Chiefs Vs. Saints: The Best And The Worst

Only in America!

I still can't figure out why Don King would choose to, not only, promote an NFL game between a couple of winless chaps, but to actually ref the game too?!? This whole NFL/replacement referee situation really is getting out of hand (although, what an idea! Special guest referees like this sure would spice up these games until the real refs come back).

Whew. What a wacky, waving, inflatable arm flailing tube of a game that was!

We got knocked down, but we got up again. You're never gonna keep us down.

And our game wasn't even the craziest game of the noon o'clock time slot yesterday. I mean did you see the highlights of the Titans-Lions game? An onside kick and a Hail Mary? An 80-yard Blaine Gabbert touchdown with under a minute to go? A Blaine Gabbert touchdown at all?!?

Best part about the Chiefs winning - You can sit back and enjoy the rest of your Sunday like Jerry 'The King' Lawler (get well soon). I mean, the NFL is the best. The presumed "best team in the NFL" has now lost each of the first three weeks of the season (Giants/Packers in Week 1, Ravens/Patriots in Week 2, 49ers in Week 3). It's great. Everything about it is great. That is, unless the Chiefs lose, and I spend the rest of the day in agony like a kid that's been denied Christmas.

Now, hopefully, Don King doesn't come out from under his hood and reverse the outcome of the game. Which almost seems possible after yesterday.

Let's try and get to all the shenanigans from the game before it's too late.

The Best & Worst with His Dirkness:

Photo credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Best players do what? - Make plays when their team needs them the most. And that's exactly what Jamaal Charles did yesterday. For whatever reason, this team was in a two-game, two-quarter, nine-minute, and 24-second P-funk all star. And then, BAM! 91 yards. God Jam Charles (anybody else just love his head-down running style? It's so business like. Un-flashy. Track star-ish. It's beautiful). Franchise record. And just like that, everything began to change. The defense stepped up. The young'uns made plays on the specialty teams. The Chiefs showed some legitimate heart, which I was begging for last week. I don't know if this season leads to anything monumental, but if it does, we have a singular play to look at and say, "That was the turning point."

Best offense in the NFL - The Kansas City Chiefs. No really, they're No. 1 in total offense.

Best player on the field not named Jamaal - Justin Houston, who attacked Drew Brees like the rabid wolverine that he showed us he could be at the end of last season. However, this wasn't the one man show that we saw from God Jam and the offense yesterday. The whole defense deserves credit. The Saints had 55 net yards in the second half and overtime (their two TD drives being 7 and 19 yards long). Their drives following the TD that extended the lead to 24-6 with 5:36 left in the 3rd quarter look like this: Interception, 3 and out, 3 and out, safety, kneel down, 3 and out. This came against Drew freakin' Brees! I have no idea how this transformation took place, but to my untrained eye it looked like more press man coverage (Stanford Routt's specialty) and creative blitzing (where've they been Romeo?). Better yet, Romeo knew the Saints couldn't move the ball on his defense, which led to some (lets call it) interesting decision making...

Photo credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Best debate of the week - Did Romeo Crennel make the right decision in playing for the tie in regulation? I was dumbfounded at the time. Astounded. Bewildered. Flabbergasted. I couldn't believe it. I was just as shocked to see some people vehemently defending the decision at the time. One thing is for sure: Romeo doesn't trust Matt Cassel. And after yesterday's mostly wretched performance, it's tough to blame him. But hey, his team won the game, which is the head coach's main objective. And winning dwarfs bad decisions. Just ask Bill Belichick, who has made some terrible coaching decisions in the past and he's squarely in the discussion for greatest coach of all time. However, I'm still flummoxed by the decision. Befuddled. Perplexed. Discombobulated. I hated it.

Best coaching move - Going for it on 4th down. Both times. People are criticizing Romeo for calling a timeout after sending the punting unit on to the field prior to their first 4th down attempt. That's nonsense. He made a quick decision (because the clock was rolling), and later came to his senses (because punting at that point and time would've been worse than playing for the tie in regulation), and so he called a timeout. But if you convert that 4th and 5, the clock is now on your side, and that timeout becomes meaningless. Then the overtime gamble, which was made with two things: Romeo's black balls. I loved it. I love how we just lined up and ran the play before the defense could really get settled. One more first down, Succop-no-fuccop, and boom sauce: Game over.

Best kept secret - Nate Eachus false started on the 4th and 1 conversion in overtime. Like, really bad. So I don't care what you guys say, I think the replacement refs are a hoot.

Best guess on other controversial calls - Terrific challenge by Romeo on Graham's knee being down. The Pierre Thomas catch hit the ground but I was shocked to see them actually overturn it (did you see how open Graham was on that play??). I don't understand the logic of how a WR can give himself up by sliding, but not by doing this. The Lance Moore catch was out of bounds by rule according to this Mike Pereira tweet. The Pass Interference call on Bowe was pretty weak (but I think 95 percent of PI calls are weak). Malcolm Jenkins' shot to Bowe's knee after an incompletion in the 4th was disturbingly legal. The non-calls on (what should have been) numerous offensive PI's was laughable (as the story goes in the NFL). And the Oklahoma fumble-reversed-to-incompletion was the worst of all.

Photo credit: John David Mercer-US PRESSWIRE

Best you sit down before you read this next fact - Matt Cassel has now quarterbacked the two biggest comebacks in Kansas City Chiefs history. Damn, I wish I could see everybody's face when they hear that for the first time. Mine looked like this.

Best coaching move No. 2 - Not benching Matt Cassel yesterday. I absolutely would have after that horrendous INT. And we absolutely would have lost had Romeo done so. Now I'm done.

Best Dan Dierdorfism - Claiming Romeo Crennel put his 48 inch vertical on display to get a holding call in the 3rd quarter. Still waiting on this .GIF.

Best Jon Baldwin plays - Seem to come on plays that account for no yards (last season's behind Dawkins' back catch and yesterday's near one-hander). Although maybe thats because he taints all of his actual good plays with his first down lemon drop, which is just ridiculous. Baldwin might make a better And-1 Football playa.

Photo credit: Stacy Revere Getty Images

Worst impressions - Mark Ingram and Jimmy Graham. How bad were these two yesterday? I'm convinced Ingram is just not good, while Graham seemed disinterested in catching any pass he actually had to stretch his arms for. Ain't no Gronk.

Best gunner in the NFL - Jalil Brown. Do I know this? Absolutely not. Am I going to blindly pretend that it's true? Of course.

Worst play - Shaun Draughn cutting the ball inside to gain two extra yards instead of going out of bounds with under 10 seconds left and only one timeout, eliminating any chance the Chiefs had to get points before halftime.

Worst Al Bundy impression - Eric Winston: "A fat man (Asamoah) comes into the huddle today. Says he can't get his shoe back on. So I tell him I'd help out but I don't want to tip the Richter Scale." /studio laughter.

Worst news for the rest of the AFC - The Chiefs might sweep this week's awards. Charles with 233 rushing yards. Houston with 3 sacks. And Succop with 6 field goals. Anybody know if that's ever been done before?

Hope to see all of you out at Arrowhead next week, baby! One more win and we're right back in this thing.

Oh, and I'd like to give a shout out to my fingers for today's post,

His Dirkness

Photo credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE