Is your heart healthy enough to watch cardiac Chiefs football? This team can be so difficult to understand and comprehend at times. The offense can be so hit-and-miss at times and our defense came out and allowed two giant gash runs early. With that being said the only thing that truly matters is that we got out of that game with a win and our defense stepped up and Mahomes put the offense on his back and carried us to a win. Let’s go through what I saw and what I am taking away from this game and what to look for and maybe find ways to have this eclectic cardiac Chiefs’ offense operating on all cylinders moving forward.
Cardiac Chiefs Offense Stumbles:
The Titans had a seemingly very simple game plan. They wanted to be super physical with our receivers and were holding on dang near every play and would just make the ref call it. and this is how the Titans have played us for the past five years but it seemed like we were caught by surprise with that gameplan. We were manhandled on the offensive line and we just seemed to be on our heels from the start. and throughout the game, we just seemed like we couldn’t find a solution that would work until Mahomes started breaking off long runs in the fourth and overtime that let them live up to the moniker of the cardiac Chiefs quick-strike offense.
That might be the most frustrating I have seen Kelce and Mahomes. Kelce threw his helmet on the ground after he had a pass bounce off his hands that resulted in an interception and he had a few uncharacteristic drops. but he rallied late in the game and had a very quiet hundred-yard game even though he had his struggles when we needed something done I wouldn’t want anyone else but him in that position. We saw him come trough late in the game with an electric catch and run to get a first down. He shows why he is the best Tight End in NFL history.
We need to find a solution to our running game problems. The Chiefs’ three starting running backs averaged an abysmal 1.3 yards per carry I don’t think we could have done worse if we tried to. You ask many coaches about running the ball and they will say it’s about the want to and desire to run and far too often it seems like we don’t have that desire. I think the most frustrating part of this is that we have seen this team run the ball and run it well in previous games but it is just an on-off switch on if we can or can’t run the ball. and this lack of running game is not helping our tackles because the edge players are just rushing the passer on every down.
Defense Steps Up:
This might have been Spag’s best game as our defensive coordinator or maybe the best adjustment we have seen. early on in the game, we saw the defense give up giant gash runs and a screen went for 49 yards. But later in the second quarter, we started to see the defense bow their backs a little and start to make life difficult running the ball and then in the second half we completely stopped everything the titans were doing offensively.
Joshua Williams had one of the biggest plays of the game in my opinion when he solo tackled Henry even though Henry probably outweighs him by 60 pounds at the minimum. It’s great to see that our corners are willing tacklers. because if they were unwilling you would probably see a lot more teams run at them but since our corners are very willing tacklers that is now a strength and you have to consider them running downhill and attacking the ball carrier and the quarterback.
The Chiefs have the most underrated linebacking duo in the NFL. Early in the game, they looked a little rough but like much of the defense, they bounced back in a big way in the second half. Bolton and GAy complement each other so well when they play Bolton is the field general and Gay is flying all around the field making plays. Bolton shows composure and calmness, and every time the Titans were huddled up Gay was trying to hype up the crowd and keep the energy high in Arrowhead.
Corner Play:
With the Chiefs’ move of trading Fenton to the Falcons at the trade deadline, it shows their faith in their young corners and their trust in their development. We had all of our young corners play in some capacity on Sunday night. This was McDuffie’s first game back from a hamstring injury in week 1. This was maybe a perfect game for him to make his return. the Titans didn’t have much success in the passing game but our corners all game were in good position ad McDuffie looked great in his return.
Jaylen Watson played well in his role this week and he looked pretty good as the young corner with the most experience you might see people throw at him less and maybe target McDuffie a little bit more in the coming weeks because he hasn’t played as much but the best thing you can say about corners during the game is that you don’t hear about them much. he does his job he had a pretty good pass defense but other than that he wasn’t targeted much.
As I mentioned earlier William had a huge solo tackle on Henry which is a tall ask for any corner but he saw the opportunity for a play and he made a play that many corners want to or even could make he used his long arms to wrap up his legs and bring him down but when Watson went down for a few plays he was brought in and there was no fall of in the corner play which was a great sign for our young corners and this was a great game to bring McDuffie back and for their first game with just this new form of the Chiefs corners.
L’Jarius Sneed continues to be one of the most underrated corners in the NFL he was second on the team in tackles in they blitz a corner they call on number 38 and he delivers dang near every time. he plays so well and is all over the field and his blitzing is so unbelievably good he is the best in the NFL as a corner blitzer. When you see him move into the blitzing position you can see opposing QBs adjust for him and if they make a wrong call and he drops out of that position into coverage it helps create mismatches for the defensive line.
Personnel Decisions:
We say the Chiefs use their new addition on offense early on in the game with Kadarius Toney. I was surprised he had the first catch of the game. Some people were down on him when we traded for him because of his lack of usage but I think the transition would be easier because the Giants’ OC is the former Chiefs, QB coach. But he looked good in his limited action he had an amazing chip block on Dupree and he ran great routes and he was willing to get physical and made some great blocks and was always helping up players so I think we will see more and more of him as the year goes on and will see him contribute to this electric cardiac Chiefs’ offense
Khalen Saunders played so well, he had a great chase down of Willis and was all over the field. He was involved in both of the sacks and pressures that were needed to close out the game. He uses his hands well and for a big guy, he moves with so much speed and power. We saw him fly around and chase down Willis when he was trying to buy time and he brought the cardiac Chiefs effect to the defensive side. He is earning more and more playing times as the weeks go by. He was all over the field and had a few big tackles against Henry and was always around the ball it was great to see this from a player who has put in so much work to continue to get better and we are seeing the fruits of his labor.
Mike Danna Made his return to the field for the defense and he is one of our better edge-setters on the defensive line. and it was great to have him back in the rotation, especially with Clark out this week his presence was felt he played well against the run and was setting the edge well later in the game and I think he will continue to improve as the weeks go by and is a great reinforcement to be back since Clark will be out another week.
Moving Forward:
The Chiefs’ offense has a bad habit of being very inconsistent at times. With that being said you can never count them out of a game because of the nature of the quarterback and how explosive they can be. More importantly, they found a way to win the game because all that matters is that they kept the pressure on Buffalo who has the conference lead they close the gap and they found a way to win an ugly game which is an important quality in a team that has the goals that this group has.
The Chiefs need to find a way to run the football consistently. they need to do this to help give relief to their offensive line but we need to find some level of balance in our game. When our offense has looked the best we have had a decent level of balance and we have run the ball well. Because he has all the players to do it we just need to execute better when we get the opportunity.
We have players returning from injury and a new weapon for the offense so we are getting healthy going into the second stretch of the season. which will help bring some continuity to the defense which should help each level of the defense. We also have the new addition of Tony on offense which gives Mahomes another weapon that should make them harder to defend as the weeks go by and Tony gets more familiar with the offense. With how dynamic he can be with the ball in his hand he can create more of the cardiac Chiefs’ big play ability along with Hardman
This week we have the Jacksonville Jaguars coming into Arrowhead and I think this matchup is really interesting because Jacksonville has some very nice pieces on defense and offense. They have some very good edge rushers and on offense, Etienne who is a very dynamic running back is having a great year and he and Lawrence have great chemistry. The Jags have a very frisky team because they have a lot of young talent and they have very intriguing pieces. It could be a great week to focus on establishing a run game and trying to carry over the momentum of the overtime win and the dominant performance of the defense.