Josh Gordon‘s patience pays off
The Chiefs have preached patience to reporters when asked about the status of Josh Gordon for weeks now. On Sunday, the veteran wide receiver finally found his way into the end zone for the Chiefs offense.
The Chiefs first signed Josh Gordon back in late September, which seems like an eternity ago given the length of the NFL regular season. Gordon was brought aboard to potentially turn into the physical receiving presence lost when Sammy Watkins signed with the Baltimore Ravens. Instead, Gordon has become an offensive afterthought and a disappointing signing for those who wanted to judge the trade quickly (and even for those who waited a bit longer);
Coming into Week 14, Gordon had only 2 catches in 8 games for the Chiefs for a total of 18 yards. However on Sunday, Gordon got a bit more involved in the action with a quick one-yard goal line catch for his first touchdown with the Chiefs. From there, he also caught an 8-yard pass a bit later to give him two catches on the day. If you watched close, you also saw some very impressive blocking from Gordon at other moments. It’s not the sort of head-turning day by any means as other receivers were more involved offensively but it’s at least a step forward and an acknowledgement that Andy Reid hasn’t been lying all along.
Some mistakes are still made
Even with a win as dominant as this one, the Chiefs were still not playing as best as they could. While the offense was efficient and the defense was overwhelming, the truth is that the Chiefs also made several mistakes that slowed or stalled drives (or extended them for the defense). These sorts of mistakes would have been much bigger talking points going forward had the game been closer (or the opponent been tougher).
While this game is a resounding success and the Chiefs should feel very, very good about their efforts, it’s also important to focus on what can be fixed so that the team continues to get better going forward, and Andy Reid and his staff will undoubtedly focus on some of those mistakes that were found in needless flags that put the Chiefs in a bad place at several moments.
From linemen on both sides of the ball coming up with untimely mistakes that led to flags to even veteran tight end Travis Kelce drawing two flags for holding and a false start, the Chiefs will look to clean up some of these issues. They’re also fortunate none of them were costly in this game.