(sigh) Here We Go…
If you want in-depth analysis of the game as far as play by play goes you should probably read another article, what I’m going to give you is off the cuff pure, raw emotion following the game. I figured it would be something a little different from the same old “write an article about something every week” thing I’ve been doing. Just giving my emotional rambling, good or bad, right after the game. I’m sure many will disagree, but I think more than a couple will agree.
I have to put the lion’s share of the blame on Chan Gailey’s shoulders for this loss. He put a collar around Brodie Croyle and wouldn’t let him be a quarterback up until the time he got injured. He should have allowed him to pass the ball more downfield instead of turning around and handing if off to LJ every time. It was fairly obvious that New England was keying on LJ. Sad to see the coordinator not let his players play. I’m a little frustrated with Gailey, everyone was “hush hush” during the preseason about what the real Chiefs offense was going to look like. If this is it, then we are really going to be in for a long season
The hit on Tom Brady by Pollard should have been a flag, it was a cheap shot. The rule that was brought into effect by the NFL was ironically put into the game due to the hit current New England Patriot Rodney Harrison levied on then quarterback of the St. Louis Rams Trent Green. A defender cannot hit a quarterback below the knees. Pollard was on the ground and lunged for Tom Brady below the knee, it was cheap, bordering on dirty and I’m disappointed by it. I wouldn’t be surprised is the NFL fines Pollard this coming week for that hit. Whether the moment got to him and he was just trying to get to “Tom Terrific” as Dan Dierdorf called him, or not, he should have made some sort of an attempt to get off the turf before hitting him.
Even though he caught a TD Dwayne Bowe was a huge disappointment in my eyes, he dropped at least 4 balls one of which would have tied the game(presuming Novak makes the point after) late in fourth quarter. He needs to step it up a bit, all we heard in the preseason and training camp was how unstoppable he was and how he was catching everything in site, well today he proved that was just a mirage a cruel joke if you will. This is a quote from the Chiefs homepage
The Bowe Show: WR Dwayne Bowe registered his first TD of the season and the sixth of his career on a 13-yard pass from QB Damon Huard.
They make that sound like it’s a good thing, the real show was him dropping passes in critical situations. Maybe he can chalk it up to first game gitters, but I can’t.
LT Branden Albert played exceptionally well, especially considering he missed most of the preseason. It is very encouraging to see him perform at a high level with limited time to prepare. On the other hand…
Damion McIntosh needs to be put on the bench. If this is the best the Chiefs have to offer at the right tackle spot then they need to sign someone off the street. Damion got burned almost every play, it was embarrassing and there is absolutely no excuse for it, I think Barry Richardson or perhaps you out there in Chiefsdom should get a chance next week against Oakland.
Bottom line was the Chiefs D made Matt Cassell a career back up in college and in the pro’s look like a pro bowler at times. If Tom Brady would have stayed in the entire game, the score would have been 49-10. The Chiefs had a chance to win the game late and Dwayne Bowe dropped a TD in his hands that would have tied the game. It’s unfortunate, but the Chiefs didn’t get beat as bad as many predicted, hopefully they can build off of this and beat the Radiers.
Oh well, there is always next week.
Speaking of next week, it’s the Oakland Raiders at home in Arrowhead. I hope the Chiefs can take a little bit away from the loss at New England, they showed the world and more importantly themselves that they can play in the NFL. The Raiders don’t play unitl Monday night so I can’t give you my opinion on what the Raiders look like. I can only hope the Chiefs D grows a little and maybe we see why Pat Thomas was handed the starting gig over Napoleon Harris. OK, I admit, that was a little bit of a cheap shot, but honestly, did anyone see Pat Thomas make a play or hear his name called? Just curious.
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let me just say before I catch all kinds of hell for the Benard Pollard comment. I’m not the only one who thought it was a cheap shot. I’m watching sports center as I type this and they ask Benard about the hit. He said he was apologizing to Tom Brady while Tom Terffic was on the ground and Tom didn’t acknowledge his apologies.
Now answer why would he be aplogizing for a good clean hit?
OK, fire away.
Pollard did what any player in the nfl would of done in that situation. He was playing the game of football and in no way was hit tackle “dirty” or “cheap”. Firstly, this is only in discussion because Brady got injured. This type of tackle happens all the time and its just part of the game.
Watch the footage, Firstly the running back was forcing pollard to the ground. He was trying to make a block. Pollard was trying to make a tackle. It just so happens the point of impact was low. This reminds me exactly of the hit Trent Green took a few seasons ago. You remember the head clash with the bengals guy. He did not mean it but kennison blocked him into green and it was just an unfortunet hit. These things happen, its a contact spot.
Secondly, Brady steps up into the pocket. He plants his leg right in the path of the blitzing Pollard. Again, If he was a few inches higher or lower, a few inches closer or further away, a whole differant scenerio all together.
Everyone is going to want to make a fuss of this because it was Tom Brady, but this happens all the time. It doesnt always result in injury but that is the risk a QB always faces in the pocket. You guys remember the hit carson parmer took a few seasons ago. Exact same scenerio. Blitzing defender going for the sack, gets blocked, has to much weight on his back and unfortunetly makes contact with the knee. Its a shame, but thats sports.
I seem to remember there was a defender on Pollards back and he WAS trying to get up and make a tackle but the defender kept him low. No if you want to see a dirty hit look up Wilforks hit on Losman.
First off- the hit wasn’t dirty. I’m re-watching the play RIGHT NOW as I’m typing this, I just watched it about 10 times, and it’s replaying right now, and the RB made a nice block, forced Pollard to the ground, Pollard then tries scrambling to his feet, quicklike, but he is consistently putting weight on him and shoving him into the ground.. Pollard was being pushed to the ground, while being on hands and knees basically, and saw a QB with the ball in his hand just in front of him, planting his leg right in front of him. If it was physically possible for him to get up and THEN hit Tom, before he threw the ball, then I have no doubt that’s what he would have done. Can’t blame the guy for trying to get a sack. It happens. Again, like we’ve said, it’s a contact sport. Injuries happen. Just because if was Tommy doesn’t mean it was cheap. Randy Moss can suck a fat one, after what he said. He’s the only one so far (besides you, Steve) that I’ve heard say it was a cheap shot. And I’ve been up all night watching highlights/sports shows/Mike and Mike. Yay insomnia.
Of course he is apologizing. Why do you think he did it, because it was a cheap shot? No, because everyone knows what kind of turmoil these guys go through to play the game at a high level. When someone is on the ground writhing in pain (which is why he didn’t answer, by the way) of course you’re going to feel regret at making that play. All that time spent training for that guy is now moot. He’s probably done for the season, of course he’s going to apologize.
You said: ‘If Tom Brady would have stayed in the entire game, the score would have been 49-10.’
Really? I find that interesting, as when he was still in.. With 7:something minutes left in the first quarter, the score was… 0-0. We had already made a good turnover, and on the play Brady got hurt, we also got another fumble recovery. Brady had decent stats, but we have a ‘bend but don’t break’ defense, and have had that for quite a few years now. We can speculate alot of things.. I’ll even go as far as to say ‘If Chan had let our offense run in 5th gear, instead of idling in 1st gear (opening up the playbook, instead of being a conservative yella’belly) then we would have won 28-17, easy. We can speculate ’till the cows come home. But it just didn’t happen that way.
You’re just plain wrong about Pollards hit on Brady being a dirty one. The league has already ruled that it was a clean hit.
I also disagree that the only reason we weren’t blown out was because Brady was hurt. The score may have been different, but our defense played well and deserve credit, not excuses.
Interesting write up stevenh.
I agree with all the other commenters here, Pollards hit was not dirty. It seems that only you, Moss and all the Media Patsie lovers think it was dirty.
DBowe was disappointing. I would expect that kind of play out of our first year receivers. Albert did look good but I want to see him in action against a 4-3.
DMac needs to leave…soon. It was sad to see him kept in there sucking it up for so long. I, too was disappointed to see few passes thrown down field. Let Brodie use that strong arm of his.
As for your comment on Pat Thomas…I did hear his name called but only when he whiffed on Maroney and got juked out of his jock by Cassell.
The League Office states that the Pollard hit on Brady was within the rules and that the officiating was done correctly. Translation: Not a cheap shot.
Am I the only one who thinks that Pollard was being absolutely hogtied on that block? As I watched the replay over and over again I kept focusing on the back’s arm around Pollard’s neck and BP STILL got through.
I agree that we have a big problem at right tackle.
This team is not nearly as bad as everyone thinks. The fact that our D-Line flashed several times against one of the best O-Lines in the league should be making us all very excited.
Assuming, of course, that we can get a QB. (sigh)
I expect to hear allegations about a cheap shot from the talking heads on Eastern Seaboard Propaganda Network, but not on a fanblog dedicated to our beloved Chiefs. The shot was clean. Unfortunate, but clean. I say unfortunate because I really believe that we would’ve done better if Brady played the whole game. We were prepared to play against Brady, and eventhough the D had studied some Matt Cassel, he had the benefit of plenty of preseason reps and was more prepared for the game.
There’s been a lot of, IMHO, unfair criticism of Chan’s playcalling. Guess what folks? Even if you’re not running the ball effectively and opening up holes, you have to keep running it in order to open up the pass. Not taking enough downfield shots? We had a good mix of run and pass and we weren’t running R2P2 offense like last season. The failure wasn’t the playcalling, it was the execution, especially by D-Bowe. Once the Pats saw that D-Bowe was gonna drop, drop it like its hot, they doubled Tony. Tony saved a man’s life with the Heimlich in the offseason, but he should’ve performed one on Bowe because “Mr. Awesome” was choking. Dropped a big third down conversion, dropped a little dinky screen pass, and dropped the OT. Would you waste a down throwing it deep to a receiver having a bad day who is not making his routine catches? Also, once Brodie went out and Huard came in, you lose your ability to challange downfield. I think we were trying to establish the short game early to keep them at the line of scrimmage (but we also had a good amount of mid-range pass attempts) so that we could nail them on the deep threat in the second half, but we lost the arm that could deliver said deep threat. That changed a lot of what we planned on doing. If there was a big problem that we should take out of this game, it is run defense. We were giving up chunks of yards to average at best RBs (I consider Maroney average). If we play that poorly against the run next week, we will lose. The Raiders have a triceratops of quality RBs.
The last thing I have to point out is Herm Edwards’ in-game coaching. Where was the challange on that potential safety? You took a timeout, when you could’ve used a challenge and ended up with a timeout even if you lose the challange. Then, coming out of the TO, the Pats hit a bomb over a hapless Surtain (piss poor coverage, looked like a confused child). Now I can’t fault Herm for Surtain’s whiff of a play, but you really have to tell your guys to expect that kinda thing and not give it up. How a guy can get blown past when he’s giving 12 yards at the line of scrimmage is beyond me. We should’ve had Flowers on him, and our safeties have to lay the wood on any bomb over the top like that. Either way, if we challenge that spot and get the safety and the ball back, that game would have been ours.
What ever happened to Byron Leftwich? How about this. Chiefs heal up Kolby Smith and offer him up to Seattle for Seneca Wallace. I don’t think Julius Jones is a very good running back and Seattle at least has a functional line with a functional back.
I tend to define a “cheap shot” as one where one player actually tries to hurt another player. The closest thing to a cheap shot that I saw yesterday was the hit that Adalius Thomas’ used to take Croyle out of the game. Even though it was a “legal” hit, Thomas brought it with such force that there cannot be any doubt that Thomas had every intention of making sure that Brodie felt it. In the end, nobody really cares or talks much about Thomas’ hit because, well, Brodie is not Brady.
I’m still really pissed about this game. We could have won it and should have. I can’t get that out of head and won’t for a while.
The bright points for me were how well Brodie played. I thought he looked “franchise QB” great in spite of the fact that the playcalling totally sucked. I also thought Tony, DJ, Tamba, Boone, Charles, Cox, and our secondary all looked pretty good considering who we were up against.
The lowest of the low points? Dwayne Bowe. He should consider changing his nickname from “The Show” to either “No Show” or “B Movie.” Nobody did more to make our offense look bad. Nobody did more to lose the game for us. Seriously.
I can come up with only two possible explanations as to why our supposed #1 receiver looked so bad. 1) Bellichek bribed him or 2) Bowe was showing us the Sippio side of the family.
I loved DVD’s big catch but I thought the dude was supposed to come equipped with wheels. No reason why a speed receiver shouldn’t have been able to take that one in. Did Brad Cottam suit up or was he out injured? I don’t recall ever seeing him play and we sure could have used him.
I pretty much agree with most everything else you say Steven. Very unsettling to see we’re right back to run, run, pass, punt. I had much higher expectations for Chan Gailey.
I will be both happy and excited when Brodie Croyle, Will Franklin, and Kolby Smith return to the line up. Even though I hate the fact that we lost, I believe we at least showed that we can compete with (and almost beat) the best in their house. I’m sticking with my earlier prediction about the Chiefs by saying no way we shouldn’t win somewhere between 7 and 10 games this year.
Also a Gradkowski?
No way in hell that was a cheap shot. I am disappointed that you think so.
I agree with you on BOWE. Jason Whitlock agreed too.
Agreed on Pat Thomas.
I would venture to say that its 2 to 1 that Stevenh lost his fantasy starter over the weekend.
True that on Bowe.
Kolby Smith for Seneca Wallace? Please dude. We cut a black midget QB named Printers already. Plus, Kolby is worth more than a third string QB. Especially one that played at Iowa St.
Please dude. He’s showed more talent than any QB on our roster and plus what do u expect to get out of Smith a 4th round pick for a third string running back?
Unfortunate shot yes – cheap shot no.
Playcalling – we should have been sealing Vrabel and getting JamCharles or LJ outside. We did that very little and it was there for much of the game.
I hope DBowe improves. If not, this will be a long season.
Leftwich is with the Steelers. Quinn Gray is available – Herm could talk to Coach Dungy about him since the Colts had him for much of the summer. The Colts also had Jload (backed up Eli last year) most of the summer- he’s as big as a house but he was every bit the qb as Woodsen at Kentucky.
Double D I agree with ya about the chiefs winning 7 to 10 games..Anyone see the Chargers game? How awesome was that..
Gailey and Bowe deserve all of the credit for this loss..The offense was supposed to be different. What happened to throwing balls down field? Balance? Boot Legs? LJ always does well with tosses, yet we kept running the poor guy up the middle..I wish they’d take the diapers off of Brodie and just let the kid throw the damn ball down the field because if we’re not going to let him do that, I’d rather have Huard in there..Brodies strength is his arm, let him use it..If Brodie gets injured again after he comes back, I’m thinking the chiefs are going after a qb in the 1st or 2nd round next year
Definitely not a cheap shot. I watched it at least a dozen times and he was just playing football. Stuff happens. I thought our D played great yesterday, and I can’t wait to see them next week. As for the hit on Croyle, something can be said for the Pat’s D having it a hit out on him. He surely didn’t need to drive him to the ground like that, the ball was out. But hey, thats football. And they no doubt had an idea of how severe the injury was by that point, Brady’s season might be over.
Let’s hope that Gailey wiped the dust off himself after yesterday and opens things up next week. I thought there were many missed opportunities yesterday that should have been pretty apparent to the coaching staff. Man up DBowe. You know you do it.
can do it…
Oh Steven… You knew what you were getting yourself into when you wrote that one.. Haha! Now, Im not gonna go on a rant about how B.P’s hit WASNT cheap, but just a couple points; YOU may think it was cheap (which is odd enough), but EVERYONE else doesnt seem to agree. Including Deon Sanders (who hates on KC all the time), Steve Marriuci, and Dan Dierdorf (who said “it wasnt cheap”, I dont know how many times). And after watching the play over and over (as many have), You can see Pollard leap upward to get to Brady’s thigh, but because of the weight Morris was putting on Benard, he slid down to Brady’s knee. And as it was already brought out… OFCOURSE Pollard apologized. Who wouldnt?? A couple years ago I hit my Mom in the head with the back door of her SUV, as I was bringing it down… Did I MEAN to do it? Ofcourse not. Did I apologize? Ofcourse. Cause I felt bad. As did Pollard. No one wants to see a player go down like that, ESPECIALLY it having to end their season. C’mon.
Anyway!!
We came close. The mistakes that were made yesterday are things that we can DEFINITELY fix. Such things as play calling, rookie slip-ups, postioning, and missed assignments. We looked good and improved against a great team.
But again… We need to be a little more diverse in our play calling. We also may need to sift through the right side of our O-Line, cause with LJ having 86 total yards on the day, it shows that with adjustments on the O-Line and facing teams weaker against the run, LJ could have a monster season. Now, Im not saying that we’re headed to the playoffs if we do that, but my God… our Chiefs could look like a team to be afraid of next year with such adjustments.
Now, I AM a Croyle fan… But the kid CANT stay healthy. I’d like for him to prove me wrong (along with everyone else) cause you know that once he’s healthy, Herm is putting him back out on the field. But Im thinking that we need to grab another QB for insurance (Huard isnt the answer. IE: 2007 season). I for one, would like to see a YOUNG Chris Simms come into Arrowhead and at least work out. We may find a diamond in the rough, with Simms.
(Hold on… Let me put my gaurd up…. oK, attack.)
and Simms could be a hell of a lot more mobile than a one Damon “Statue” Huard… He’s younger and faster than Huard, bigger and tougher than Brodie (See the game against Carolina… He was getting pounded, got taken off the field, went back on, led a scoring drive and finished the game)… I know, that there would be talk about him being a left handed QB and how we’d need to move Albert to RT and blah, blah, blah… But we should take a hard look at the kid. He might have “it”.
Sorry for the consecutive comments but.. Sidenote; I’m liking Davard Darling, wish he was a bit faster but… I like him at #2. He showed up. Big time players make big time plays.
Steven,
While I respect your opinion on many topics surrounding the Chiefs, and usually enjoy your pieces around here, I can’t help but disagree with you on the Pollard hit. I watched the replay several times, and in no way was it a cheapshot.
What Harrison did to Green was most definitely a cheapshot as he came in with a full head of steam, without a blocker on his back I might add, and instead of wrapping Green up across the chest like players are tought to do from 3rd grade on, he went for his knees.
Pollard on the other hand was on the ground reaching for Brady, trying to make a play for his team. If he just lays there on the ground, we’d be knocking him for his lazyness today instead of talking about him hitting Brady below the knee. So I’m sorry, but you’re dead wrong on this issue.
Sudden: GREAT one-liner about TonyG needing to give Bowe the Heimlich! ROTLMAO!
I know I’m just repeating everything everyone else has said, but it’s insane to think Pollard’s hit was “dirty”. It’s even crazy to think that it wasn’t dirty, and that Pollard just made a mistake. Pollard was in the process of jumping up so as to NOT hit Brady low, and just as he did the RB brings him back down into the knee. Plus, at the time Pollard attempted to get off of the ground Brady was still a good two feet away from him. Then, just as the RB reaches for Pollard again, Brady steps forward. Pollard did exactly what every player in the league would have done, and I am proud of him for his efforts, and for not giving up on the play.
Thanks CMF, I was hoping someone would catch that one because I chuckled when I thought it up, but it was kind of buried in the middle of a longer post.
Agreed… Agreed… Agreed.
And bottom line… Pollard and his play is EXACTLY the type of player(s) we want and NEED on this football team. A player that finishes and a player that fights.
Holla!
What about Herb Taylor at RT? He filled in pretty good for Albert during the preseason.
I agree that Herb Taylor would be an improvement at right tackle; but i kinda am liking what i have seen from Richardson. I am hopping our o-line of the future is (from left to right) Albert, Waters, Niswanger, Taylor, and Richardson. All are young but Waters, and could work together for a long time. But for now I agree Taylor would be better that D-mac.
As far as the Pollard hit on Tom Terrific, the only reason that the hit was low was that the blocking back was draped all over his back. All Bonecrusher was doin was trying to get to the qb as he was supposed to. I say good job. Sorry that Brady suffered his injury but that is the nature of the game.
should be “hoping” not hopping…………
Exactly.
Roc, you said Devard Darling looked good, he should be our number 2 no doubt, and that big time players make big time plays (in big time games). Well.. he had one catch. Not only that, he was only thrown to once. With how much time left? Very little. Look at other teams around the league and their second string receivers had more than one catch. And definetly more than pass thrown their way. And they could probably run faster than that. I mean holy hell your grandma could have ran that in.
Torry Holt and Braylon Edwards fantasy owners would have given a lot for DVD’s game
Actually, I own Marques and Ocho, and I would have loved to have had that from them.
Steven, you knew you were asking for it with that post. I know I don’t need to jump on this bandwagon of lashers, but I will. Go back and look at it dude. Not. His. Fault.
I’ll second the fantasy post. Surely you’re not a closet Brady fan? You did stir up some controversy Whitlock-style though! Nice work! I’m betting the comments hit around a hundred if this stays on the main page for a day or two.
The NFL rule (Rule 12, Section 2, Article 12, No. 5) states: “A rushing defender is prohibited from forcibly hitting in the knee area or below a passer who has one or both feet on the ground, even if the initial contact is above the knee. It is not a foul if the defender is blocked (or fouled) into the passer and has no opportunity to avoid him;”