Chiefs Waste Good Defensive Effort
From Arrowhead Stadium
Defense has been a problem for the Chiefs for the last few years.
Think back to a year ago in the second week of the season when the Oakland Raiders ran for 300 yards against the Kansas City defense. It was the biggest reason the Raiders walked away with their second straight Arrowhead victory.
They got their third straight on Sunday, but it wasn’t because of the Chiefs defense. With brief exception, the guys in red and gold did a great job on the Raiders attack. They made QB JaMarcus Russell look horrible. They made RB Darren McFadden look ordinary and they did not allow any of the Oakland receivers to make a dent in the defense.
It was a top notch defense effort that was wasted.
“It hurts; it’s so tough,” said CB Brandon Flowers. “We felt like we played well. That’s why it hurts so bad, we played the whole game and for them to come out in that last drive and put points on the board … ”
Flowers did not finish his thought, just as the Chiefs defense did not finish off the Raiders. Oakland took over down by four points with 2 minutes, 38 seconds to play in the game. Russell brought his team out of the huddle at their 31-yard line. At this point, the Raiders had less than 100 yards in total offense. They had yet to crack the Chiefs 30-yard line. In Baltimore, the defense couldn’t get off the field on third down, but up to that point, they had allowed the Raiders just two first downs in 12 attempts.
But suddenly the Raiders got things moving, even though they kept hurting themselves with false start penalties, three at all in the drive. But Russell found WR Louis Murphy for 19 yards. Russell was sacked, but the officials flagged DE Wallace Gilberry for a personal foul on the play, giving Oakland 15 valuable yards.
From that point, Russell hit McFadden for 11 yards, then later WR Todd Watkins for 28 yards and McFadden again for nine yards. On 2nd-and-goal at the Chiefs five-yard line, McFadden took a pitch left and scored the winning points easily.
“It comes down again to we had a third down play and we couldn’t get off the field,” said LB Monty Beisel. “They hit us for that one (Watkins’ 28-yard catch) and that put them in position to score.”
Haley pointed to the penalty as the big problem in that last Raiders drive.
“They made plays at the end and we had chances at the end to come back and to potentially score a touchdown or kick a field goal to win or tie and we didn’t do it.”
So much about what the Chiefs did defensively was good:
- They allowed Oakland just 67 yards rushing, and held McFadden to 35 yards. The Raiders longest run of the game was 10 yards.
- Russell was harassed into a passer rating of 46, as he hit just seven of 24 for 109 yards. The Chiefs had two sacks.
- Oakland had 11 possessions and seven of those were three plays and out. The Raiders had only 11 first downs.
- They finished up holding the Raiders to 23 percent on third down, allowing a first down just three of 13 plays.
“Oakland had a good drive, that’s all I’m going to say,” Flowers said. “They made plays; you can’t do anything about that. They made plays and we didn’t.”
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Time to rip. Haley is not the brightest bulb in the lightbank for his game management and play calling. The defense held their own all game right up until the time they were needed most, at game’s end and came a cropper.
If the Chiefs can’t beat a QB like Russell who was, in the words of Al Pacino in the movie ‘Any Given Sunday’, having receivers open in Missouri but he was flying passes to Iowa, just what kind of record do these Chiefs hope to obtain in 2009?
Matching Detroit from 2008? It’s been said that it’s always darkest just before the dawn. You’ve heard that one? If the Chief’s fortunes got any darker after this abysmal performace against Oakland, we’re going to have to create a new word that’s darker than black.
Bottom line defense took their foot off the gas once Cassell threw that touchdown to Bowe. I also heard Flowers mention he thought they had the game. NO NO NO. You never think you have anything you go out there and win the game. The defense just thought Russell would give them the game and he stepped up and made them pay. Until this team learns how to play 60 minutes of football regardless of the score it will continue to lose these close games.
Losing is a habit. When you expect to lose, you usually do. How many of these guys really expect to win a game? It will be even harder now. You can’t own a team any more than how they owned Oakland, but still lost. Not sure where you go from there.
Well with all the winners that Haley and Pioli brought in the team should be winners, Vrabel wouldn’t allow this team to have players that don’t want to win, being brought in for his leadership ability and winning personality.. i thought that the chiefs offense looked worse than last weeks offense. 1 thing I noticed about Cassell was that he was way to quick to pull the ball down and run for it, there were times when he wasn’t being pressured that he could have stayed in the pocket and threw it, but then again when you throw two interceptions in a game to the same person I guess it’s better to run…
Monty Biesel had a rough game. Inexcusable mistake on punt coverage and he missed a critical sack on Oakland’s last drive.
He is a veteran and was brought in for his special teams ability. Giving Oakland the ball on the 20 versus the 4 or 5 yard line is huge.
Biesel is better than that but the only thing hurt by the missed downed punt was Colquit’s stats. The Raiders didn’t do anything with the ball and their punter makes up for field position.
It was the same old story with our defense. The offense gave them a lead and it was their game to win. But as usual the HC clutched and so did the D. They played not to lose and they did just that. Last year Herm took all kinds of heat for that approach. I haven’t heard much criticism going out the Haley just yet.
Anyone notice the game Tank had? He was constantly disrupting the Raider line and causing havoc. If that continues, it’s a precursor to really good things.
Yeah Tank and Dorsey had good games. Cassell was rusty. The defense played very good compared to how they played against Oakland last year. This Sunday I expect Cassell will be sharper and LJ to go over 100 yards. I also expect the defense to continue to get better. WE should steal this in PHILLY with no McNabb. ONLY IF the team learns to play for 60 minutes.
PHIL 38 chiefs 13