The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t broken

Sep 13, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid during a game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Look, some of his calls leave me scratching my head, but I promise you 90% of the fans in the NFL can say the same thing about the play calling for their favorite team. You can complain about the play calling until you’re blue in the face but the bottom line is if KC coaches had called a PERFECT game and the Chiefs still turned the ball over five times they probably still lose. On the other hand, if Andy Reid calls the exact same game and the Chiefs don’t commit any turnovers they win that game handily.

“but, but, but Lyle! Alex Smith SUCKS! He won’t throw deep! He’s only converting like 15% of third downs! He SUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKSSSSSS!!!!!!”

I will readily admit that it would help the Chiefs if Alex Smith played better, especially on third downs. However, if Jamaal Charles doesn’t fumble on the opening drive and at the end of the game the Chiefs are able to win that game even with Alex Smith’s limitations. I’ll also add that he’s gone up against two of the NFL’s best pass rushing defenses with a very young and inexperienced offensive line. I just don’t think it’s reasonable to put this all on Smith.

When the coaching staff makes questionable calls and Alex Smith plays too conservative it does make the margin for error smaller, but this team does have the talent to win right now if they don’t play sloppy. Five turnovers is sloppy. Nine penalties is sloppy. That’s the bottom line. You can say the coaches did this or didn’t do that and you can point out the obvious in that if KC had Aaron Rodgers at quarterback they’d be better off, but none of that takes the accountability for sloppy play off the players.

There are only two spots on this team right now where I think it’s probably fair to say they just flat out aren’t good enough and that’s at right tackle and the number two cornerback when in the sub package. Let’s start with cornerback. Jamell Fleming was horrible on Thursday. I don’t blame him, he’s a veteran minimum bottom of the roster guy who was covering top wideouts being thrown to by one of the great quarterbacks. When Sean Smith comes back it won’t be an issue. Hopefully, Bob Sutton will have a plan in place this week if Aaron Rodgers does the same thing. Give him safety help, try somebody else out there, anything. Regardless, I’m not going to lose much sleep over the defense. They’re going to be fine.

Next: And the offensive line?