Five Good Stats from the Chiefs' Loss to the Browns

Even though the Kansas City Chiefs lost yesterday in stomach turning fashion, they did put up 34 points and 491 yards. When that happens, you're going to have some good stats to talk about. 

And not surprisingly, none of those good stats come from the Chiefs defense.

The Chiefs' defense was so surprisingly bad in the absence of DL Glenn Dorsey that it really shocks you to the core. I didn't think we had that many issues on defense...

Demorrio Williams was a active defensive player, making 13 tackles. His name was close to being on this list. He's by far the team's tackle leader by the way.  The dynamic duo of Brandon Carr and Brandon Flowers each had picks, which was made even more amazing by the fact that the Browns only made 17 pass attempts for 66 yards. It was tempting to put that stat on the list - 66 yards passing - but the Browns were so clearly uninterested in passing the ball that it would be irrelevant to include that total.

On a sleepy Monday morning, here are my five things to make you feel better about the Chiefs game yesterday. We're talking about:

• Jamaal Charles;
• Matt Cassel;
• Offensive yards;
• Chris Chambers; and
• Dustin Colquitt

The Now Weekly Jamaal Charles Appearance

No matter what, Jamaal Charles is going to end up as the Chiefs offensive MVP, if not team MVP of the 2009 season. He rushed 25 times for 154 yards yesterday. He included a 47-yard rushing TD and two catches for 16 yards.

For a relatively talented NFL team, a guy like Jamaal Charles can win you football games. For the Chiefs, it's Charles that's making the Chiefs games even watchable nowadays. He's had all of the Chiefs' rushing touchdowns this season plus the only kick return for a touchdown the team has had.

The only thing holding Charles back, in my opinion, from becoming a long time, full time running back is his tendency to fumble. On the final kickoff of the game, Charles took the ball back near the 30-yard line and fumbled it out of bounds right at the sideline. The Chiefs got the ball back but I think we all flinched a little when it happened. And we weren't too surprised it did.

491 Total Yards, 34 points

The Chiefs racked up major yards against one of the league's worst defenses. 491 total offensive yards and 34 points were both season highs. Here's how the big stat contributors break down:

• QB Matt Cassel, 331 yards passing
• RB Jamaal Charles, 170 total yards
• WR Chris Chambers, 114 yards receiving
• TE Brad Cottam, 62 yards recieving
• WR Dwayne Bowe, 56 yards receiving 

The Chiefs didn't have a lot of long drives to contribute to that 491 total. Out of thirteen drives, the Chiefs only had three, three and outs. The Chiefs consistently moved the ball, albeit against a poor defense.

It was the best offensive performance of the season for KC. The Chiefs ran the ball well; made some big plays; and converted on 2/4 red zone attempts.

Matt Cassel's Best Game of the Season

Cassel bounced back from three straight sub par games to put together a gutsy performance, performing his best in the fourth quarter as usual.

The Chiefs QB passed for 331 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs. Although, there was one pass near the goal line that really should have been intercepted if the Browns defender wasn't a total klutz. He ended up with a QB rating of 99.1 on 22/40 attempts. Include a reported nine WR drops in those numbers, and you can see Cassel had a great game. 331 yards passing was by far Cassel's best of the season - by 69 yards in fact.

The Chiefs' official wide receiver drop number is around 30 I believe. Todd Haley says it's more like fifty but we'll take thirty for now. If we add just that low estimate of thirty onto Cassel's season completions, his completion percentage jumps from 54% to 61.5%. That's a big jump and hitting that 60% number is really nice to see in a QB's stats.

Dustin Colquitt > Josh Cribbs

Josh Cribbs tore up the Chiefs special teams unit on kickoff returns, when he had the extra space the get a running start. On kickoff returns, Cribbs averaged nearly 40 yards on kickoff returns but only averaged 8 yards on punt returns. He was essentially neutralized on punt returns by Colquitt and the special teams unit. 

We Could Be Talking about Chambers being the #1 WR

Chris Chambers had another great game for the Chiefs, catching five passes for 114 yards and a TD. He and Bowe are tied for the team lead in receiving TDs and Chambers is only 28 yards receiving yards behind Bowe for the season. Bowe has only played in one more game for the Chiefs than Chambers has.

Chambers has the Chiefs' best two receiving games this year, yesterday and against Pittsburgh. Him and Matt Cassel are building a repoire as well, which is something we haven't really seen around KC in a few seasons. Right now, Chambers is the biggest threat in the WR corp.

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Give us your thoughts on these stats in the comments. It's not all bad, right?