Arrows Up: Sunday’s stars for the Chiefs
Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Jeremy Maclin — Key Stat: The nullified 39-yard “reception”
Maclin had a fairly modest debut with Kansas City, but the net benefit to the Chiefs offense was clear (more on that later). In the third quarter, the six-year veteran streaked down the field and appeared to have made a difficult grab over cornerback Johnathan Joseph. The Texans challenged the initial ruling, and after a review, the play was overturned. Maclin hadn’t “controlled the ball all the way to the ground.” As I understand it, the receiver has to control the ball through the return flight to his team’s home city to constitute a ‘catch.’ That aside, the threat he poses to stretch a defense left Kelce with a lot of room to operate on Sunday. Reid can continue to expand his playbook with a receiver like Maclin in the fold.
Allen Bailey — Key Stat: Two sacks
Remember ten months ago when general manager John Dorsey decided to extend defensive end Allen Bailey in-season? A few people raised an eyebrow over the size of the deal, but the Kingdom and its accompanying blogosphere was mostly receptive to the transaction. At the time, I thought it was premature. Today, it looks like an ingenius move on Dorsey’s part. Bailey’s improved steadily over the past three seasons. Sunday proved he may have arrived as one of the better young ends in the league. Bailey notched a pair of sacks and proved to generally be a pain to block. Pro Football Focus gave him a +0.1 grade for the game (bested only by Mike Devito’s +1.4 and Jaye Howard’s +1.7). The former Hurricane, affectionately known as the “Incredible Hulk”, also recovered a fumble created by a Justin Houston strip sack of Brian Hoyer.
De’Anthony Thomas — Key Stat: 16.2 yards per punt return
On Sunday, the Chiefs’ average starting position was the 40-yard line. Teams coordinator Dave Toub can credit De’Anthony Thomas for such good fortune. Thomas amassed 81 yards on five punt returns in the game and nearly took a couple of them into the end zone. It appears that Thomas has matured as a returnman. He seemed much more decisive than a year ago and did less tiptoeing with the ball in his hands. As a north-south runner, everyone knows how dangerous he can be with a full head of steam. Toub’s done a fabulous job of creating room for Thomas with an ever-evolving group of special teams contributors, and it’s beginning to look like Thomas will be an even bigger threat on returns in 2015.
Next: The final two players on this week's list...