Ten Things About Today’s Game, Week 13: KC 40 Faiders 9

10. I was completely out of sync all day. Overnight I wasn’t feeling well. Had a cramping stomach ache and some impressive gastric pyrotechnics. Meesh Meesh woke me up a couple three or four times and the northwest wind gusting to 50 mph blew a couple good sized tree limbs down on the aluminum awning on the side of the house, making one Hell of a racket. When I finally did get pull my ass out of bed, couldn’t drink coffee because of a sour stomach, so no Lucky Chiefs Coffee Cup, and no hanging of the Porch Chiefs Flag in a Sunday Morning Cyclone. Tried to eat a little before leaving for Arrowhead, but it just made me queasy. So I took some drugs, went into the parking lot and just napped until 2:30 when Mrs. B and I donned our ice bowl gear and trudged in. Line outside took a long time to clear because when people bundle up, the security people take a lot longer patting everybody down. Got down into the seats when Oakland was on their first drive.

9. Typical Arrowhead cold weather game. On TV you can’t really tell how cold it is. The winds were steady at about 25 mph gusting to 40 mph at times. Wind was swirling inside Arrowhead. Must have been a nightmare for the kickers and punt returners. Buttkicker had an advantage since it was his home field and has been through it before. Luckily I sit as low as you can sit and there’s occasional burps of warmth that belch out of the tunnel when they open the doors long enough right below my seats. I really feel for the people who sat up in the top 300 section. They earn their stripes. The crowd was plenty loud. For those of you who were grousing about the crowd. it’s hard to generate 142 db when you’re bundled up in scarfs and gloves and six layers. Crowd managed to cause at least two Faiders false starts, which was pretty great.

8. My first general impression thinking about the game on the way home was, this game was the total Ying to the Tits Game Yang. The Tits game was a total and complete team loss. Today was a total and complete team win. All three phases played very well. For the first time in as long as I can remember, Chiefs had ZERO accepted penalties by the Faiders. Thompson got called for a hold, but it was offset by a Raider defensive holding penalty. The Faiders were the Faiders, as they had 12 well earned penalties, including a couple stupid personal fouls that sustained KC drives. They are a culture of disfunction and totally lack discipline, and they were their own worst enemy. Loved every minute of it, especially the New York NFL Office call on the Mullins’ DPI on the Robinson pass in the end zone. Mullins picked the pass after committing the foul, and although he was down by 24 points, started mugging and posturing in front of the Arrowhead End Zone Crowd. That pass got knocked down by the wind. And many of PMII’s passes were fluttering due to the heavy swirling wind. On a calmer, warmer day Patrick probably throws for around 250 yards.

7. Statistics can be so misleading. If I told you Carr threw five more completions than PMII, had the same number of passing TDs, threw for about 50 more yards; was only sacked one more time than Pat, and that the Chiefs D gave up another 100 yard rushing day, you would think this game was probably an Oakland win or at least a nail biter. Not so. Difference was the two Carr picks; including a pick six to Thornhill -which was the game dagger- and twelve Faiders penalties for 99 yards to KC’s ZERO. Four of those Oakland penalties awarded KC a first down. Raiders averaged almost six yards per offensive play, yet were only 3 for 9 on third down. Most of Carr’s passing yards came in garbage time in the last three minutes of the game.

6. Pat had 175 yards passing and a QBR of 79. He was only sacked once, and the one pick he threw was wiped off the board by the review boys in New York (they must have had money on us today). Pat threw for a TD and scrambled for another, where he ran to the pylon untouched. During the fourth quarter, Pat went over and spent some time with his offensive skill guys, talking about game stuff and smiling and having fun. That was good to see. Nice to have our entire O-Line back. Fisher totally crushed the left side of the Faiders front line on McCoy’s TD. Sloopy could have moon walked into the end zone. Just glad he didn’t lose the football on the way to pay dirt. This was the most complete offensive game in many weeks. Hill played well, Kelce has several nice catches, Robinson had a TD catch called back on a Termite hold. Speaking of The Termite, he did a great job on the fourth quarter drive. Chiefs chewed up about nine minutes in the fourth quarter; went 75 yards mostly running and Termite got his first NFL TD. The Faiders looked whipped during that drive. TOP was not that far apart, Oakland had the ball for about four more minutes. But they couldn’t get off the field in the fourth quarter and our running game just wore their ass out. They looked like all they wanted was to get the Hell into the locker room then out to KCI to catch that charter back to Oakland.

5. I was watching Frank Clark closely today, since there seems to be a great discussion here on the CP as to whether or not he sucks. He is generally not good at stopping the run. In the first half, Oakland ran at him over and over and over again. If he guesses right, he can make the occasional tackle for a loss. Today he had one solo tackle -for a loss- and no sacks. He came off the field with about six minutes left in the third quarter. One of the docs put his hand up under his shoulder pad and felt around. Clark winced and they sent him over to the blue tent. So don’t know how bad he is hurt or if it will affect whether he plays against the Pats next Sunday. Darrell Williams had a non-contact hamstring injury. He limped very gingerly down the steps to the locker room. I’d say he’s at least a two or three week injury if not more. Hope the other Williams can be ready to play Sunday in New England; otherwise it’ll be the Sloopy, Termite and Sausage Show.

4. Buttkicker nailed a 50 yard field goal into the teeth of that Northwest wind. Very important kick in the course of the game. The Faiders kicker Carlson puked up a major duck in the second quarter that landed about a full section to the left of the goalposts. He got a 30 yard gimme in the fourth quarter to avoid a shutout, and had the garbage time PAT blocked at the end of the game for a safety. Faiders also muffed a punt in the first half, but the Faid D was able to stop the Chiefs on a 4th and 1 to avoid giving up points. No matter. If you lose the special teams matchup on a road game, you’re probably not going to fare well.

3. I can’t wait to see the shots of Chuckie on the sidelines. I’ll bet he’s still grimacing in the air back to California tonight. When you shut out an NFL team for three quarters, that’s a good night, no matter who you’re playing. Spags needs to figure out how NOT to give up 100 yards to feature backs and how to cover backs and tight ends on three step drop passes. Thornhill’s pick was beautiful and was what I’ve been waiting for on those quick hitter passes all year. Sorenson got burned several times trying to cover tight ends. I’m very worried about Tommy Boy picking us apart with Edelman and Ben Watson, and Sony Michele running and receiving for well over a Ben Franklin. I’m not worried about Tommy throwing the long ball. He doesn’t have the arm strength to throw much farther than 25 yards or so accurately, and when he runs, it looks like he’s got lead weights in his shoes. Spags had the Pats number when he was with the Giants, so we’ll see what he dials up next week.

2. We’ve beaten the Faiders the last seven times we played them; swept them again this season, and Carr is lifetime 0-6 at Arrowhead. We have still not lost in the AFC West this year. Chiefs are 24-3 during the Mahomes era when we get a defensive TD. God, if we JUST could’ve won that Tits game, man…

1. So it’s 8-4 down the stretch run. If we lose at New England we’ll probably end up 11-5 and get one home playoff game for winning the AFC West. If we can manage to win next week, we could get a first round bye. Looking very much forward to next week’s game. It’ll be very special for Mrs. B and me. I’ll tell you why next week. Suffice to say, the Ten Things may be a bit late in posting. Please be patient. I’ll be processing a lot!
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