1 post tagged “defense”
The Kansas City Chiefs have now lost their eighth straight game on the season. Also making it 19 losses in the last 20 games. Herm Edwards, Carl Peterson and Gunther Cunningham somehow maintain to keep their jobs. As much as I love Cunningham as a coach, it seems like he's not the good defensive coach he once was. It could be because of the lack of talent, however, giving over 400 total yards four times in the last five games and giving up 54 points to a struggling Buffalo Bills offense, is unacceptable. I realize the Chiefs defense had to go take over the field because of the turnovers, but I don't think this defense cannot allow 54 points. Most points allowed in Chiefs history.
Larry Johnson broke through with a big run in the first half, bringing Kansas City inside the five yard line, setting up a pass to Tony Gonzalez in the endzone. Johnson also broke through for a nice 26 yard run by taking advantage of the holes his linemen created. The 26 yard run was called back due to holding. The Chiefs ran the ball with their running backs only nine times. Seven with Johnson, two with Jamaal Charles who caught the first touchdown of the game, making it his first touchdown as a rookie. I felt the Chiefs would run the ball with their running backs more after LJ's run. However, it went the other way around. The Chiefs decided to go pass heavy in this game, which is not something we see in Chiefs games. Tyler Thigpen had three touchdowns and three turnovers (two INT's and one fumble.) He was also 17/31 for 240 yards. During the Herm Edwards press conference, I asked coach Edwards if he had more confidence in his passing game because of the fact he ran with the ball only nine times with his running backs.
“When you get behind like that, especially going into the third and fourth quarter when you’re down that many, you have to throw it. They’re really big inside and they want you to play in a phone booth and we didn’t want to play in a phone booth with these guys. We wanted to spread them out some and then try to run the ball. We did that but when we got behind we are kind of programmed into doing what we have to do.”
I was still confused with his response as the Chiefs were not falling behind in the first quarter. The game could have been competitive if the Chiefs ran the ball more. Instead, they relied on Thigpen too much as he ended up turning the ball a couple times. Thigpen threw two bad throws turning into interceptions. He also dove on his own to the ground and lost the football. The Chiefs turned the ball over five times. The Chiefs were just awful all day. That is my take on why the Chiefs lost.
