Chiefs Score 31 Points; Lose Anyway

Okay, I was really thinking I'd have a different title for this thread, but that's how it worked out. The Chiefs looked dominant in the first half, but the second half somehow turned into a bad acid flashback of the Indianapolis playoff game in January 2004 (the one in which no one punted).

The Good

The running game--Charles and Jones were gashing Houston all afternoon. The only thing missing was a long TD run.

Matt Cassel--he made a couple of poor throws, but overall he was sharp and on target. Or is Houston's pass defense just that bad?

Dwayne Bowe--Bowe really turned it on after last week's fiasco, making some great catches and running very aggressively after the catch. His only drop was on a bad throw in which Cassel was hurried.

The Bad

Romeo Crennel's defense--Honestly, this looked like a severe regression to last year's futility. No pressure on the QB, blown coverages, no turnovers. Or is Houston's offense that much better than Indy's?

The Ugly

Brandon Flowers had a legitimate beef with the official on the pass interference call on Houston's last TD drive. Andre Johnson clearly pushed off; that might have made the difference in the game.

The playcall on third and two when the Chiefs needed a first down to run out the clock was questionable at best. The running game has been grinding out 8 yard gains all day, you've been hitting short routes all day, and you try a downfield throw that, well, isn't quite your QB's strong suit? Weis and/or Haley outsmarted themselves on that one.

Was still a good game, but no one hates the Houston Texans more than a Cowboys Fan LOL!!!

With a little luck and a couple passes caught last week, the Chiefs are 5-0 instead of 3-2. As I watched them today, it occured to me, they are the real deal. They are not there yet...but I am willing to beat that with the leadership and the core players that we have....there is a Super Bowl in the future for Kansas City. You can just see something special going on with them. That being said, we need a really good WR. Someone that can go deep.

The UglyThe playcall on third and two when the Chiefs needed a first down to run out the clock was questionable at best. The running game has been grinding out 8 yard gains all day, you've been hitting short routes all day, and you try a downfield throw that, well, isn't quite your QB's strong suit? Weis and/or Haley outsmarted themselves on that one. Originally Posted by Gryphon

Gryphon, that play made me sick.

It was a good game but we SHOULD have won.

Refs gave that game to the Texans. Bullshit pass interference call on Flowers when the WR cleared pushed off on him.

With a little luck and a couple passes caught last week, the Chiefs are 5-0 instead of 3-2. As I watched them today, it occured to me, they are the real deal. They are not there yet...but I am willing to beat that with the leadership and the core players that we have....there is a Super Bowl in the future for Kansas City. You can just see something special going on with them. That being said, we need a really good WR. Someone that can go deep. Originally Posted by arealwingdinger

I completely agree that they're getting better, and they're much better than I ever thought they would be at this point. For all the grief Haley has gotten about being mean to the players, flying off the handle, etc., he has them playing as a team. He's starting to look like a 10 year head coach.

I'm not sure a deep threat WR (Vincent Jackson, anyone?) would help much without a QB who can throw the deep ball with accuracy. For now, they're going to have to rely on YAC for big gains in the passing game.

The pass interfence play hurt but the 3rd and two floating pass to no where was the game killer.

Being an eternal optimist....saw great things in the lost. To know where one is, one has to remember where one came from...last year we sucked huge donkey cock, so I think we have made tremendous strides...even in the 2 tough losts on the road. The offense played really well, the defense did not perform as well as has been, but Texans can score as well as any team in league. I love the schedule coming up and my prediction of 10-6 is still very much in play.

We are 2 games up in lost column in AFC west, winning the division is very much still ours for the takeing...who would not of been happy with that before the season started?

I agree they have come a long way and are fun to watch, I am not looking at either loss as a negative because it would have been tough for any team to win in either place. Those are league leaders we lost two its not like it was cleveland. I would be happy with 8 and 8 and competative games. I think now we are only a few players away from serious play off and superbowl asperations.

IMHO - We played the first half to win the game, both offense and defense. Attacking the QB defending the pass and for the most part keeping the runs short.

We played the 2nd half not to lose the game, the only thing a prevent defense does is prevent you from winning. Seems like we just stopped attacking in the second half and played off them allowing short passes to turn into long ones and what should have been short runs turn into long ones.

the 3rd down call wasn't very smart but hey neither was the short kick that gave them the ball on our 47. Mistakes were made by all coaches but the good news is Denver, SD keep losing.

Lets see, Houston has just scored and kicks off. The return man runs out of bounds??? Did he forget about the clock?

Then 3rd and 2 with 2:39....perfect. No matter what happens, you're gonna wind it down to 2 minutes before punting the ball away right? Well, unless you decide to throw a freaking pass?!?!?

And the short kick-offs in the second half? If you're content on letting the opposing team get the ball on the 45 after a kickoff....just kick it out of bounds, and let them have it at the 40.

Seemed like some bad decisions being made, IMHO.

I didnt post on this after the game because I was soo mad..... I feel sorry for all the children that were running by my windows during the end of the game as I was cussing up a storm. That call by the ref on Flowers pissed me off so bad.... I really think that the NFL should fine the refs for messed up calls and that might help them call the right one... Flowers didnt touch him what so ever when he caught that ball in fact Flowers was pushed and you see him go back and say WTF!!!!! Cassell and Bowe and charles and Jones I thought did great and the D for the most part did ok but Carr seem to get beat on alot of the plays Im still pissed bout losing that game but with coming home for the next two games it helps!!!

With a little time and perspective I've come to the following conclusion: If on September 1 I had been offered the choice of being 3-2 guaranteed after five games or taking the result of the games as played, I would have taken 3-2 without a second thought. The Chiefs are exceeding expectations, so expectations are rising. That's a good thing. I think.