Chiefs Fail In All Phases In Loss To Browns
From Arrowhead Stadium
Combine 491 offensive yards with a plus-2 margin in the turnovers, and Matt Cassel posting a 99.1 passer rating and Jamaal Charles running for 154 yards and those should be the plot elements to a big Chiefs victory.
But in this disaster of a 2009 season all those positives were just part of another negative. The Cleveland Browns came to Arrowhead and went back home with their third victory of the season, 41-34.
How do the Chiefs lose a game with those kinds of accomplishments? It happens when they can’t stop the running game and give up not one, but two kickoff returns for touchdowns. Cleveland ran for 351 yards and RB Jerome Harrison finished with 286 yards on 34 carries. That’s the third best rushing performance in the history of the NFL and the best in Browns history, topping anything that the great Jim Brown did during his Hall of Fame career.
Cleveland’s best weapon is WR-KR-RB-QB Joshua Cribbs and scored on kickoff returns of 100 and 103 yards, giving him eight for his career, more than anybody in the history of the game.
And the Chiefs dropped a minimum of nine passes during the game, five of which were on third down and would have moved the sticks.
“Defensively you’ve got to stop the run,” said head coach Todd Haley. “Special teams you’ve got to cover and on offense when you are throwing the ball, you gotta catch it. We gave up 351 rushing yards, we allowed two kickoff return TDs and we dropped nine passes.
“It’s a very disappointing outcome with very clear-cut reasons for the outcome.”
The outcome left both teams 3-11 on the season. For the Browns, it’s two consecutive victories now, as they seem to be growing as a team right here at the end of the season.
For the Chiefs, it’s rock bottom. It truly can’t get any worse than what’s happened over the last three weeks. They came home from San Diego three weeks ago and had a three-game home stand where they could establish they were improving as a football team.
But the loss to the Browns made them 0-3 on their stay at home. They lost 101-57 in those three games.
“It’s very disappointing,” said QB Matt Cassel. “We came home trying to build some momentum with these three home games.”
It didn’t happen. Momentum has left the Chiefs, if it every really arrived in their zip code. After a two-game win streak with victories over Oakland and Pittsburgh, they’ve now lost four in a row. There are two more weeks to go. It could be a long 14 days.
The game started as so many have this season for the Chiefs: they got behind early. The Browns went down and put three points on the board with their first possession, as K Phil Dawson nailed a 47-yard FG ending a 12-play, 46-yard drive that featured four first downs.
As has been there custom this season, the Chiefs got nothing on their first offensive possession. They did get a pair of first downs, but then FB Tim Castille fumbled and the ball was recovered by Cleveland’s Matt Roth at the Browns 42-yard line.
But the Chiefs defense got the ball back, forcing the first of three takeaways as CB Brandon Carr intercepted a badly overthrown pass by Cleveland QB Brady Quinn and then returned it 31 yards. That set up the KC offense at the Browns 49-yard line.
Cassel hooked up with WR Chris Chambers for the first of several long completions, hitting a 31-yard play, but the drive stalled and K Ryan Succop hit a 30-yard FG to tie the game at 3-3.
It stayed that way for just 16 seconds, as Cribbs grabbed Succop’s kickoff at the goal line, broke three tackles and went 100 yards for his seventh career kickoff return TD, the most in the history of the NFL. Dawson’s PAT kick gave the Browns a 10-3 lead.
Dawson added a 30-yard FG early in the second quarter that gave the Browns a 10-point lead.
That’s when the Chiefs came alive and scored the next 21 points, to go from being down by 10 points, to being up by 11 points.
First, Cassel and Chambers combined on a nine-yard TD pass, capping a six-play, 72-yard drive. Then, Charles broke loose on a 47-yard TD run where he outran the Cleveland defense for the last 30 yards. And the special teams got a touchdown back, as a wayward punt snap rolled into the end zone and was recovered by LB Andy Studebaker for a touchdown.
Now, the Chiefs led 24-13, their biggest lead of the 2009 season. But it lasted for just 13 seconds. Cribbs struck again, this time going untouched for 103 yards and his second return TD of the game, third of the season and the eighth of his career.
The half ended with the Chiefs holding a 24-20 lead. That’s the fourth time in 14 games they held a lead at intermission. They won two of the games.
Cleveland grabbed the lead early in the third quarter on a 71-yard TD run by Harrison. Dawson’s PAT kick made it 27-24 for the Browns.
The rest of the third quarter turned into a punt fest as neither offense could keep anything going until early in the fourth period when Harrison scored again, this time on an eight-yard run. The PAT gave Cleveland a 34-24 edge, their second 10-point lead of the game.
The Chiefs came back and Succop made a 27-yard FG to end an 11-play, 64-yard drive where again Cassel and Chambers hooked up on a 30-yard play.
Trailing by three points, the Chiefs got the ball back after Dawson missed a 52-yard FG attempt and Cassel drove them to a score, finding WR Mark Bradley in the end zone on a fourth-and-six play at the Cleveland 12-yard line.
Succop’s PAT kick set the score at 34-34 with two minutes, 20 seconds to play. The Browns needed just 96 seconds to score the game winner, as Harrison scored on a 28-yard run with just 44 seconds on the clock.
Cassel actually got the Chiefs into Browns territory, hitting Bradley for 33 yards and then seven yards, and finding Bowe for a 15-yard gain. With a first-and-10 at the Browns 26-yard line, Cassel threw up a rainbow into the back of the end zone that went incomplete as the game ended.
“We played good football at times and at other times we didn’t play that good of football,” said Cassel. “We just have to keep building on the stuff that we’re doing well and try to fix the stuff we’re not doing.”
The time is running out to fix the stuff they are not doing.
i said it once i said it 2wice hell a million time’s…haey coaching is like Guns…Cassel talent is like Grbac..you guys wanna blame Cp ..& HE for the mess…that has been cast up on us..well they are last years blame ..dont say left over’s..damage the true fact is Haley is not the man ..is never gonna be the man …this will happen for the next 3 yrs..he will never get us to 8&8 and if you thinking playoffs..it will not be with him..this game showed enuff..we stink and they stunk..and now we know who the stinkier of the two is..to many prob’s to fix within..it’s like a old used car..it will run great once you change a hell of a lot of parts..but you have to know what need’s replacing….die hard fan my azz..i have baby milk to buy instead of going to the game’s..there was a time when i would give my kid juice for the chiefs!! the BROWNS !! come on
and by the way Quinn didnt throw over 60 yards…no D ..a little O..LMAO..
This team reminds me of the K State teams before Bill Synder arrived. The only difference I see is those K State team would probably beat this KC team. What a joke.
If they try to say that Tyson Jackson gave a professional effort in this game, then its a snow job. I watched him alone on at least 25 snaps + many of the replays. This guy had no hear today. He obviously has the physical skills. What he doesn’t have is the “fire” to play…the “want to”. Like many of these LSU guys, they cash checks…
Our inside LBs are HORRIBLE at coming downhill to FILL the hole! They get to the gap & stand there allowing ball carriers to cut up in there & give them a move. The other fundamental they’re HORRIBLE at is taking on, then shedding a blocker. This has been a consistent issue throughout the year. Our safeties aren’t much better at shedding blocks either.
Those two linebacking fundamentals, from mainly the inside guys, is an embarrassing display unworthy of being labeled a professional effort.
Red Robin everytime i read your blog it shows how you truly no nothing about football. Everyteam Parcells ever left went on to have success even after he was gone. Why because he left a good roster in place. He left good players that could help the next coach. As for Haley/Pioli reality is reality. CP as you call him and Herm left the cupboard bare with talent. If we live by your theory I guess the Rams need to fire Spags because its his fault the don’t have any talent in St. Louis either.
Bottom line this team don’t have enough talented players on both sides of the ball. from 01 to 04 we don’t even have any draft picks on the team from those years. Which speaks to how poorly run this organization has been. We’ll bounce back next yr with another offseason for Pioli to improve the roster and us getting a offensive and a defensive coordinator.
I agree ED! It will take some time, but I believe we will see results with Haley & Pioli.
Ed talks so much out of both sides of his mouth that it is hard to tell what he knows. If we all posted the way he does none of us would ever be wrong about anything.
[...] 12.20 - Chiefs Fail In All Phases In Loss To Browns [...]
Did any one ever thought that this thing would turn around in one year ? Then something is wrong with your thinking I listened to Jack Harry and Danny Clinkscale post game and this guy called the show crying about why Pioli did not go out and make a quick fixes like the Dolphins and Falcons did last year after having a bad year the year before.How they turn it around in one year well I was going to call the show and tell him what are the Falcons and the Dolphins are doing this year they will be at home with the Chiefs this year.What I am saying is that if you thought that this team will be in the playoff hunt this year well you set yourself up for major disappointment. I thought this team would be between 3-13 and 6-10. After taking over a team that was terrible the last couple of years I knew this year was a stinker from the start. Again we cannot cry fire Pioli and Haley after one year this team has so many holes at some key positions such as the guys upfront on both sides of the ball. I am going to give them two years and then bring the noise!!!In the meantime I will be patient.
ED you will be saying the same thing this year and next 3 to come..the Kc chiefs are the new brown’s..talent has nothing to do with playing hard effort ball when you get a big fat azz check bottom line!! ..hell i would be a crazy man when my helment got put on.,,,so Ed i guess ill see you next week saying wait until next year…the CIC…right hand man he isnt the RIGHT FIT …he has no talent either so what do that say ED!! ..I mEAn DoRk..
Wow. Why is the run defense getting worse? Is Clancy properly preparing his defensive game plan? Or was the Brown’s O line just dominating? From what I saw on TV the Brown’s O line was just plain dominating the Chiefs. The only bright spot on D yesterday was the defensive backs (the Brandons).
Special Teams game plan was retarded as well. After the first return for TD kick the ball somewhere else. They were just asking for it kicking it to Cribbs again. I guess they learned after the second time.
Haley did do a little better yesterday except I thought the last play of game was a bad move.They should have either ran real routes or threw a quick route to the sideline, then ran a real play.
TE Jake O’Connell needs to be cut. He hasn’t caught one pass thrown to him all year. Meanwhile Brad Cottam was inactive for many games this year. One that really sticks out was the Raiders game where O’Connell dropped a couple at crucial times.
Matt looked better. I think they had the proper receivers active yesterday. Chambers is certainly a bright spot as is Jamaal.
It was funny when Bradley made that last touchdown and Pope went in the end-zone to celebrate with him. Bradley looked like a dwarf compared to Pope.
I have watched the last couple of games expecting to lose. When you do that it doesn’t hurt as bad…
I agree with Scott C that o” Connell needs to go asap. If they need another TE to block then they need to stop considering him as a receiver. The dropped passes yesterday doomed the team to the loss.
The defense couldn’t stop their nose from running yesterday, let alone some no-name RBs from Cleveland. Get Pendergast out of there as soon as they get off the plane from Denver and start looking for a new DC. Haley needs to swallow his freakin pride and get an OC in here so he can concentrate on HC duties.
If they can make those changes this spring, and get some talent out of the draft/free agency, then we might be somewhat competitive next fall.
My 2¢.
Fire Haley. He’s a joke. For that matter so is Pioli.
I think that the players do not like Pendergrast at all. Because why else would you give up all that yardage . They hate the scheme and it showed on Sunday . Yes clean house on your whole defensive staff after the season . Just think what Larry Johnson,Cedric Benson,Buckwalter,Moreno are going to do the next two games. This is going to be a onslaught!!!!