Four Good Stats by the Chiefs Against the Chargers

by Chris Thorman on Nov 30, 2009 7:45 AM CST in 2009 Campaign Comment 15 comments

Yesterday, the Kansas City Chiefs suffered their third blow out the season and second blowout at the hands of the San Diego Chargers.

The Chargers beat the Chiefs 37 to 7 back in Week 7 and again destroyed our Chiefs yesterday, 43 to 14.

We've got a few nuggets of hope for you this morning to hopefully brighten your day.

The tough part about finding ~~five~~ four good stats from this game is that the defense had virtually zero playmakers against the Chargers. Even our resident playmaker CB Brandon Flowers had trouble yesterday.

One of the most frustrating parts about the game was that the Chiefs just aren't bad enough to get blow out like that. It's so frustrating. It fuels the trash talk for other teams and makes the casual NFL follower think that the Chiefs are in the dumpster of the NFL. While you could make that argument, most Chiefs fans will tell you that things are improving, slowly but surely and definitely sporadically.

Anyway, let's get through this. Here are the "good" stats I saw yesterday:

Run defense
Red zone efficiency
Kick returns
Rushing TDs

It's all there, after the jump.

LT - 39 yards rushing

I know that Tomlinson's low rushing total is is partly due to the fact that this was a blowout game and that he gave up some carries late in the game to Tolbert.

But, the Chiefs did hold LT to only a 3-yard per carry average. Not too shabby and a thin ray of light for a young defense.

Jamaal Charles' 45-yard return

After returning one 97-yards last week for a touchdown, Jamaal Charles again split the wedge for a 45-yard kick off return in the fourth quarter. He's emerged in the last two weeks a a legitimate kick return option for the Chiefs.

Recently activated WR/KR Quinten Lawrence returned kicks too but Charles made the most impact.

Our second rushing touchdown!

Jamaal Charles' 4-yard run in the third quarter marked the Kansas City Chiefs second rushing touchdown of the season. The first was Charles' 44-yard TD run against the Raiders two weeks ago.

The Chiefs are last in the NFL in rushing touchdowns. Cleveland has three rushing TDs and the Bucs are tied with a few other with four.

Red zone efficiency

The Chiefs are middle of the road in red zone efficiency but last in points scored. What does that mean? When the Chiefs get a chance in the red zone to score, they generally do a pretty good job. It's that getting there part that's tough.

Yesterday, the Chiefs were 2-2 in the red zone, scoring two touchdowns.

***
What good things stood out to you yesterday?

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Comments

Well, our run defense is definitely heading in the right direction for one Chris.

Also, I thought our offense looked the best it has all year in the first half. It was idiot mistakes that cost us the first half. For once it wasn’t our lousy play. I think Haley did a sound job over all. There were his usual 2 to 3 plays I was left scratching my head about, but overall good job.

Charles is a bright spot for sure.

Overall, we just got out played. Their a better team. That can happen with a better team, but when it’s a division rival and their in your head, mistakes happen more than usual. Look at Houston. They gave that game away over there too. Colts are their Nemesis. Chargers are ours. Every division has that one team that messes with the heads of the other teams in that division. Now I hope Denver beats their ass the rest of the year. I hate the Chargers.

Good morning AP.

by krayfish on Nov 30, 2009 7:55 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

A quick rebuttal

Tomlinson getting 3 YPC is pretty average for this season. The run blocking isn’t great and he hasn’t been breaking those big runs that make the YPC look better than it really is. Actually, his YPC for the season is 3.4 You could also make the argument that his YPC in this game was skewed because 3 of his 13 runs were within the Chiefs 3 yard line.

The better gauge of how well the run defense performed might be in how well they stopped Mike Tolbert, who has consistently been the best (and most powerful) runner for the Chargers all season. He has a season YPC of 6.3, and got 4.8 YPC yesterday on 4 carries.

"I did not invent the wheel, I was the crooked spoke adjacent." - Aesop Rock

by John Gennaro on Nov 30, 2009 8:02 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I would add rushing offense

The rushing attack was really hurting the Chargers until the turn over spree started. Charles is made for the zone blocking we are running and it makes the entire offense better.

The biggest problem was the strange turn overs, we have been very protective of the ball this year and we turned it over way more than normal yesterday. The turn overs were not even great plays by SD but just bad bounces for KC.

by tevans96 on Nov 30, 2009 8:04 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

True

Jamaal Charles’ 6.6 YPC cannot be ignored. He also played as the second best WR on the Chiefs yesterday.

"I did not invent the wheel, I was the crooked spoke adjacent." - Aesop Rock

by John Gennaro on Nov 30, 2009 8:07 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Do you guys still think Chambers sucks over there at BFTB?

by tomahawk44 on Nov 30, 2009 9:24 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

The ones who said that Chambers sucks

are typical of using that sort of description for anyone that they feel isn’t performing at that time. Most of the Charger fans that I know will tell you that Chambers was a great acquisition for us at the time that we got him, but that our “home-grown”, young receivers became more of the focus in SD. That combined with his off-field troubles led to the FO making the decision to release him.

I like Chris & wish him well – except when he’s playing against us! haha
The ones who cast him aside as finished are either fair-weather fans, ball-watching fan boys, or both.

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will!!

Robert Hunter

by Buck Melanoma on Nov 30, 2009 9:35 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree with everything Buck says….kindof. I don’t think Chambers is as bad as he was with the Chargers this year (he was really bad), but I don’t think he’s as good as he’s shown with the Chiefs either. I will say that the KC offense certainly fits him better and gives him more opportunities, which he always was begging for.

I think Chambers will be a very good #2 WR for the Chiefs in 2009 and 2010. I don’t think he can maintain this level of play for much longer though.

"I did not invent the wheel, I was the crooked spoke adjacent." - Aesop Rock

by John Gennaro on Nov 30, 2009 9:42 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

To be fair

Cassel threw three or four balls that were tipped or batted down at or behind the line. He needs to do a better job of finding the throwing lane.

He throws with a little bit of a push and it seems like the football comes off the release flat. Being that tall, you’d think he had a higher release than he does.

"The first step to penetration... must not be lateral"
-Confucius, in contrary to Glenn Dorsey lining up in the 2-tech

by ArrowSpread on Nov 30, 2009 9:12 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Predictable... but now what?

I really saw this one coming. Chargers are good, and playing well right now. Now with three games at home, what is expected for us to continue to drink our Kool-Aid? Two victories out of the three games sounds about right. Don’t get discouraged. Here’s to Bronco week!

by Ozarks on Nov 30, 2009 8:22 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Yep.

2 of 3 is acceptable. Although I wouldn’t hold them to making them home wins. I’m still sticking with my 5 win prediction from before the season started. We have to beat the Browns, and I’d prefer for it to be a sound winning. We need to beat DEN at least once too.

Yesterday was just a crap game for KC. Tons of bad luck combined with being thouroughly outmanned in the talent department. This is why KC HAS TO BE careful with the ball. We cannot overcome turnovers right now. I’m happy that we’ve generally been careful this year, but I’d prefer that most of our turnovers didn’t go to SD. Oh well. We’ll get ’em next year.

November 22nd 2009: Chiefs win in OT vs the Steelers 27-24. This could be the turning point for the Chiefs to get back to being respected.

by Red N Gold Beast on Nov 30, 2009 9:10 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

predictable and predictable

i didn’t see us winning the game, and i could have seen us losing by a larger then manting score, but from what i saw of the game we were our worst enemy on the field. we turned the ball over way more then we should have. was that predicable? i didn’t predict that as we have been good about turn overs all year. we allowed more points off turn overs yesterday then we had the entire season before the game started. was that predicable? as i said i really didn’t expect us to win because of the way SD has been playing of late, but that game did not go the way i expect it to.

UCrawford will eventually calm down and realize that Haley isn't a bad coach.
Will embrace the Fire Haley Bandwagon if we lose to the raiders by more then a TD...
..But we aren't going to lose.
LJ will not land in Pittsburgh
The Chiefs will not be the number one pick in this years draft
The Chiefs first pick of the draft will NOT be a OL
Thinks UCrawford just needs a hug... offer is there when you are ready UC :p

by Leaf on Nov 30, 2009 9:16 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I was just glad to see Merril Hoge being wrong on LT blasting us for 100 or more yards

Winning begins with Attitude - Haley and Pioli will be winners in KC!

I'll forever be a Chiefs fan! Only God himself could take that away from me, but when I get to my great reward, I'll rejoin two bigger fans, my Mom and Dad.

by Lanier63 on Nov 30, 2009 9:41 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Hoge always predicts that and is always wrong.

"I did not invent the wheel, I was the crooked spoke adjacent." - Aesop Rock

by John Gennaro on Nov 30, 2009 9:42 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Honestly

from what I saw… this was just “one of those games”
where nothing went right…

The turnovers killed KC… take those away, and this is a VERY close game. Most of the turnovers were flukes, too…

I thought Charles looked GREAT, Chambers was good, special teams was solid again, the defense looked good at times, but (again) just got killed on a few big plays…

Again, i say… get a playmaker back in the FS position, and get some more QB pressure… and this defense could look pretty darn good.

Cassel threw the ball pretty well, but every time he got something going, stupid turnovers killed it. Get a Center and one more OL position upgraded… the offense will look just fine next year.

* "I doubt anyone will miss Connor Barth except UCrawford"
* the LB corps may become the biggest strength of the Chiefs in 2009
* The OL is NOT as bad as you think it is... give it time, and you'll see improvement this season
* Stats are for losers

by stagdsp on Nov 30, 2009 12:22 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

1 sack given up by the Chiefs for -11 yds

5 penalties for 25 yards

My two adds for what went right Sunday :)

We Will kick at least 4 Teams Asses in 09. Almost there :)
And Succop will be the Key in two of them. Skins & Raiders! Pittsburgh Sweet!
" Think and talk positive football off the field." Hank Stram

by Steve_Chiefs on Nov 30, 2009 5:27 PM CST reply actions 0 recs