Ten Things About Tonight’s Game Week 7: KC 30 Donks 6

10. The good news is, we got a huge road win in division to hold the leading pace in the AFC West. The bad news is, we may lose Mahomes for anywhere from two weeks (optimistic) to losing him for the entire season (pessimistic.) As of this writing (late Thursday night) it’s unknown. The early diagnosis is a dislocated knee cap. You could see the doc on the field move it back into place before Mahomes came off the field. Apparently the Donks are too freakin’ cheap to have MRI available at the stadium. That’s the crux of the biscuit tonight. Can’t remember a game like this where our entire season may hinge on a damn QB sneak. I’m sure there will be a LOT of debate about that call by Andy; risking Mahomes and his bad ankle on a sneak when you have The Sausage and Shady for short yardage. Or, you just kick the field goal there, which is what they ended up doing anyway. If the sneak costs us losing Mahomes the rest of the year, that’s going to be a hard pill to swallow. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. That’s a freak injury for a QB sneak, for sure.

9. At the time of the Mahomes injury, KC kicked the field goal and went up 13-6. The defense shut out the Donks the rest of the way. That’s gutting up. More, they got an important defensive score immediately afterwards by Ragland on a strip sack scoop, making it 20-6 and that was pretty much it for the Donks. There’s a lot to say about the defense, but to say the least, they bounced back from the past two home losses. So credit where credit is due to Spags and the defensive unit. Nice adjustment on a 96 hour lead time.

8. The defensive stats were amazing. 9 total sacks against the Donks, the most ever in a Chiefs-Donks game. Two sacks each for Hitchens, Clark, Okafor and one each for Ogbah (he also had two deflected passes) Ragland (who also had the scoop for a TD) and Watts, who foiled the fake punt. Denver was 1-13 on third down, and 1-3 on fourth down. KC D only gave up 71 yards rushing on 21 carries. Does the nine sacks mean buy a Big Mac tomorrow and get nine free?

7. The first defensive series looked like the defense from the last two weeks. Face mask on Clark blew a three and out. Breeland holding gave a first down on a third and eight. At least Ragland stepped up and stoned Denver on the two point try. After that, the defense really cut down on the penalties and Spags started blitzing from everywhere. A thought to temper this pass rush tonight: Flacco is among the most immobile starting QBs in the NFL. Denver’s O-Line is even worse than ours. Brissett and Watson were both extremely mobile. We didn’t handle either of those QBs well. We did manage to overcome Flacco’s replacement Jackson in the Baltimore game. Just don’t expect us to suddenly start sacking Aaron Rodgers like this next game. But it was great to kick Flacco’s ass all over the field, and watch the shots of Horse Face squirming up in the press box. I liked that a lot. A really lot.

6. We won the toss this time. I think it’s important for KC to get the ball to start the second half. We didn’t win the toss in our last two losses. I just feel better when we get the ball first to start the second half.

5. This may be the first game we clearly won the special teams battle. Buttkicker hit all three field goal attempts, and kicked off to Limon each time. Hardman had a 36 yard punt return, and we only had two penalties on special teams plays; jumping offside on the Denver PAT (which also worked out for us) and on K-Pass in the second half. Denver missed a FG attempt inside 50 yards and had a fake punt blow up. All that is a big plus in our column. Kudos to Dave Toub for a job well done on a short week.

4. The 57 yard bomb to Reek was a thing of beauty. Perfect pass, right in stride, Reek made it look easy. That was the back breaker, you could see the air go right out of the Donks. Especially since they were double and triple teaming him all night long. In the fourth quarter, Von Miller was on the bench. White Flag city.

3. Matt Moore did a decent job tonight managing the game. He was Alex Smith-like. Lucky not to have some picks, but he’ll hopefully get sharper with ten days to prepare for the Pack. Let’s hope they beat the Raiders Sunday and that both teams get beat up real good. I noticed Moore barely got the play off several times, he’s got some rust. Look for Kyle Schumer to get promoted up from the practice squad tomorrow.

2. Andy Reid won his 200th game. Chiefs have won their last five games in Denver, and have beat the Donks eight in a row. We haven’t been very good on Thursday night, so it was nice to kick some ass on National TV for a change. Other minor side notes: Erin Andrews looked pretty nasty in black leather. Think she was moist during her pregame interview with Mahomes? And Joe Buck is a Meat Peeker. Does Aikman ever get creeped out?

1. Ten days off, a mini-bye. Can’t really look down the road until we know what the latest is with Mahomes. He left the stadium without crutches to go to the bus. So you religious types, work your prayer beads, offer some Rum to Jobu, but let’s hope this isn’t a season ruining event. Finally, thanks to Clay for covering the Ten Things last week. It’s a bummer to have to hash over a loss, but sometimes calming everybody down is an important skill to have around this place.

Here's to the power of healing!
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