Yesterday's game was a lot of fun to watch and I congratulate the Chiefs on a game well-played. But can we please, for the sake of the rest of the season, put together two solid halves of football? The Chiefs are either clicking or self-destructing. There really isn't a middle ground. We can't survive the season playing only one great half of football. Before you start, I'm all over the map with this recap so bear with me.

The Offense

The Kansas City Chiefs had their second highest offensive output of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals, totaling 354 yards on 69 plays. The Chiefs dominated time of possession by holding the ball nearly eleven minutes more than the Bengals. As with nearly every game this season, the Chiefs played well for one half and struggled offensively in the other. This week though, the Chiefs were able to find an offensive rhythm early, scoring their first points in the first quarter this season on a Dave Rayner field goal and a 3 yard Tony Gonzalez touchdown reception.

NFL.com

With the exception of holding on to the ball too long on a few plays, Damon Huard played his best football of the season on Sunday. Huard went 25/35 for 264 yards and two touchdowns. More importantly, he did not throw an interception. He completed passes to six different Chiefs and did what every Chiefs quarterback needs to do: He consistently threw the ball to Tony Gonzalez. I'll give Damon credit in this game. He's never going to wow us but Sunday was about the best we'll see from him. Anytime Huard doesn't turn the ball over, I'll consider his performance a success.

Lazy reporting alert...Lazy reporting alert...

Randy Covitz's article last night on Larry Johnson began with this: "This should have been a day for laughter and smiles for Chiefs running back Larry Johnson. He bounced back from last week’s 12-yard rushing performance against Jacksonville with 119 yards in the Chiefs’ 27-20 win over Cincinnati."

Its easy to look at the final box score and write an article. To Covitz's credit, he does seem to have glanced at the play by play at the end of his article when he cites that LJ was stuffed on 12 of his 31 rushes. But why would Larry be happy about yesterday's performance? Why would he be all smiles?

76 of Larry's 119 yards rushing came on three plays. He gained thirteen yards on fifteen carries in the second half. If you take out Larry's three long runs, he only averaged 1.5 yards a rush over twenty eight carries. I want to hit my head on my desk our running game is so weak.

When Larry did selfishly get the delay of game penalty called on him on the 4th quarter, it happened after the Chiefs ran three of the worst plays they've ran all season. Three straight runs for negative yardage. Frustrating? Yes. Justification for his penalty? No.

NFL.com

When the Chiefs needed to run the clock down in the fourth quarter, they were unable to do it. This offense is unable to produce first downs through the running game. Out of the twenty first downs the Chiefs got on Sunday, only four came via rushing.

Larry Johnson himself could be playing better as well. He isn't really able to bounce outside like he used to, despite showing flashes of last year on a couple of longer runs to the outside. His emotional outbursts are hurting the Chiefs team. He is not a leader. He is not trying to be a leader. I don't know whats going on with him.

I said it last week and it bears repeating. The Chiefs offensive line is playing horribly as a unit. Left tackle Damion McIntosh, who had been one of the two bright spots on the o-line, was thoroughly dominated by the Bengals defensive line. The Chiefs pass protection, which was the relative strength of this team, gave up five sacks to the dismal Cincinnati pass rush. Bengals DE Justin Smith had 1.5 sacks on the Chiefs first two drives.

Congratulations to Tony Gonzalez on his record breaking touchdown catch in the first quarter. After a six play drive that started on the Bengals 44 yard line, Damon Huard lofted a pass to TG in the right corner of the end zone for the record breaker. Gonzalez continued performing like the best tight end in the league, catching nine balls for 102 yards and two touchdowns. Tony is the rock of the unstable Kansas City offense and is the only consistent offensive performer on the Chiefs team.

Dwayne Bowe's name was barely mentioned during the game because of a great game by veteran Bengals' CB Deltha O'Neil. Bowe had an average day, catching four balls for forty six yards. Jeff Webb, despite a late third quarter fumble, played possibly his best game as a Chief. Webb managed seven catches for seventy eight yards and a couple of those catches were fantastic, tight rope catches along the sideline.

The Soundbite: The Kansas City Chiefs offense was able to put it together long enough in the first half to score enough points for the game against a suspect Bengals' defense.

Offensive Player of the Game: Tony Gonzalez

NFL.com

The Defense

Watching the Chiefs' defense play football in the first half of Sunday's game was a thing of beauty. Jared Allen had 2.5 sacks in the first half alone and he led a relentless Chiefs' defense that pressured Carson Palmer on almost every, single play. Truly, the first half was a fun half of football to watch.

Before the game, I mentioned that my biggest fear playing the Bengals was a big pass play for a touchdown. Well, I was right. Fourteen of the Bengals twenty points came on passes of forty two yards and thirty yards to T.J. Houshmandzadeh. With the exception of those two plays, the Chiefs defense did manage to hold the "high-powered" Bengal offense in check.

Pat Surtain was able to step in front of a lofted Palmer pass in the second quarter to make an interception. Surtain showed veteran savvy by waiting on the route and breaking exactly when he needed to.

The box score says the Chiefs forced three turnovers but it might as well have been four. With eight and a half minutes left in the third quarter, the Bengals went for it on fourth and short and the old man himself Donnie Edwards burst through the line to tackle RB Kenny Watson for no gain. If you were looking for a energy sapping, heart breaking play for the Bengals, there you have it.

Just a bit more on Jared Allen. He forced a fumble and had 2.5 sacks. He was within an arm's length of Carson Palmer innumerable times. Like Tony Gonzalez said to the media after the game, "If Jared Allen doesn't go to the Pro Bowl, its your fault." This guy is better than Neil Smith...

I'm not going to delve into much more detail about our defense because I'm just repeating the same thing each week. Our defense is fantastic and makes these games fun to watch. Sunday was a huge test for the Chiefs D and they passed. Now only if Eddie Drummond and the Chiefs special teams can capitalize on the stops the defense gives them.

Soundbite: The Kansas City Chiefs defense held a potent Cincinnati offense in check by dominating the line of scrimmage and creating turnovers.

Defensive Player of the Game: Jared Allen

Special Teams

I know I've been hard on kick returner Eddie Drummond and its not because he doesn't take the ball to the house each time. He looks slow, ineffective and shows bad judgment from time to time. I'm not a big fan of kick returners who fair catch the ball on the nine yard line. Field position talk will come tomorrow.

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Great win for the Chiefs. An important win for the Chiefs. On paper, this game was ours and it went generally according to plan. But that doesn't mean that our offensive problems have disappeared. I'm going to beat this into our collective heads. The porous Chiefs offensive line and the poor play of Larry Johnson will prohibit this team from sustaining any type of winning in 2007. Plain and simple. If your team is unable to make first downs in the running game, its only a matter of time before the losses begin to pile up. We're still looking good in the surprisingly mediocre AFC West though. It could be worse. We could be...the Bengals.

Note: The open threads below are a great chronicle of the entire game yesterday. Make sure you check them out.

Interesting read by Jason Cole from Yahoo! Sports on why trading Larry Johnson now is the smart move to make. He makes some logical points but in the end, like most of the trading LJ arguments, his comes down to the fact that "overworked" running backs in the NFL don't last. We get a list of the usual suspects in a national Larry Johnson article- Jamaal Anderson, Eddie George, Eric Dickerson. You get the point.

Does anyone think that this statistically insignificant trend will ever be broken? I liken this to the Madden Curse. Yeah there's some circumstantial evidence surrounding it but how much does it truly affect a player? I know that physical abuse is certainly different than a video game curse. Regardless of the forces at play, its a brand new season.

Right now, I'm firmly convinced that Larry Johnson will be another exception to the 400+ 370+ rule. The guy has made a physical commitment to destroying that rule.

Cole's final point is that one more reason to get rid of Larry Johnson is because of his contract demands. For some reason, the national perception is that these contract negotiations are going to be a bloodbath. There is no evidence pointing to that happening. At least not right now.

Keep Larry Johnson. Don't overpay him and create a salary cap issue. The guy could end up being the greatest running back in Chiefs history.

At the moment, I'm working on or will be working on a few stories, namely the top five:

Biggest disappointments

Biggest surprises

Individual players

Best plays

Best games

and some other misc. awards AP will be giving out. In the meantime, give me your two cents on who/what you think should be in the top five of each of those categories.

[editor's note, by Chris] Head to the homepage for more on the post-mortem.

If you haven't already seen it, make sure you check out Cold Hard Football Facts, a great stat/info site on the NFL. Probably the most interesting part of the site are the Quality Standings. Take the Bendability Index for example:

After the Chargers won blew the game against the Patriots on Sunday, LaDainian Tomlinson had this to say:

The Patriots could have just shook hands and left the field. But they didn't. They were in the middle of the Chargers' field, disrespecting their home turf. That I find worthy of some action.

LT did what football players are supposed to do: rep their teammates whenever possible. That I find worthy of respect as well. My only issue (and its not really an issue with LT) is that Shawne Merriman is worthy of NO RESPECT whatsoever. Can someone please mention Shawne Merriman and steroids together? Please??

Check out this diary quote from late October:

Good clips, bad song.

Via Indystar.com (a letter to the editor):

Then again, why are we even listening to Colts fans? They play in a dome and therefore have never experienced what having a football team is really like.

[editor's note, by Chris] Thanks to kcisbetterthanstlateverything for this write up.

i'm a new user to this blogging stuff, but i've been reading royalsreview all year and arrowheadpride for awhile.  i read the post asking someone to do grades, and this is my kind of thing, so i'll give it a shot.

QBs
Trent Green=B-, injury/underachievement/bad timing/bad transition from old offense to new
Damon Huard=A-, i never saw him coming, the denver, pittsburgh, and miami games were terrible...so no A
Brodie Croyle=C-, the only showing came in the final minutes of the pittsburgh game...he looked like a 3rd qb

RBs
Larry Johnson=B, expectations were too high and offense was too predictable for him to accomplish what we thought he could
Michael Bennett=C+, he looked good when he played, but it seemed as if he was always out or a gametime decision...injuries
Dee Brown=C, blocked for larry on obvious passing downs but still leaves a lot to be desired as a runner
Ronnie Cruz=D, Kris Wilson played better at FB and he doesn't have the tools for the blocking

TEs
Tony Gonzalez=B-, his numbers look average this year compared to the rest of his career, and he seemed to disappear way too much for the best TE in league history
Jason Dunn=C-, injury problems and age caught up to the blocking TE
Kris Wilson=B+ as pass catching fullback/TE, C as a blocking fullback, he seemed to stop shy of holes or linemen, stuttering where T-Rich would just plow ahead and open holes, needs expanded role in offense

WRs
Eddie Kennison= C+, drop in yardage and receptions coming with age/offensive struggles, hands still inconsistent, would be a good nfl number 2 WR
Samie Parker= D+, possibly league's worst hands for a starting wide receiver, unbelieveable speed, talks too much on the field for his lack of production, probably will be replaced or demoted
Dante Hall= C, still Dante Hall, drops passes, good distraction, mismatch only for linebackers
Rod Gardner= D-, former first round picks are not supposed to be special teamers

OL
Jordan Black=C-, Did well against average or below average ends, but speed and tenacity always beat him to the QB...he seemed to constantly be in the backfield on running plays to the left, needs to be replaced
Brian Waters=B+, emerged as the team's vocal leader and is an emerging star in the league, probably the best LG in the game, the injury and the problems with whoever filled in to his left made him look bad
Casey Wiegmann= C, least productive year as chiefs center, revealed to be not strong enough for good DTs
Will Shields= C-, age is finally showing on the iron man, needs to seriously consider retirement, however much we love him...best lineman in franchise history
Kyle Turley= D-, looked nothing like his most productive years and had the injury problems we were told he would not have
Kevin Sampson= Incomplete, for our future right tackle he never plays
John Welbourne= C-, played best of our right tackles, but that doesn't say a whole lot
Chris Terry= D+, like turley, it shows he's been out of the game awhile, despite the raw talent
Chris Bober= A-, filled in very nicely, probably overachieved, for waters and shields, would be a good short term fix for a shields retirement if that comes.

DL(here we go...)
Jared Allen= A, should have gone to his first pro bowl, constantly fought double-teams and holding, always near the passer, knocked down a lot of passes...needs to work on playing against premier tackles if he wants to take the next step
Tamba Hali= B+, we got more out of him than most people think, a good tackler, run defender, and more than adequate pass rusher for a rookie...potential to be a very good player
Eric Hicks= F, sorry old bud...but herm not playing you really shows what kind of player you are these days
Jimmy Wilkerson= B+, really developing into a nice end/tackle player ideally suited for a 3/4 system outside slot...probably could have benefited from more college
James Reed= D+, very average run stopper, no push whatsoever...needs replacement
Ron Edwards= C-, only thing keeping him better than reed is his college ball at northwest
Ryan Sims= F, get off our team now, you're ruining young guys w/ your attitude and terrible play when you're out there

LBs
Derrick Johnson= B, tackling could use improvement as could blitzing skills, speed and attitude/general talent greatly improve defense, could be bigtime player in the derrick brooks mold someday
Kendrell Bell= C, missed tackling early in the season cost the chiefs, still not playing his natural position as an ILB in 3/4 schemes and it shows, but strong second half was impressive, speed is lacking as well
Keyaron Fox= C, just good enough to challenge Bell for the starting spot, not sure he's an upgrade though, injury problems persist
Kawika Mitchell= B-, has turned himself from a detrimental part of the defense to a very average nfl middle linebacker, still misses tackles he shouldn't and could use help getting free of blocks

DBs
Ty Law= B+, proved his worth in clutch situations(arizona, jacksonville, indianapolis), though slippage cost the chiefs 3 td's this season and the whiff in cleveland hurt as well
Pat Surtain= C, clearly the weaker of the two starting corners and still is playing below the advertised talent level, adequate
Lenny Walls= C+, does not seem to be any worse than Surtain, may challenge for a starting spot, blew coverage in arizona and pittsburgh
Benny Sapp= B+, you know what you get w/ him, blitzing corner and great special teams play
Greg Wesley= C-, despite play reminiscent of his previous seasons, he will lose the starting job to Jarrad Page, still blows coverages and is consistently late to receivers deep and over the middle, tackling is not good enough either
Sammy Knight= C, showing some age in speed but not mentally or in his tackling, will be challenged for a starting spot by Pollard
Jarrad Page= A, i would give him an A+ if it weren't for the game of tag he played w/ jacksonville Qbs on new years eve, probably the best 7th round pick in the draft, future star
Bernard Pollard= B- defense/A+ special teams, great tackling and ferocious hitting define him, a couple blown coverages that could go away w/ experience, best special teams player on the team that's not a punter

Special Teams
Lawrence Tynes= B-, extremely reliable during the season and very average on kickoffs(although they are probably low and hurting our coverage), 23 yd miss in postseason play too lin elliot-ish
Dustin Colquitt= A+, led NFL in net punting, the only important stat for punters, constantly threatens return men w/ drops
Dante Hall= C-, regressed big-time, spent most of the season either standing still or in reverse, may not be given a roster spot in training camp
Boomer Grigsby= C, kickoff coverage units suffered and for a special teams specialist, he doesn't make a lot of plays or get noticed
Kendall Gammon= B+, still no bad snaps, although replaceable as a roster spot
Jeff Webb= B, in several returns replacing hall, looked very very capable.

Coaching Staff
Herm Edwards= B-, created mediocre defense, imposed(should have let it run itself) mediocre offense, game management is alright, motivation got the most out of this team for the most part...pittsburgh/miami/cleveland/indy are exceptions
Mike Solari= C-, we will never know how much of the predictability is Solari and how much of it was Herm this year
Gunther Cunningham= B, defense showed discipline and playmaking ability, just imagine what he could do if he had capable blitzing linebackers

that's what i got...let me know what you think

pat