The Kansas City Chiefs won by 21 points and had eight turnovers. In a game like this the postgame stories are usually a little more light-hearted because the Chiefs won by so much. That’s why no good questions immediately popped into my head during Alex Smith’s postgame press conference. Near the end however I did get a couple of questions in.
I asked Alex if Sunday’s game against the Jets should be considered a step forward for a Chiefs offense that has struggled more than anticipated this season.
“Yeah, we’ll see. Don’t quote me right now,” Alex said before I, uh, quoted him on it. “I thought it was better – I did. I thought it was better than last week. I thought we got into rhythm. I thought we stretched the field vertically, I thought we stretch the field horizontally. I mean I thought we spread the ball around to a bunch of different people. We didn’t let them box us in with one, or two guys or anything like that. So, I thought that was better. We were better on third down, especially in the first half.”
Third downs were huge: 7-of-15 in this game. The Chiefs were more balanced overall because they weren’t losing and forced to be one dimensional. Like Houston, they weren’t getting the results they wanted (touchdowns) but they looked better.
Alex also admitted that there were some plays he would want back.
“Like I said, I thought there was some key moments that stick out to me right now: the fourth and one, the goal line play, we had a third down play that Chris (Conley) and I missed. So, all of a sudden, you have three plays.”
We’re going to forget that halfway through the fourth quarter that this was a 14-point game with the Jets inside the 10-yard line. The blowout wasn’t secure until after that ensuing interception.
I also asked Alex if there was any bittersweet feeling that they got eight turnovers but only 24 points.
“Oh, it’s a win,” Alex said. “To be honest, I could care less of style points. This isn’t the BCS – nobody cares what you win by. We won and got a W. We’ll enjoy it and get ready for next week.”