One thing I like to do after a sweet, sweet victory such as our Kansas City Chiefs' last night is go back and review what we thought needed to happen in order to win versus what really happened.
Go back to this post and review what everyone thought needed to happen. I'd say we were spot on with a few of them.
We Must Protect This House!
Protect Arrowhead we did indeed. I suggested the crowd wouldn't play much of a factor in the game considering the lack of impact it had on the first game against the Oakland Raiders. However, at least from the TV broadcast, it appears that the crowd got into it and created some noise despite the level of attendance.
The Mike Shanahan coached Broncos moved to 3-11 all time at Arrowhead as we furthered our dominance over them at home. For whatever reason, we've got the Broncos number when they come into Arrowhead. We avoided the 3 year sweep with this victory and reaffirmed my belief that Arrowhead is the toughest place to play despite the team on the field.
Larry, Larry, Larry!
Dead on. LJ started early with a 60+ yard run on the second play from scrimmage and continued to beat down the Broncos defenders all the way into the 4th quarter. This moved him just 7 yards from the season rushing leader through 4 weeks.
LJ's performance was a great reminder that when it really comes down to it we're only going as far as he can take us. Our quarterback situation combined with our less than innovative offense makes LJ moving the chains a necessity and he did that today.
He took the pressure off Damon Huard and the rest of the offense. Just as importantly, he allowed us to hold the ball for over 33 minutes and I think we saw the advantage that created for our defense.
Early and Often
This was true to an extent. We didn't get behind early but the Broncos gave us EVERY opportunity to pull away and we wouldn't take it. We led 6-0 after the 1st quarter, 13-10 after the 2nd, 16-13 after the 3rd, and finished the game with a 33-19 advantage.
What I'm really excited about is the 4th quarter points. When the pressure was put on and the Broncos pulled to within one score in the 4th quarter our offense responded big time on the shoulders of LJ.
Here are a few predictions from your fellow APers:
"What is success this week? Offense breaks 20 points and we lose by less than 10pts?"
"I can’t stress this enough – Damon Huard staying in the whole game and not being pulled is a big key."
"I cannot wait until Sunday so people might actually remember that Damon Huard is a pathetic quarterback. Thigpen is awful. Huard is pathetic."
Put me on board with that first comment. I would have been happy to cover the spread but we did oh so much more than that.
So we know what we thought would happen. Now that we look at what really happened, whose performance surprised you the most?