Last season I wrote an article that detailed what I thought was the Chiefs secret to their incredible turnaround: limiting negative plays on offense. If anyone thought the Chiefs shot themselves in the foot against the Texans, they are more correct than they realize.

I am going to take a look at the Chiefs negative plays against the Texans and how many lost yards this turned into.

Penalties

The Chiefs committed eight total penalties on special teams and offense.

1. Holding by Fulton negates a one yard run - Net 11 yard loss
2. False start Eric Fisher - five yard loss
3. Holding by Fisher negates a one yard sack - Net nine yard loss
4. Illegal Block by Ross Travis negates a 13 yard punt return - Net 23 yard loss
5. Holding by Kelce negates a 13 yard run - Net 20 yard loss (spot foul)
6. Imaginary hold on kickoff negates 106 yard kick return - 110 yard loss
7. False start Schwartz - five yard loss
8. False start Fulton - five yard loss

Total yards lost by penalties on special teams and offense: 188

Turnovers

The Chiefs turned the ball over three times, each of them fumbles.

1. Bad snap fumble - Net loss of 17 yards
2. Spencer Ware fumble - Net loss of 46 yards
3. Alex Smith fumble - Net loss of five yards

Total yards lost by turnovers: 68 yards.

The bad snap and the Alex Smith fumbles took place in Chiefs territory. If the Chiefs were able to punt the ball in those two scenarios it could have drastically changed the outcome of the game.

Negative scrimmage plays

Aside from the turnovers and fumbles, the Chiefs had six other plays that went for negative yardage.

1. Tyreek Hill run - Loss of one yard
2. Alex Smith sack - Loss of four yards
3. Alex Smith sack - Loss of two yards
4. Alex Smith sack - Loss of eight yards
5. Charcandrick West run - Loss of one yard
6. Pass to Maclin - Loss of one yard

Total yards lost by negative scrimmage plays: 17 yards.

Dropped passes

I caught a total of three passes that should have been caught. Some others were questionable, but these are the three I am going with.

Maclin dropped pass - Would have been 15 yards.

This pass would have gone for 22 yards if it had been caught. I hate showing these Maclin drops because he was obviously going through a lot before the Texans game. We should give Maclin a free pass on this one.

The last dropped pass came from the Demetrius Harris catch / fumble / drop. I think the ball should have been hauled in and it would have gone for a 32 yard gain or so.

Total ungained yards due to dropped passes: 64 yards.

Adding it all up

If you take all the Chiefs mishaps on offense and special teams it accounts for 342 total yards. In comparison, the Chiefs had 291 yards of total offense against the Texans.

The 342 yard total excludes yards the Chiefs offense would have helped the defense with by punting the ball. There is no reason the Chiefs should have even been in this game, and if the Chiefs want to be in any games going forward they will have to clean up their act.

Week 2 has been unkind to the Chiefs the past two years.

Note: On Twitter I counted 319 yards, but after the recount it turned out to be 342.