Arrowhead Pride is a hard place to be after a couple of huge losses. The biggest scapegoat of all of this seems to be Matt Cassel. Do I agree that Cassel has been a problem for this team? Yeah, he has made some mistakes and some bad throws. He seemed to play at his highest ability last year when it comes to touchdown/interception ratio. Is it the play calls this year? I'm not sure but the quarterback position needs to be looked at. Sadly, it isn't the only thing that needs to be looked at when it comes to the Kansas City Chiefs.
I have been one of the optimistic members these last couple of weeks. I am still optimistic but I am also seeing the flaws of this team for what they are. I have noticed that lately our defense hasn't played to their true ability. Sure, there are a few good games where our defense looks good especially stopping either the run or pass. It is just sad that the defense can't just have a complete game where they keep both to a minimum.
There has been a lot of recent posts just attacking Matt Cassel only. I thought I would look at the defense, sacks allowed, and our total penalties. If our defense gives up a lot of yards it is hard to come back. If our offensive line gives up a lot of sacks it affects the whole offense. If the team as a whole gets a lot of penalties it just negates the positives on any drive. Let's look at the stats on the last 11 games with the playoff game in Baltimore included.
Team |
Quarterback |
Passing Yards Allowed |
Rushing Yards Allowed |
Sacks Allowed |
Penalties |
Oakland Raiders |
Jason Campbell |
135 |
209 |
7 |
5 |
Baltimore Ravens |
Joe Flacco |
248 |
142 |
3 |
5 |
Buffalo Bills |
Ryan Fitzpatrick |
201 |
163 |
2 |
1 |
Detriot Lions |
Matthew Stafford |
322 |
89 |
2 |
8 |
San Diego Chargers |
Philip Rivers |
258 |
117 |
1 |
7 |
Minnesota Vikings |
Donovan McNabb |
190 |
151 |
3 |
6 |
Indianapolis Colts |
Curtis Painter |
277 |
78 |
2 |
5 |
Oakland Raiders |
Kyle Boller & Carson Palmer |
167 |
155 |
0 |
10 |
San Diego Chargers |
Philip Rivers |
345 |
102 |
3 |
9 |
Miami Dolphins |
Matt Moore |
244 |
107 |
5 |
8 |
Denver Broncos |
Tim Tebow |
69 |
244 |
4 |
4 |
Alright, right away I notice that our defense is making the non-elite quarterbacks seem like superstars for the most part.
One of the biggest problems I've seen especially the last three games is the offensive line. They aren't giving Cassel a lot of time. If you mix in Cassel's ability to fall into a defender it just looks bad. I realize that not every sack is on the offensive line but they need to give our QB more time. In the last 11 games the Chiefs have allowed 32 sacks. That is just about 3 sacks a game. In the last 3 games the Chiefs are allowing 4 sacks a game.
Another big problem is penalties. The first part of the year last year we were a very disciplined team. It now seems like we are getting way more penalties than we should. I don't know how many big plays have been erased this year. It just makes me sick to see a catch like today taken back because of a formation problem. That just shouldn't happen. In 11 games the Chiefs have had 68 penalties. It isn't the worst in the league but far from the best. That averages out to 6 penalties per game. Just think if one of those penalties a game erase a game changing play that could result in a win.
In 11 games the Chiefs have allowed 2,456 passing yards or 223 yards per game. At first that might not seem like a lot. However, when you see names like Curtis Painter, Matt Moore, and Jason Campbell it starts to look worse. I wonder what will happen when we go against quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers? We will find out soon enough.
In 11 games the Chiefs have allowed 1,557 rushing yards or 141 yards per game. That is just horrible run defense. Is the team really missing Eric Berry that much?
So if you average it all together we are giving up 364 yards per game. These last 11 games seem more like a whole team effort than just one single person.