Good morning Kansas City Chiefs fans!
No, you didn't dream yesterday's OT win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. It actually happened. Unfortunately, it's still Monday...but it's a short holiday week. Everyone wins again!
As you can probably imagine, this was was one of the easier Stat posts to do because (a) everything feels better when the Chiefs win and (b) the Chiefs played a pretty good game.
Here's what I'm talking about this morning:
- Chris Chambers
- Sacks
- Third downs
- Special teams
- Matt Cassel
It's all there after the jump.
Dwayne who? Chambers steps up
In three games, Chris Chambers ("Chris Chambers finds the pocket better than LJ ever could," says Mrs. Arrowhead Pride) has 249 yards receiving and two touchdowns. 119 of those yards came yesterday against the Steelers, including a 61-yard catch and run to essentially win the game for the Chiefs in over time.
Even though no one on the Chiefs can top Dwayne Bowe in talent, Chambers is potentially the most productive member of this Chiefs receiving corp. He's still very fast and has a clear ability to get open a few times a game and make big plays. He's essential to the Chiefs offense right now while Bowe sits with that suspension.
Three sacks
Mike Brown, Alex Magee, Andy Studebaker and Derrick Johnson combined for three sacks on Ben Roethlisberger. Derrick Johnson's sack was especially epic, as he jumped on top of his defender essentially and while in the air held on to Roethlisberger while Studebaker took him down for the half sack.
That's fifteen sacks on the season, on pace for twenty four on the season.
The Return Touchdown is now how it will be referred to in the short term
Jamaal Charles didn't have the strongest game yesterday - 17 carries for 58 yards - but he did have four important first downs for the Chiefs.
The most important first down came with 5:40 left in the game and the Chiefs down by seven. It was third and two yards to go at the Steeler 5-yard line when Jamaal Charles took the hand off and dove after being tripped up to get the first down. He scored on the next play, tying the game.
And the biggest play of the game was his tone-setting kick off return to open the game. Jamaal Charles is officially a reason to watch a Chiefs football game now.
Stopping the Steelers on Third Down
Yesterday was one of the rare days that the Chiefs converted more third downs than their opponent. The Steelers were a Chief-like 4/13 (31%) on third downs. KC on the other hand converted six first downs, their highest number of conversions this season.
A lot of credit here needs to go to the Kansas City Chiefs defense, who played one of their best games of the season. A quick scan of the play by play and you'll see the Steelers had a handful of third and longs, forced by a tough Chiefs defense on first and second down.
Matt Cassel's 8.27 yards per pass
Yesterday, Matt Cassel had by far his most efficient game, in terms of yard per pass. Cassel's 8.27 YPP average was ~1.5 yards more than his previous best. Despite fifteen completions being one of his lows of the season, Cassel almost had a season high in passing yards with 248.
Until Dwayne Bowe gets back or the o-line gets magically fixed, it's probably in the Chiefs best interest to minimize the passing plays. It was good to Cassel maximize the attempts he got.
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Check out the stats here. What else did you like about yesterday's game?