better to resign ourselves to the defense sucking the rest of the year under Gunther and hoping the Chiefs aren’t foolish enough to keep him around next year.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Someone is getting blamed for the losses
and Herm’s not going to take the discredit. Gun in gone and to be perfectly honest I still like him as a coach…but he’ll be blamed for the fiasco of the 2 wins in ‘08.
Now next year, I have no idea who’ll be the scapegoat. The line is getting shorter for who to pass the buck to.
Bill Parcell’s: "You are what your record says you are."
The Chiefs need to be playoff contenders in 2009 for me to consider improvement. Clark wanted it in 2008...I'll give them an additional year.
It's Like That Old Joke About The Soviet Union
It goes like this…when Gorbachev left office for Yeltsin he spoke to him the day Yeltsin took over and handed Yeltsin three envelopes labelled one to three. Then he told Yeltsin, “Eventually you’ll find yourself in a situation you can’t get out of…when that happens, open an envelope”.
So a few months in, Yeltsin encounters his first crisis that he couldn’t resolve and decides to open the first envelope. Inside is a note that says “Blame me for what happened.” So Yeltsin takes the advice, blames Gorbachev and the crisis gets resolved.
A few years later, Yeltsin encounters another problem that he can’t get out of, so he opens the second envelope. Inside is another note that says “Fire some of your staff”. So Yeltsin does that, the criticism subsides and the crisis gets resolved.
A few years after that, Yeltsin encounters yet another crisis that he can’t resolve so he opens the final envelope. Inside is another note that starts off with “Get yourself three envelopes…”
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
LOL...excellent UC and very applicable.
Bill Parcell’s: "You are what your record says you are."
The Chiefs need to be playoff contenders in 2009 for me to consider improvement. Clark wanted it in 2008...I'll give them an additional year.
That was from a movie
A military movie. Someone just added the Soviet Union for context. What movie was that?
by KansasCityShuffle on Dec 8, 2008 12:55 PM CST up reply actions
James Brolin
was the actor who said it…
by KansasCityShuffle on Dec 8, 2008 1:54 PM CST up reply actions
That Was In The Movie "Traffic"
Where Brolin said it. But I heard that joke before “Traffic” came out. Earliest version I heard was the Soviet Union, but I’m sure it’s been around longer than that…it’s a very old joke. :)
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
i understand...
the offense got shutout in the second half and only scored ten in the game against one of the worst defenses in the league. But, denver held the ball for over 20 minutes in the second half. our defense just couldnt get off the field and never was it more evident when the broncos converted the two 3rd and longs at the end of the game.
also, good call pvchiefs, as much as id like to pin all the blame on gunther the tackling in this game was pretty pathetic.
Truely said
it was very hard for the offense to try to score when they only had the ball 2 or 3 times in the second half. And at least when they did have it was not like we was not moving the ball. The one drive LJ screwed us when he decided to run backwards and took us out of FG range, then the last drive where we was stopped at the 1. I still put this one on the D and Gun’s play calling.
Sorry guys!!
I know we will play later. But as I told you in preseason, I have a friend which is a Chief fan and he has not made an account yet on your blog. " He will" . But as of now he is mad as HELL and he wants to say something, here he goes: " Respectfully, I ask permission to be a Miami Dolphins fan for the remainder of the seasson, still next year I’ll be back and please FIRE Herman Edwards and the GM Petersen. Love you guys, and I will be called later ‘El Jefe en PR"’.
Now Aleta is back and please don’t ban me for these comments but I support what El Jefe de PR is saying..look at us, for last year’s 1-15 to an 8-5. We are not rebuilding, we are reloading. EEFFFFFFFF REBUILDING!!!
I will see the Dolphins win a SUPER BOWL before i die(21 years and counting)
uh
so where during the 1-15 season did the “reloading” occur?
by The DBowe Show on Dec 7, 2008 8:06 PM CST up reply actions
Say what you will about Denver
but, just in a cursery review of QB and team stats (by no means is this analytical) Thigpen still outperformed 11 – 12 other QBs on the day (E. Manning, Favre, Losman for a few) and the D did their best to hold down the Denver O (ranked very high) to their average. We didn’t allow huge runs or passes. I know we still can’t pressure the QB, but I was fairly pleased to see that we didn’t fall apart on D. We were on the road in a tough stadium, and weren’t expected to win. I’m happy to see that we held in there until the end.
I know I say it too often, but we have who we have right now and we all know ad naseum where are weaknesses are. This is another one of those “for want of a nail (yard)” games, where we just fell short. We all knew and still know we have our problems, but how many times do we have to scream “fire them all”. I was glad we won last week and hope we win one or two more. I choose to realistically understand we have glaring weakness in coaching and player positions, but would much rather discuss what good was seen, even through the loss.
Go ahead, tear me up, but I’m still going to wear my jersey proudly.
The DBowe Show , last year we suck big time!!
That’s why we kick Cam Cameron asserr. This year we have a NEW GM, a NEW COACH, only 23 players from last year are still in the team. So the rebuilding WAS NOT MADE last year, cause we weren’t doing it either!
Look at our draft pick from the past 7 years(don’t include this year draft), we have only 3 players and one of them is in the bench. If you want to be at the botton of your dicision, be my guest. There is a saying" You wouldn’t get a different result with the same approach" Good Luck!!
I will see the Dolphins win a SUPER BOWL before i die(21 years and counting)
Coaching
Our repeated submission in the 2nd half has to reflect very poorly on our coaching staff. Why is it that every week, after halftime our opponents come out and stop us and/or start driving on us at will.
Here’s the 2nd half drive log:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/boxscore?gid=20081207007&page=drives
Denver had basically 3 drives, and scored a TD and a FG and missed a 48 yd FG. Two of those drives were 12 plays. Their 4th possession was simply designed to run out of the clock, and succeeded in that. Our defense simply couldn’t stop them in the second half.
As for us, we ran a total of 9 plays in the 3rd quarter, gaining 30 yards. Just pathetic. Our one 4th quarter drive was fairly respectable, but still we came up empty.
We have a lot of problems, but the ineptitude of our coaching staff has to be right up there. It’s well past annoying that every week our opponents come out and kick our butts in the second half.
You say ineptitude of our coaching staff
but it is still execution of the offense that must get it done. I didn’t think the play calling was so bad. I just didn’t see the plays executed well. Again, it is a whole effort and it isn’t the coaching fault that we didn’t get into the end zone on the long drive, or went three and out. I didn’t see a coach missing a block, or dropping a pass, or missing a receiver. We just got beat.
Um
But every week we execute OK in the first half and then fall flat in the second half. Why is that? Maybe it’s because our opponents’ diagnose what we’re doing and at halftime develop a gameplan to counter it. And our coaching staff is completely unable to do the same.
I Agree
When second half fades happen over and over again, it’s not the players…it’s the coaching staff.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
I still think you're too hard on Herm and the coaches.
But I’m starting to come around. It isn’t that he is making glaring mistakes or anything, and I am semi-impressed that we decided to not only go to the I-Gun/Pistol/Arrowspread/whateveryouwannacallit (which was out of necessity) but actually stick with it, but there is no way we shouldn’t have at least 4 wins by now.
And sure, injuries are partly bad luck, but Herm seems to have “bad luck” every single year, so something has to be wrong with the coaching staff.
2-11
No coach who goes 9-7, 4-12, and 2-11 in three years on the job should be given the benefit of the doubt, especially not after he posted a losing record over five years at his previous job. I’m hard on Herm Edwards because he’s never given us any reason to not be hard on him…he just comes up with a new excuse every time he loses for how it’s not his fault then goes out and falls short again. If you asked most of the bad coaches in the history of the NFL, most of them could probably come up with very convincing arguments for why it wasn’t their fault that they couldn’t win at their jobs because of situations that were beyond their control. But they still deserved to be fired for them because those kind of things happen to good coaches too and good coaches find a way to overcome them. Bottom line is, a coach is only as good as his win-loss record and Herm’s too far in the red in that ledger to be treated like he’s just a victim of circumstance.
And sure, injuries are partly bad luck, but Herm seems to have "bad luck" every single year, so something has to be wrong with the coaching staff.
I agree with you, when bad things happen once or twice you can push them off to bad luck. When they happen repeatedly it’s more likely a result of something you’re doing systemically wrong. When you combine the injuries with the second-half fade along with the youth of this football team, my suspicion is that Herm is doing a terrible job getting this team in condition to play in and last through an NFL season. So more and more I’m of the opinion that the injuries are his fault too.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Give it another season UC
You’ll see opinions change if the record doesn’t improve regardless of the snake oil salesman.
Bill Parcell’s: "You are what your record says you are."
The Chiefs need to be playoff contenders in 2009 for me to consider improvement. Clark wanted it in 2008...I'll give them an additional year.
Never Underestimate The Effect Of A Good Bullshit Artist On A Dedicated Fanbase
You’ve still got a hardcore contingent out there who will defend Carl Peterson to their dying breath and the man hasn’t build a team capable of winning a playoff game in 15 years.
And Herm’s a great bullshit artist…I’m sure some of the more realistic supporters will switch sides as the losses pile up next season, but I suspect that most of the people who aren’t upset with Herm for what’s going on now will find a way to let him off the hook for whatever happens next season too.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
I’m sure some of the more realistic supporters will switch sides as the losses pile up next season
You mean more then 2-23?
Honestly I hope both of us are wrong….I really do and have no qualms about admitting that I totally evaluated the org. poorly…but historically, I just don’t see it.
Bill Parcell’s: "You are what your record says you are."
The Chiefs need to be playoff contenders in 2009 for me to consider improvement. Clark wanted it in 2008...I'll give them an additional year.
When is the last time Herm coached a team that didn't lose it's starter for the season or most of it.
It hasn’t happened here. Trent goes down for most of the year and returns for a terrible playoff performance. Huard goes down the next season. This year we lose one and two. What happend in New York? If I were Thigpen, I would be praying for Herm to be gone. It may not be his fault, but Herm is a curse to QBs
Indecision is the key to flexibility
Saw An Interesting Article
Which, of course, I can’t find now, where it points out exactly how Herm’s playcalling leaves the QB in a horrible spot for getting kicked around. That’s been alleviated somewhat with the spread, but if you combine his past offensive tendencies with his apparent disinterest in building good offensive lines you basically have a head coach who doesn’t know how to take care of his quarterback, and his QBs’ injury histories bear that out.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Why?
…did we stop running it any point in the game? We came out in the second half and would pass it all the time…on the frigging Broncos…it was silliness….With that said, I was happy somewhat with the competitiveness of the game…I think I am becoming too used to losing, however…
I'll tell you
what I thought was the game-changing moment:
LJ’s idiotic decision to try to run back across the field when he should have just gotten the couple of yards that he could have. That play (and the false start that followed) took us out of FG range. If we score the FG (or who knows, maybe even continue the drive and get a TD), this game could have been very different.
That’s not to discount all of the other problems, though. Hillis was untouched on his TD run, tackling was horrible (Marshall running over Boiman to get his second TD, among many others) and once again, we didn’t adjust anything for the second half, which is becoming incredibly irritating and frustrating.
First
LJ doesn’t care about football, and now we complain that he is trying to hard? Please, ignore idiotic remarks from the announcers for one minute and look up a highlite tape of LJ. Please note that LJ has reversed field NUMEROUS times and taken the ball for 15+ yards afterwards. He is a playmaker and was looking to make a big play, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. You, along with everyone on here, would be singing his praise had he converted that run.
No, I'm not complaining that he was trying too hard.
I’m complaining because, in my own opinion, LJ made a bad decision. Also, I’ve never complained that he doesn’t care about football. Finally, I don’t base my opinions off of announcers’ remarks – otherwise, I’d be complaining about the instant replay review of down-by-contact vs. fumble situations, like John Madden did a little while ago. Don’t assume that I can’t come up with an opinion on my own.
I can’t honestly remember another play like that, where he was absolutely trapped on the left and tried to go all the way back to the right. With a fast defense like Denver has, with our line being shuffled because of injuries both before and during the game, and because LJ does not have the game-breaking speed of a back like Jamaal Charles, I did not like the decision to try completely reversing his field. Also, the fact that there was still a considerable amount of backside pursuit didn’t help the decision at all.
If you can provide me with video evidence of such a play succeeding for LJ in the past, by all means do so. I would love to watch some LJ highlights, especially if they include such a play. But, from now on, please do not simply assume that I cannot think for myself.
BTW
At about the 6:25 mark.
-cw
"If there’s a god he’s laughing at us and our football team." - Ben Folds
Got To Agree
When second half fades happen continually it’s not the players, it’s the coaching staff.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Thanks for the great video find.
Great highlight reel! I did hate having to watch that screen pass against the Cardinals with the facemask at the end, if only because I nearly had a heart attack watching it live.
Okay, back on topic. You’re right; he has done it before. There seemed to be less backside pursuit in that video, but that’s neither here nor there – he has done it before. I stand corrected on that.
I do stand by the rest of my comment, though. But thanks again for the video!
Fair enough.
I am not saying that you have taken one of the aforementioned stances on LJ, I am just sick of people bagging on him for whatever reason.
Yes, you can call what he did, but had me made yardage on the play, you would have called it a great decision. It’s easy to judge someones decision after knowing the outcome, but to actually be the person making the decision at the time is a whole different story.
As for me, knowing the probable outcome, I would still hope for LJ to change direction because atleast it is exciting to watch. I can tell you right now that the moment he turned his head to the right side of the field, I was thinking Bengals all over again.
P.S. Thanks for that video, never seen that one before and I always enjoy watching an LJ video. My personal favourite LJ highlite is split between him running over Cromartie in to the endzone and him laying the stiff arm against a San Fran defender before taking off the other way, Ah LJ, so many fond memories…
Don't you remember the last
Vermeil game against the Bengals where Trent Green through a nice block and LJ took it to the house?
I agree with that about the announcers.
“What the heck was he thinking?” Probably the same thing that ass-clown Marcus Allen thought in Super Bowl XVIII.
/Sarcasm.
-cw
"If there’s a god he’s laughing at us and our football team." - Ben Folds
D can't come up with big stops when needed.
I think its a testament to poor coaching when you can’t get up for a big play.
Not trolling!!
Again my friend El Jefe de PR:
I would love to kept Herman as a coach, even though he doesn’t tackle if he were a good coach. Evidentely!! HE IS NOT! therefore, we need a good coach and a new GM. Prove me grong!!!
Now Aleta!! I will make my friendto getan accounton this side.
Ps from El Jefe de PR
I still wear my COLORS proudly, since 69!! B___tch!!
I will see the Dolphins win a SUPER BOWL before i die(21 years and counting)
Short practices, limited contact
in practice would lead to poor execution on the field. Look at Marty’s defenses, tough practices, Oklahoma drills, dominating defense. Look at Vermiel’s offenses, exciting, great execution, long drawn out practices that players complained about, yet not many injuries. Herm short practices, limited contact, and players getting hurt all the time. He should be a defensive backs coach or something, he cannot get a team prepared, or conditioned to last a full season. Not to mention the qb curse.
At least 10-6 next year taking our division, or Herm goes.
This Is The Case
Same I learned with coaching rugby…if you don’t stress fundamentals in tackling and make sure those players know how to do it in practice, they’ll often fail during the game as well and they’ll get hurt because they don’t know how to tackle properly.
This is a poorly conditioned team and a poorly coached team…going easier on them in practice is not going to help them get better or stay healthier.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
We'll say it...
Overall Thigpen probably blew this game. Nobody want to bash our new golden boy understandably, and while statistically he was fine, and by week 7 standards he could be described as “brilliant,” but we hate to say that as a 2nd or 3rd yr. starting QB (at Bones current caliber) he pulls this one out.
Yes, the stopping ability and pass rush were abismal, but we anticipated that. This bend but don’t break scheme has made the prevent defense a metaphor for our whole approach, which sucks. Conceding huge chunks of time of possession saps your defense and disrupts any offensive rhythm. Overall though, containing them as much as they did was a minor victory for this D (made more minor by Hillis going out in the first half).
Back to Thigpen, he seemed to suffer a little from Brodie nerves in overthrowing his receivers and trying to make too much happen on his own. The stuff it to Tony, run it, and long balls were anticipated by Denver. Couldn’t agree more with the assessment we should have used LJ more often. That said, our receivers didn’t help him out, lot of dropsies and questionable routes, and who the hell thought it would be a good idea to feed Webb the ball early on? This is not a condemnation of Bones, but a little maturing and we probably complete a few of those long balls and don’t need breaks to mount those defense battering drives.
The defense did blow some game changing safety opportunities and got clown suited by Eddie Royal. More importantly though the Chiefs’ tampa 2 doesn’t seem capable of maintaining their impressive turnover power for a full game against hard throwing QBs. All there INTs since the bye have come in the 1st quarter with the exception of Favre, Rivers and Russell and the only one before the bye was the first Broncos game.
Theoretically, a more composed Bones, a healthy Mark Bradley, and a player in Babin’s shoes that would have made that safety happen would have equaled a Chiefs’ W in our opinion.
A loss is a loss, but overall this game should be considered somewhat encouraging.
by Official Arrowhead Pride Parade on Dec 7, 2008 10:03 PM CST reply actions
I Didn't See Much That Was Encouraging
Just another loss where the defense completely blew, even though Cutler was utterly underwhelming. Thigpen didn’t do so hot but he was passable and the dry spell in the second half (yet another result from the other team making halftime adjustments that we couldn’t adapt to) didn’t help matters, but a defense that can’t stop anyone isn’t going to let us win games.
Zero sacks again too…honestly they need to fire Krumrie and Gunther right after the season concludes. They’ve got no excuses that explain a season-long performance this pathetic.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
We did get a lot more pressure today than usual.
Although most of it was off of blitzes, we consistently had a guy screaming down Cutler’s neck forcing him to throw it before he wanted.
Progress is progress.
I do agree, though, that Krumrie and Gunther need to go. Bad.
To a certain extent.
We did have more pressure than usual today, but it doesn’t affect the game as much as a atleast one sack would. It takes the timing away from a quarterback, but for the most part the kind of pressure we applied (which sadly is an upgrade) does not, for the most part, affect a QB’s timing.
However, like you said, progress is progress and you have to take what you get. Heck, atleast I got a little excited when we rushed the quarterback.
A bright spot on defense today was Legget. I can’t go without mentioning how beautiful his INT was to help our offense out at the start of the game. Despite looking pretty vanilla, that play takes extreme confidence from a DB to be able to abandon the route and go for the ball, something a rookie DB (let alone UDRFA) hardly are able to show without getting burnt like DeAngelo Hall.
We'd say the Cover 2 helps a lot too
Not to take anything away from Leggett, but you typically have at least one other defender in the vicinity as opposed to a traditional scheme where if you get burnt it could mean an automatic six.
by Official Arrowhead Pride Parade on Dec 8, 2008 12:05 AM CST up reply actions
Nor did we expect you would...
When the 32nd ranked defense holds the 2nd ranked offense to 24 points at home the supporters of the former team find what is known as ‘encouragement’ from what is known as ‘progress.’ If they get blown out again by 40 points you can fire up the humbuggery wagon all over again but considering this is the first time since week 2 the Chiefs have held opponents to less than 30 points in back to back weeks we’re calling it a small step in the right direction.
Cutler was utterly underwhelming.
Well, we could have certainly used some more ‘underwhelming’ performances then. In fact we’d say he underwhelmed us out of that game. That first TD pass to Marshall was damn near undefendable, and there were several passes that triple and one time even quadruple coverage. Then final drive out of there endzone was complete a product of his stone cold accuracy and sharp route running, something the Chiefs sorely lacked.
No one’s saying the Chiefs can stuff anyone, even Herm acknowledges that, but if you can’t see the difference between this D and the doormat Buffalo rolled over you gotta be blind.
by Official Arrowhead Pride Parade on Dec 8, 2008 12:01 AM CST up reply actions
Again, What Improvement?
We’ve given up less points than this game five times this season already…most of them in the first half of the season, one of them last week. This game was the epitome of how bad our team’s defense has been this year, so there’s no improvement to speak of, just a sustained level of suck. The only time this defense looks like it’s improving is when it’s playing against a team that’s so inept offensively that a college team might have a shot at beating them.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Buffalo
but if you can’t see the difference between this D and the doormat Buffalo rolled over you gotta be blind.
The Bills represent the high end of our defense’s incompetence so by comparison every other game this season represents defensive improvement because we didn’t give up as many points in any other game as we did against the Bills. That’s why you don’t compare the performance of the defense to the high end of the spectrum, you compare it against the median performance over the season. If the team is better defensively than the average, you can make the case they’re improving. You can’t make that case with Denver, though, because it was about the same as the median.
Was it the worst blowout this year? No, but it also wasn’t an improvement. It wasn’t even an improvement defensively on our last game against Denver (where the team only gave up 13 points).
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
UCrawford you disappoint us.
We’ve given up less points than this game five times this season already
Well let’s see you’ve got the first game against Denver (1) where LJ was our best defensive weapon keeping them off the field, the 2 games against Oakland (2)(3) one of which was a 23 point blowout but we guess it still counts, then you’ve got the New England opener (4) which might just be a teensy bit of statistical outlier considering somebody got injured in that game or so we heard? So that leaves you with the 20-19 Chargers game (5) which was pretty similar to this game accept a against a significantly worse offense and a QB who flutters balls like crumpled napkins.
This game was the epitome of how bad our team’s defense has been this year
Again, if we kept within a score of 2nd overall ranked offenses this season we doubt we’d be ‘epitomized’ by our rank of 32.
you compare it against the median performance over the season
A. What a silly way to evaluate a defense, totally discount schedule, home field, injuries, the opposing offense? B. They’re still below it! By one game admittedly, but then the 23 point loss to the Raiders is next, we’re dealing with a ridiculous 13 game sampling to suggest this makes any damn sense, furthermore they’re below the mean scoring too! Also a silly way to evaluate a defense, but why not throw all the statistical psuedoscience at the wall and see what sticks, right?
Was it the worst blowout this year?
Losing by a score is not a blowout you silly person.
It wasn’t even an improvement defensively on our last game against Denver (where the team only gave up 13 points).
With what? 13 of the original players? At a still loud Arrowhead? With an effective Larry Johnson? You honestly feel there’s been a defensive regression since that week 4 win? In case you haven’t noticed the team’s completely changed its identity and much of its personnel.
Our original point was that there was encouragement overall, meaning both sides of the ball. On defense they were still unsatisfactory, but this appeared to be an improvement from last week in that the QB was actually hurried a few times and especially when you consider the comparative strength of the two opponents.
Also, you completely ducked our point that Cutler had a pretty damn good day, which even Whitlock (your dubious doppleganger in skepticism) seems to agree with.
Now we recognize your right to be an unflinching pessimist but wrong is wrong and silly is silly.
Sometimes a 32nd ranked D keeping within a score of a 2nd ranked O in week 14 is just undeniably something that could be called “encouragement.”
by Official Arrowhead Pride Parade on Dec 8, 2008 12:04 PM CST up reply actions
I'll Address Your Other Points When I Get Home Tonight
But on this one, very quickly.
Losing by a score is not a blowout you silly person.
I wasn’t trying to claim it was a blowout because obviously it wasn’t and you’re correct…I just phrased it poorly. Should have said that it wasn’t the worst loss of the year instead.
The Chiefs should win 5 to 6 games this year and no less than 4 for this season to be considered progress in any way. If he can't win at least 9 games next season, Herm's a joke.
Obviously tongue in cheek there
And as always this is not meant ad hominem in anything but jest
by Official Arrowhead Pride Parade on Dec 8, 2008 4:54 PM CST up reply actions
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