Chiefs vs Lions NFL Opener

[GunnerBill]

The first GunnerBill morning after reflections of the season.....

 

• Huge win for the Lions. It was the thing missing in their run last year a win against one of the genuine top half dozen teams in football. This is a signature win and it puts them right in the conversation with Philly and San Fran in the NFC. 
• I think they have an excellent young team the Lions, best offensive tackle combination in football, Aiden Hutchinson is a beast (I know we feel like everything good comes to the AFC but imagine the Jags had not over thought it and just taken Hutch in the 2022 draft.... that team with Lawrence coming around would be even more of a threat), St Brown is the best slot receiver in the NFL and Brian Branch had a huge play last night. How he dropped to where he did in a weak draft I have no idea. I think of the Lions top 3 picks (Gibbs, Campbell, Branch) it is Branch who in 3 or 4 years time we will be talking about as an all-pro level player. 
• But there is also a limit to the Lions and it is their passing game. I know a lot will go to Goff but I think his receivers, St Brown apart, are the bigger issue. They need Jameson Williams to get healthy and stay out of trouble. Ben Johnson is an excellent coordinator but his offense isn't particularly creative. He isn't Andy Reid or Kyle Shanahan, what has though is a real solid understanding of his guys, what they can and can't do and he leans into it and has great situational feel in his play calling. I think those are skills that suggest he will transition well when he inevitably gets a Head Coach role. 
• For the Chiefs, the receivers are obviously an issue and the absence of Kelce showed it up. Skky Moore (last year's 2nd round pick) ran at least 2 wrong routes last night on plays where he was targeted, MVS is a #3 trying to operate as a #1 and Justin Watson is being used as the deep threat but is a total JAG. Rashee Rice had a couple of nice plays and a touchdown and I did like him more than most coming out, but it is a lot to stick on his plate, his ceiling is probably a good #2 in any event. And Kadarius Toney.... man he is awful. I have said it every time people have tried to tell me that was a great trade. You know who he is? He is Isaiah McKenzie but with a first round reputation. He will have a big game here or there, he will make a nice play in space sometimes and he has the speed to run away from people, but his feel in the open field is bad, his hands are questionable and his attention to detail is poor. 
• On defense for the Chiefs everyone has talked about them missing Chris Jones for his pass rush. While that is true I trust Spags to be able to scheme pressure. He does it better than almost anyone. Where they missed him more last night was just in terms of control of the line of scrimmage. The Lions dominated up front, especially in the run game. They tried to compensate for that loss by playing less nickel than they normally do and more 4-3 base and that isn't where they are at their best, because McDuffie and particularly Sneed are both at their best when they are playing a mix of boundary and nickel. Sneed especially struggles to hold up as an outside corner on a down in and down out basis and it was noticeable that the Lions went at him in some key situations. Personally I have always felt in games where KC are in a lot of base looks Sneed should play less. Jones being out basically upset the whole balance. 

 

The season is off and running!

 

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by GunnerBill

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

what a moron he is, a real moron.

[BillsFan130]

Went to bed when it was 14-14.

 

Woke up to seeing the chiefs lose.

 

Fantastic start to the day 

[Donuts and Doritos]

And I'm supposed to take what he says seriously? Clown show.

[newcam2012]

4 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Davis currently has about ten times as many receiving yards in just the bills chiefs divisional game as Toney has in his entire playoff career.  
 

if you want to throw Davis’ game against the colts in there too, I don’t think toneys receiving numbers his entire career in the playoffs  will ever match those two games from gabe.  
 

pretty tough to hold that 13 seconds defensive atrocity against gabe Davis in a game where he had 201 receiving yards and 4 tds lol 

I agree here. However, that was two years ago and Davis has pretty much underwhelmed since then. His short comings are obvious. He still can be effective as a WR3 or 4. I think the Bills need a more consistent reliable and more diverse WR2. Gabe falls short here in my eyes. I'm fine with letting another team overpay for him similar to Edmunds. 

[Rockpile233]

If Andy Reid doesn’t get cute over and over in short yardage Chiefs probably win the game so don’t want to overreact to last night. I think KC will be fine, but boy that looks like a rough WR group.

[GunnerBill]

10 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

I agree here. However, that was two years ago and Davis has pretty much underwhelmed since then. His short comings are obvious. He still can be effective as a WR3 or 4. I think the Bills need a more consistent reliable and more diverse WR2. Gabe falls short here in my eyes. I'm fine with letting another team overpay for him similar to Edmunds. 

 

I think part of the sense of underwhelming is the expectations were a bit out of whack coming off that KC playoff game from last season. He had over 800 yards and 7 touchdowns. That isn't a bad season for a #2 receiver at all. Yes, he dropped some balls, yes, he didn't show a diversification of his route running but I think expecting that he wouldn't be the same guy he has been was the mistake. 

 

This time last year I was getting "why do you hate Gabe Davis?" questions directed my way. Now I'm getting "why can't you see his short comings?" type posts. I'm the one who hasn't changed my stance. It's the narrative around me on these boards that has been all over the shop. My expectations are firmly that Gabe will have 800-900 yards, a catch % of around 55%, and 5-7 touchdowns again in 2023. Because that is who he is. 

 

And then someone else will pay him next offseason, he'll get somewhere around $13-14m on the open market. And he'll be a #2 receiver there who puts up 650-900 yards a season depending on the team, the Quarterback and how much they pass. 

[BillsFooteball]

He’s a joke but knows exactly what he’s doing. Even after the L he gave the plug “Welp. See you 3pm”.  It’s must see tv to see his reaction 

[CSBill]

I woke up to a Chief's loss. That's a great start to the season.

[GunnerBill]

5 hours ago, Araiza Curse said:

No, not including Kelce. Outside of Kelce, Toney for all WRs will lead that team in yards if he stays healthy. 

 

No. No he won't. 

[Doc Brown]

Nick Wright is actually pretty insightful when not in character.  The problem is you need to play a character to get the ratings.

[GunnerBill]

20 minutes ago, Rockpile233 said:

If Andy Reid doesn’t get cute over and over in short yardage Chiefs probably win the game so don’t want to overreact to last night. I think KC will be fine, but boy that looks like a rough WR group.

 

It might be the worst in the NFL. Sure someone will point some others out but it is really rough. 

 

It wasn't good last year even with Juju who had volume but didn't make a lot of huge plays. Kelce bailed the receivers out a lot. 

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, Doc Brown said:

Nick Wright is actually pretty insightful when not in character.  The problem is you need to play a character to get the ratings.

 

Yea interestingly when KC lose and he is forced to come out of pom pom waving mode he actually is pretty on the money with his analysis of the problems. But it is like he does that for 1 day and then right back into "Mahomes, world domination baby!"

[Roundybout]

Feels like KC doesn’t need Chris Jones at all.

 

Also people rag on Beane for Boogie Basham, but KC traded DOWN to take Skyy Moore instead of Pickens and yikes he’s awful. 

[BRH]

Best thing is they have to sit and marinate in this for ten days. And Chris Jones’ price just went up. 

[The Wiz]

Did they offer a new contract to Jones yet?

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

KC needs a WR in a bad way, no one is getting open. They should trade Jones for Drake London. 

[aristocrat]

Kc gonna trade for mike Evans.

[GunnerBill]

16 minutes ago, Roundybout said:

Feels like KC doesn’t need Chris Jones at all.

 

Also people rag on Beane for Boogie Basham, but KC traded DOWN to take Skyy Moore instead of Pickens and yikes he’s awful. 

 

Yea Skyy Moore looks a huge whiff at this point. And you could see when he ran the wrong route on that one second half Mahomes was pissed with him. How long Pat can stay patient is going to be interesting. And if he builds some trust in Rashee Rice early you can see him leapfrogging Moore and Toney very quickly. 

[Beast]

14 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

Did they offer a new contract to Jones yet?

Their defense only gave up 14 points to a pretty decent offense.

 

Defense wasn’t KC’s issue last night.