chiefs raiders: initial recap thoughts

“Excuse me, please? One more drink.
Could you make it strong,
‘Cause I don’t need to think.
She broke my heart,
My Grace is Gone,
One more drink and I’ll move on …”

-- “Grace is Gone” by Dave Matthews Band.

In the end, give the raiders credit.

They found a way to win. They overcame stupid penalties, costly turnovers, questionable coaching, a horrendous first half, and found a way to drive down the field not once, but twice, with the game on the line, the first leading to the tying field goal, the second leading to the game winning field goal.

I am sure that, at some point, I will have a more objective analysis about this game. My guess is, that will be sometime during working hours tomorrow. But that analysis isn’t coming until I deal with this defeat the only way I know how:

With some slow Ben Harper or some classic Conway Twitty, while spiking a Sprite with vodka, popping two Benadryls, and lighting up and enjoying a Macanudo Maduro. Uum, not that I’m a veteran of the “how the hell do you cope with a kick-to-the-nuts defeat” process with this team. If that combo doesn’t knock you out in 45 minutes, wow, your tolerance is even stronger than mine. That’s just … too scary to contemplate. And I lit the Maduro four minutes ago, so I’d better get typing.

I know some Chiefs fans will want to blame the officiating. Yes, Jeff Triplette’s crew is the worst in the league, and it’s for a good reason(s). However, let’s be perfectly honest – as horrendous as they were, it was an at-best questionable call in our favor (the fumbled punt return with 6 minutes to play) that gave us a shot to win.

(Having said that, wasn’t watching Triplette and his gang attempt to officiate this game, a little like watching your grandpa try to back the car out of the garage after a couple cocktails? You know nothing good is going to come out of this. Everyone watching knows nothing good is going to happen. And yet, there he goes, insisting he’s fine, getting behind the wheel, shifting into R … and then realizing he forgot his glasses, hits the gas instead of the brakes, and bammo, you’ve suddenly got a brand new garage door opening in your folks’ garage. Uuh, not that that ever happened in my family. Let’s just say, just like we (hypothetically) probably should have taken the keys from Grandpa that day, it’s time someone in the NFL league’s office takes the keys away from “Grandpa Jeff”. Time to let him hang out in the kitchen with his Beam and Coke, and let someone a little less experienced, and yet more capable, take over the driving).

I know some Chiefs fans (and I’m somewhat in this group) are ready to hang Chuck Weis in effigy after his play calling yesterday. I have absolutely no idea what Chuck Weis was thinking. You have the best rushing attack in the league, facing a horrendous rushing defense, on a rain soaked field. And we come out throwing, down, after down, after down, after down. And yet, as infuriating as that was – can we really be surprised? This is a guy who once threw it on 26 straight plays … in a one-possession game … in the Super Bowl against the Eagles! He’s not someone who truly embraces power football. We have to accept that, as fans of this team. There are going to be days when Chuck Weis is going to go pass happy. That’s who he is. And today was one of those days, for whatever ill-advised reason he came up with.

(And yet … with the game on the line, I totally agreed with the 3rd and 12 pass. D Bowe HAS to make that catch. Period. Matt Cassel was his usual infuriating self today, but he put that ball right in Bowe’s hands and stomach. He HAS to make that catch. If he does, we’re 6-2 and opening Martini and Rossi bottles in celebration. Uum, not that that was the plan or anything).

I know some are mad that Todd Haley didn’t try to ice janikowski as time expired in regulation. I had no issues with that. I gave him 90% odds of making that kick whether a timeout was called or not.

No, if I had to point to three initial reasons why we lost this game, they would be the following:

1. A failure to execute in the passing game when it really matters.
2. A failure to get off the field in the 4th quarter.
3. A failure to convert a key third down late in the game.

It’s the same three freaking things that have plagued this team all season, save for the 49ers game and maybe the Jaguars game. Cassel overthrew Moeaki on that 3rd and 1 that should have opened the game up. He tossed a horrendous pass late in the first half that cost us three points (and potentially the win). Moeaki dropped a 3rd and 2. Charles dropped a 3rd and 6 on the opening drive that was a gimme first down. On and on and on. I’m not sure who’s more to blame, but we’re not trending in the right direction in the passing game.

The 4th quarter defense – holy God. How bout a stop guys? Before the fumbled punt return that set up the Chiefs for the go-ahead score, the Chiefs had been on the field for :18 out of a possible 8:36 in the quarter. Call me crazy, but when your offense is on the field for less than 3% of the time played in the crucial quarter of the game, well, in the words of Ween: “you’re up sh*ts creek with a turd for a paddle”.

And the third down conversions. Not just late in the game, but throughout. We missed on 5 different 3rd and 1s today. At least 5 times we had 3rd and 1, and failed to convert. That is outrageous. Granted, two of them should have been converted (the overthrow to Moeaki on the bomb, the drop by Moeaki in the flat), but the other three were straight ahead TJ runs that got stuffed. (Another reason I am waiting to recap this: I want to get the game flow stats up so that I can more accurately assess how we got to 3rd and 1 … because it seemed to me we had a ton of 2nd and 2 / 2nd and 3s yesterday, got a yard or two, and then got stuffed again).

The road to the playoffs just got a lot harder after today. Thankfully, both San Diego and oakland still have to play the Colts (San Diego in three weeks on a Sunday night in Indy, coming off a short week to boot; oakland in week 16 in oakland). Both still have to play each other again (in San Diego week 13). And there is absolutely no reason the Chiefs cannot (and I would argue, should not) go 4-0 the next four weeks (at denver / vs Arizona / at Seattle / vs denver). Those are four awful football teams that a playoff bound squad should beat.

But if the Chiefs are going to continue to fail on 3rd and short, continue to fail in the passing game with costly drops, and continue to fail to stop the opposition in the 4th quarter, well, maybe the time has come to ask: is this a playoff bound squad?

We’ll know more after next week than we do after this one. Again, give the raiders credit. They found a way to win, at home, when they played like dog crap most of the day. Just like the Chiefs last week. Now, its up to the Chiefs to go to denver, and pound a bad broncos team like they should. Next week will tell us a lot more than this week. And sadly, it’s even more important than this week in many ways now, given that a loss on Sunday knocks us out of first place via tiebreakers …