One Play That Worked

From Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

There was no Wildcat in the Chiefs offensive attack on Sunday against the Eagles.

But there was a little football hocus pocus, and it turned out to be their best play of the day.

Calling the 26-yard pass from WR Mark Bradley to RB Jamaal Charles the Chiefs best offensive play is damning the 26-yard gain with faint praise. Other than a 13-yard TD throw from QB Matt Cassel to Bradley and a nine-yard scoring pass to WR Bobby Wade, it was the only other significant play of the game.

Todd Haley reached into the offensive fun box in the second quarter and kept the Chiefs in the game, albeit for only a few seconds. On a 2nd-and-17 play at their own 48-yard line, Cassel took the snap and threw wide to the left for Bradley, who was behind the line of scrimmage, making it a lateral. Bradley then ran to his right behind a blocker and threw a rainbow down field where Charles was able to make the catch before the ball bounced off the grass field.

It was three players later that the Chiefs scored their first touchdown of the game. Momentum had swung to the Chiefs.

“I think that play was we wanted to get the offense going out there,” said Charles. “When a play like that happens it just gets the whole offense excited. I think at the time it jump started the offense to score.”

But the Eagles came right back and QB Kevin Kolb connected with WR DeSean Jackson on a 64-yard TD that returned Philadelphia’s lead to 14 points.

The Chiefs were never in the game after that. The biggest factor was the offense’s inability to get anything in the way of consistency going against the Eagles defense. Kansas City’s offense had 12 possessions and only three lasted longer than five plays, with none more than eight. They went three plays and out seven times.

“We tried to make some offensive plays out wide, but it was just a tough day for us,” said Bradley. “We have to just start communicating better from the front line to the quarterback and us as receivers. We have to start getting on the same page and make some plays.”

Third-down conversion was a familiar problem for the Chiefs offense. They were an unbelievable ugly zero for 11. Let us count the ways on the 13 third down snaps the Chiefs had in the game:

• 3rd-and-5 – Eagles DE Darren Howard called for offsides, giving the Chiefs a first down by penalty.
• 3rd-and-25 – Cassel was sacked by DE Juqua Parker for a loss of 10 yards.
• 3rd-and-10 – Cassel and Bradley connect, but for just six yards.
• 3rd-and-13 – Cassel connects with Charles, but for only two yards.
• 3rd-and-6 – Cassel incomplete to WR Terrance Copper; a holding call on C Rudy Niswanger was declined.
• 3rd-and-1 – Cassel was sacked by DEs Trent Cole and Chris Clemons for a loss of nine yards.
• 3rd-and-10 – Charles runs right for nine yards, but RT Ikechuku Ndukwe is called for holding.
• 3rd-and-20 – Charles runs at left tackle for six yards.
• 3rd-and-1 – Cassel takes a QB sneak but loses a yard.
• 3rd-and-13 – Charles runs for four yards.
• 3rd-and-1 – Cassel’s pass to Wade is incomplete.
• 3rd-and-10 – Johnson gets a direct snap and runs for no gain.
• 3rd-and-13 – Cassel throws six yards to Charles.

Going into the game, Haley had talked to his team about answering Philadelphia points with points of their own. That did not happen.

“It’s a mute point to even talk about right now because when they are moving the ball like they were and we were unable to get out of our own way, you know, it’s is going to be a fight,” said Haley.

Cassel wanted to make sure to give plenty of credit to the Eagles.

“I thought they did a great job with us today, mixing up their defensive schemes,” said Cassel. “They brought heavy pressure and normally it was more than we could block and that’s what they try to do. They did a good job so hats go off to them.”

As offensive coordinator, Haley must go back to the drawing board. In three games his team is seven of 36 on third down conversions. They are averaging 264 yards per game. They have given up eight sacks. They are averaging just 6.5 yards per passing attempt.

None of that is good when it comes to offense. There is a lot to fix.

“We can’t have penalties, we cannot stay in third and long,” Haley said. “Protection, I would say was a problem. When we have guys coming free then we are not doing a good enough job protecting and we are not doing a good enough job of getting the ball into the receivers who are open. We have to be better on third down to have any kind of chance.”