Earning Their Arrowheads
The Kansas City Chiefs thrashed the Seattle Seahawks Sunday 42 to 24 in a perfect example of a team victory.
We usually give out game balls to the standout offensive, defensive and special teams players each week and we follow that up with the “Earning Their Arrowheads” series to recognize the other solid performers. This week, however, we’re going to do away with the game balls and just give out arrowheads. The reason for this, other than the fact that the old way was slightly redundant, is because to reach their goals the Chiefs are going to have to continue to work together as a team and that is going to take more than just 3 players a game.
With that being said, let’s take a look at the players who earned their arrowheads Sunday.
Matt Cassel
Let’s start at the top. Cassel has his second outstanding game in a row Sunday and this time he did it on the road. What is most impressive about Cassel’s performance over the last couple of games isn’t his touchdown totals or his yardage (although those help) but his completion percentage, his yards-per-pass and his poise. Cassel has looked like a much different QB than the guy we saw struggle in the Cleveland game and even as recently as the loss to Oakland. He has been calm in the pocket, he has made smart decisions with the football and his throws have been crisp and on target. By my count Cassel has only thrown 3 poor passes in his last two games, a massive improvement for a guy who I often criticized for accuracy problems.
Cassel is taking a big step forward and there is no denying it. He is working with a skeleton crew of receivers and he is still making plays. His career completion percentage is now over 60% and his career QB rating now stands at 99.7.
If Cassel continues his current pace, he will finish the season with 3356 yards passing and 32 touchdowns vs. 6 interceptions. While three thousand yard isn’t an eye popping number, 32 touchdowns certainly is and Cassel should certainly be in the Pro Bowl conversation if he keeps up this level of play.
Dwayne Bowe
Speaking of players making late Pro Bowl chargers, Bowe’s name should be at the top of the list. D-Bowe has 885 yards this season and a staggering 14 touchdown receptions with 5 games to play.
How good is Bowe’s season?
Think on this for a second. If Bowe manages to catch and average of 2 touchdown passes a game for the rest of the season, he will break Randy Moss’ single season record of 23.
Sound difficult?
Bowe has averaged 1.9 TD catches over the last 7 games. Hold on to your hats.
Jamaal Charles
I will make this one easy on you.
NFL leading rushers:
1. Arian Foster: 1,147 yards in 224 attempts for a 5.1 ypc average.
2. Jamaal Charles: 1,021 yards in 161 attempts for a 6.3 ypc average.
Jamaal Charles trails Arian Foster by 126 yards for the rushing title…he also trails Foster by 63 carries.
Jamaal Charles > Everyone
Tony Moeaki
Moeaki didn’t make a huge impact early in the passing game but he was all over the field throwing blocks before reeling in the game icing TD pass. He could make a strong argument for the Pro Bowl if not for the curious fact that he isn’t on the ballot.
Shaun Smith
A sack and a TD run…and he is a defensive end. Enough said.
Derrick Johnson
I actually thought DJ played pretty poorly at times yesterday. There were a couple of plays where he looked like the old DJ, out of position and slow to the ball. Then again, the Seahawks hardly ran the ball at all and the run game is where DJ shines. Still, he made a play when the Chiefs needed him to, strip sacking Hasselbeck. Even on an off day, DJ earns his arrowhead.
Verran Tucker
Why is Tucker on this list you ask? It is true he only had 1 catch for 24 yards but he was only targeted twice. He also had two key special teams tackles and a kick return for 15 yards that he nearly broke for a huge gain. The Chiefs are doing a good job of getting this guy on the field more and more and he keeps showing up.
Travis Daniels and Jackie Bates
Daniels and Price aren’t guys you want starting for you but the both did a heck of a job yesterday. In fact, other than a play where he lost his balance and stumbled giving up a big pass play, Bates did a fantastic job filling in for Brandon Flowers and Daniels picked off one ball and damn near snagged another one. Gotta tip my hat to these two for showing up.
Dustin Colquitt
It was a special teams nightmare yesterday but other than his blocked punt (which wasn’t his fault), Colquitt was fantastic. He averaged 45.5 yards-per-punt, had a long of 55 and had 3 punts inside the 20. Not bad at all. He also recovered the blocked Succop FG and saved what could have lead to a Seahawks TD.
Honorable Mentions:
Mike Cox. (Seriously, we need to run more play action to Mike Cox. No one ever covers him and he always catches the ball. Cox should get 1 ball thrown to him a game).
Ryan Succop. Yeah he had his FG blocked but he made all of his extra points. He mostly makes this list for his heads up play on the blocked FG. After Colquitt recovered the kick, he was tackled and though it turned out he was down, the ball was knocked away and the call on the field was a fumble. Succop didn’t flinch and booted the ball out of bounds knowing that a penalty for illegal kicking was far better than allowing the Seahawks to pick up the ball and return it for a TD. The Chiefs are well coached on special teams.