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It's OK to believe, folks. I won't tell anyone.
The Kansas City Chiefs win their second consecutive game and move to 3-5 on the season with the 45-10 win over the Detroit Lions. They are a long shot for the playoffs but it's OK to start to believe a little bit. Sports are a lot more fun that way.
The Lions are a bad team but the good news is that the Chiefs 2015 schedule has more bad teams in the second half of the season.
Let's get to what we learned today.
This one tweet explains the game
.@ArrowheadPride uncle
— Pride Of Detroit (@PrideOfDetroit) November 1, 2015
The Chiefs beat the pants off the Lions. It was bloody brilliant!
This one tweet also explains why sports make no sense
Football is ultimate team sport, No. 4,080: Chiefs lose Charles, somehow put together best offensive games in 2 of next 3 weeks.
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) November 1, 2015
Are the Chiefs this good or the Lions that bad?
As usual, it's a little of both. The Lions are really bad. We know that. But the Chiefs really did play a good game and they did it in a way that we've seen them win before. They played good defense, got pressure on the quarterback and created turnovers. They can do that against most teams in the NFL so that's not a fluke. Offensively, they played their game. They threw shorter passes that had blockers set up down the field. Alex Smith ran the ball at the perfect time for a career-high 78 rushing yards, including this 49-yard Steve Bono-esque scamper. They had nice play designs including the De'Anthony Thomas touchdown run. It seemed to me that they executed better. Perhaps most importantly....
Another good performance from the Chiefs offensive line
When the Chiefs line plays well, Alex Smith plays well. It's really that simple. The Chiefs were without LG Ben Grubbs this week so they lined up like this:
LT Eric Fisher, LG Jeff Allen, C Mitch Morse, RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, RT Jah Reid.
Interesting to note that Donald Stephenson was not the tackle option there.
The Chiefs gave up a couple of sacks but this was a good day for them overall, the second consecutive week in which they've played well. It's only two games but this is encouraging.
Hello, Chiefs pass rush
Six sacks on the day for the Chiefs defense. Not bad at all.
I knew it before the game. I knew the Chiefs pass rush would be able to get to Matthew Stafford, who was sacked seven times last week. The Chiefs got two sacks from DB Ron Parker, which is awesome. When a DB is getting two sacks, you're having a good day. Stafford reminded me of Alex Smith with a bad o-line -- it's almost as if he goes down too quickly.
Charcandrick West pulls out the Ravishing Rick Rude dance
I have IMPORTANT analysis on thrusting and what not right here. Please read it.
Charcandrick the sensual https://t.co/qLs5HGVqnI
— Travis (@TravisTokar) November 1, 2015
Finish it off Royals
Chiefs record on the day the Royals won the World Series in 1985: 3-5
Chiefs record as the Royals look to win the World Series tonight: 3-5