I'm not sure what reasons will be offered up. I'm not sure they will even add up when they discuss it. Let me perhaps beat them to the punch:
Our roster is particularly thin at the position.
Jamaal Charles is still becoming used to being a feature back.
It's Larry Johnson's fault.
In all seriousness, I get it that the first two could be completely true, but that doesn't make any difference. The reality is that despite FOUR interceptions on Matt Cassel's record versus the Bills, the Chiefs still ran Charles only 20 times all game in a contest where it was the only thing that was working. There's so much to talk about here, but it all points to the same conclusion: That Kansas City's play calling lost yet another game that was completely theirs for the taking.
Exhibit One: Charles averaged a sick 7+ yards per carry in the game and displayed the only game-breaking potential out there with his ridiculous runs. To not stick with Charles in a game in which so few points were already scored (and where the Chiefs should have had many more with some FG chances by Ryan Succop) is missing the point completely and an exercise in insanity for the fan base (sparse as it was on Sunday). The reality was that Haley was putting the word "video" in front of "game management" against the Bills. That's the only reason you throw the ball 43 times.
Exhibit Two: The Bills have the single worst run defense unit in the league. They allow 5.0 yards per carry on the season - by far the worst. They've allowed 2,217 rushing yards on the season, a full 300 more than Kansas City and the Chiefs are fifth-worst in the league. In fact, the Bills have allowed DOUBLE what the Steelers and Packers have allowed on the season. That kind of disparity should affect every aspect of the game plan. Instead, we come out rushing one third of the time against a defense with a strong secondary and no ability to stop the running game. Absolutely maddening.
This isn't even a matter of the fourth down play calls, the lack of trust in Ryan Succop, the weird use of timeouts, etc. This is about a team will multiple candidates for "who's the biggest goat this week?" actually having a strong chance to win... and still finding a way to refuse such a gift.
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