Kansas City Chiefs: Monday Morning Armchair Quarterback
Wow, I haven’t had that much fun watching the Kansas City Chiefs play football since……well, last week.
That’s the kind of roll the Chiefs have been on as they racked up their fourth straight win on Sunday, defeating the San Diego Chargers by a score of 33-3. It was a thoroughly dominant beating from start to finish which came on the heels of a thoroughly dominant beating of the Denver Broncos which came on the heels of a thoroughly dominant beating of the Detroit Lions.
The Chiefs current hot streak has them back at .500 on the season and looking like a very real playoff contender as the home stretch of the NFL season approaches. I have so many different thoughts on the Chiefs coming out of this game that I decided to be a wanna-be Peter King once again this week. So without further ado, here is your Chiefs Monday Morning Armchair Quarterback.
* I tweeted this out in the waning minutes of the game Sunday, but it bears repeating. During the Chiefs current four game winning streak they have outscored their opponents 130-39. That’s insane. That’s an average score of 32.5 to 9.75. They’re scoring over 30 points per game and holding their opponents to under 10. They’re winning by an average of 22.75 points per game. This is the same team that looked like a warm pile of dog poo during their five-game losing streak. I don’t care how poorly their opponents have played, this team has found their stride and are flexing their muscles.
* Speaking of how poorly their opponents have looked….wow, the Chargers are flat out (in my best Charles Barkley voice) TURRIBLE. That having been said, good teams dominate bad teams and that’s what KC did. Are the Chargers in complete melt down mode right now? Sure they are, but the Chiefs still went on the road and beat a Philip Rivers lead team by 30 points. There is no “yeah but…” for that. If you’re trying to rain on fellow KC fans’ parade after that win you probably also yell at neighborhood children to get off your lawn and use the word humbug a lot during the holidays.
* While Alex Smith will never win over every Chiefs fan, there is no denying that he has outperformed his quarterback counterparts over this four-game winning streak. Despite facing guys like Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers that have dwarfed Smith’s numbers in several previous head to head contests, Smith has put up the far better stat line. Here is Smith’s combined numbers over the last four games compared to the combined numbers of KC’s opponents.
Alex Smith:
76/114, 66.7%, 853 yards, 7.5 YPA, 4 TDs, O INTs, 21 rushes for 149 yards and a TD, 10 sacks
Combined numbers of Landry Jones, Matthew Stafford, Peyton Manning, Brock Osweiler, and Philip Rivers:
76/139, 54.7%, 785 yards, 5.6 YPA, 3 TDs, 10 INTs, 9 rushes for 29 yards, 16 sacks
* The Chiefs defense has absolutely dominated opposing quarterbacks during this four-game win streak as evident in the stats I just showed. While those four games may not have come against the hottest quarterbacks in the game (although Rivers had been putting up huge numbers) that may not matter for the rest of the regular season. While a lot has already been said about the poor records of KC’s upcoming opponents, the starting quarterbacks for those teams shouldn’t exactly strike fear in the Chiefs defense. Here is a list of who they are scheduled to face as of right now in their remaining six games:
vs Buffalo – Tyrod Taylor
@ Oakland – David Carr
vs San Diego – Philip Rivers (but in Arrowhead this time)
@ Baltimore – Matt Schaub (Flacco is done for the season)
vs Cleveland – Johnny Manziel
vs Oakland – David Carr
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