A Few Thoughts about the Chiefs Game - Community Edition

[BearNorth]

7 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

3. Cook is a star, why aren’t we utilizing him more in the passing game.  It really makes no sense.  His catch was only his first in 4 games and only his second target in 4 games.  Stupid.  

 

I thought about that last night.  Cook grades out very poorly as a pass blocker, but on obvious passing downs do we use him instead of a 3rd TE or 3rd WR and run him out of the slot or in motion, and use Gilliam [who is an elite pass blocker] as the back, seems to me there could be some interesting schemes that could come from that. He's certainly more dynamic in space than most of our wide receivers not named Shakir.

[SoTier]

8 hours ago, Virgil said:

Barely won might be overdoing it.  And if Preter makes the FG, it’s a no doubter.  
 

But the fact that the Chiefs still had the opportunity to tie it was concerning

 

The Chiefs aren't the Fins or Jests or Raiders.  They aren't going to ever wave the white flag until a team can get up by several TDs as the Eagles did in the SB.  One of the announcers on the evening league highlights compared the Chiefs to cockroaches when reviewing the Bills-Chiefs highlights; they're hard to kill.

[fasteddie]

9 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

As always great write up, you're probably my favorite post game summary poster. 

 

The good

 

1. The secondary looks like it could develop into a strength as the season wears on. That is a really exciting development and could turn the tide on the the direction of this season. 

2. McD is calling the bulk of these plays if not all of them. I'm fine with that. We need to be in our best calls more than ever. 

3. The defensive line looked great, Bosa was on fire. The Hoecht loss is devastating. He looked like a real player. 

4. Cook is just so good and the offensive line was dominating

5. Kincaid is a serious difference maker and almost required for us to be effective offensively 

6. Allen had a great game and stayed in the pocket more, offensive line kept him super clean most the day. 

7. Love the pressure on the hail mary. We have seen a few of those transpire now, it would have been so disappointing to see us drop everybody and give a clean throw. 

 

The bad

 

1. Again nothing downfield with our WR's and very limited work outside of screens. I don't think we can climb to the top of the mountain with this type of WR output.

2. Hoecht injury seemed impactful almost right away. Bosa was insane, but he's also disappeared at times. As have others. Can we get consistency in line play and grow as the season wears on?

3. A couple calls bothered me. The 3rd and 10 screen to Shakir. I get that we aren't a long yardage offense at this point, but we can't throw in the white flag on 3rd and 10. This sort of goes back to point #1 about downfield WR production. It is required as an offense and we will need it. 

4. Kicking the FG late. You have 7 point lead, a punt pins them inside the 20 and likely drains 3-4 more seconds off. It would have forced them to go 80+ yards with no timeouts and under 25 seconds. Sign me up for that. The ONLY chance they had was that missed FG and we walked into that. Didn't bite us today, but I really disagree with that move. 

 

The final

 

It was a huge win for us for playoff seeding and AFC east seeding. Pure domination vs one of the better teams in the AFC. It was a similar script to how we lost the last couple weeks but this time we dished out the punishment. The progression of guys like Bishop and Max can't be understated and could really transform this defense. As you said, it's 1-0, and we have a long way to go, but great win and exciting to see some development with key players. 

Agree with your assessment of the fg attempt. As soon as they missed getting the first down, I said they should punt. Everyone around me thought I had three heads. I had to explain it as Prater missed. Then they understood.

Some coaches play checkers while the good ones play chess.

Good thing it wasn't another 13 seconds. 

Go Bills!

[27yankees]

One game, great output. Stay focus squish the fish. Have a nice stretch of tests ahead for the Bills. Time to put duck tape on Pats Rabble!!!! 
Go Bills, stay humble, everyone on the 53 needs to ball. Play with a nasty/edge mentality. Execute the plan. Filter out the nonsense!!! 

[Billsatlastin2018]

9 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

The bad

 

1. Again nothing downfield with our WR's and very limited work outside of screens. I don't think we can climb to the top of the mountain with this type of WR output.

 

This is a continuing source of great stress for all of us AND OBD. While Cook is outstanding and finally, finally took a designed hitch PASS for a critical first down and the TEs can get both open and catch- MORE via trade is clearly needed! 

9 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

2. Hoecht injury seemed impactful almost right away. Bosa was insane, but he's also disappeared at times. As have others. Can we get consistency in line play and grow as the season wears on?

 

How do these terrible things keep happening to the Bills. Barely on the field, Hoecht is the latest Miller… total bust!

9 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

 

4. Kicking the FG late. You have 7 point lead, a punt pins them inside the 20 and likely drains 3-4 more seconds off. It would have forced them to go 80+ yards with no timeouts and under 25 seconds. Sign me up for that. The ONLY chance they had was that missed FG and we walked into that. Didn't bite us today, but I really disagree with that move. 

THAT was vintage brain dead McClapper! It is a failure to understand time left and distance, exactly as you have described it. He needs a guy beside him with a cattle prod to give him a shot whenever he’s about to make an idiotic move- like that. 
 

Finally… 4th & 17s should never be a coin toss (50-50) achievement with the opposing team. Seems like there are waaaaaay too many of these long 3rd and/ 4th and easy completions! All on McD and the D.

[y2zipper]

3 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

If we'd have lost Prater would have deserved a big chunk of blame. Imagine that is a playoff game. Your kicker has a 52 yarder to win you the game. He HAS to make that kick. We all KNOW that the Chiefs kicker makes it in that scenario. 

 

Because people can rag on the 4th and 17 moment it has barely had a mention. But Prater nearly cost us. 

 

You have to try that kick. It is 52 yards. And the kicker HAS to make it. 

 

People on this forum will always find a way to blame coaches not players but that was 100% on Prater.

 

Exactly this. McDermott coached that last drive to both win the game and managed the clock perfectly. If I were in charge of the Bills, I'd cut him and look for another kicker for missing that.

[Livinginthepast]

9 hours ago, Marcus Aurelius said:

"Bishop absolutely laid out Mrs Swift in the end zone ..."

 

Highlight of the game!

That hit on Kelsey was years in the making! How many times have we seen Kelsey get wide open and then pay no price for catching a pass? !

 

 

[GASabresIUFan]

3 hours ago, BearNorth said:

I thought about that last night.  Cook grades out very poorly as a pass blocker, but on obvious passing downs do we use him instead of a 3rd TE or 3rd WR and run him out of the slot or in motion, and use Gilliam [who is an elite pass blocker] as the back, seems to me there could be some interesting schemes that could come from that. He's certainly more dynamic in space than most of our wide receivers not named Shakir.

The goal of getting Cook more involved in the passing game is to find ways to getting your best playmaker the ball in space where his ability to make people miss is enhanced.  He is not a battering ram.  The clearest example is the one pass they ran in which Cook gained 11 yards. 
 

Line him up all over the formation.  GA split him out, threw halfback screens, etc…. Be creative.  

Edited 5 hours ago by GASabresIUFan

[HamptonBillsfan]

How can a team with seemingly no #1 or #2 receivers look so efficient and dominant against a great defense and DC? The answer is a really strong run game O-line and a play caller and QB that finds matchups that can be exploited. Our TEs who are really good in the pass game and getting downfield just found holes in a confused and a step slow KC secondary. Josh was so efficient and safe with his throws that every time we needed a score he found a way to shred their Spagnola designed defense. None of his blitzes got close, and Cook slashed his way to KC having to load the box opening up opportunities downfield for Josh. On defense, Hoecht made an impact before his devastating injury. He’ll be missed. Our secondary had their best game and made Mahomes look ordinary. I may have been wrong about Bishop. He looked physically tough and broke up some crucial 3rd down passes.

[GunnerBill]

15 minutes ago, Livinginthepast said:

That hit on Kelsey was years in the making! How many times have we seen Kelsey get wide open and then pay no price for catching a pass? !

 

 

 

But not enough years to know it is spelt Kelce, clearly!

[BearNorth]

5 minutes ago, HamptonBillsfan said:

Our secondary had their best game and made Mahomes look ordinary. I may have been wrong about Bishop. He looked physically tough and broke up some crucial 3rd down passes.

First time in his career Mahomes had a completion percentage under 50%.  Second lowest passer rating of his career, [He won the game with the lowest passer rating].

[fergie's ire]

11 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

 

6 - Defensive Line - While it sucks to lose Hoecht, and being without Oliver for the rest of the regular season, it was great to see the everyone else step up.  AJ played a great game, and smacked the sense out of Mahomes.  Bosa was a monster all game, minus the mind-numbing decision to stop his pressure on the 4th and 17 play.  Groot also was great in pursuit as well as against the run.  I would actually argue that Groot sneakily played one of the best games of the season.

 

 

 

I think "numb mind" is a perfect description, because I think the Chiefs played on Bosa's experience...got him to do something out of habit without thinking. Situational football, even if it IS a screen, you trust players downfield to rally to the ball in that situation.  However, I think when a DE is given a free pass like that, particularly someone with as much experience as Bosa, the DE's mind screams TRAP without even really thinking.  That feeling of being allowed to rush caused Bosa to pause for just a second which is what Mahomes needed.  It is one of those plays that has the potential to go horribly wrong, but when it works it's brilliant.

[Augie]

I’m still stuck on the holding call on Dawson Knox that brought back a nice gain and set up 3rd and very long. Did anyone see anything that looked like a hold there? Did I miss something? Calls like that can kill drives and decide games. 

 

I saw a college game this weekend where they talked about it and said no foul, and just picked up the flag. I’d like to see that play clearly and I’d like to know the background of who threw that flag. I don’t think for a minute the league dictates outcomes, but I don’t trust all the individuals involved. 

 

Regardless of what you think of Romo, I appreciated the times he was willing to say “I didn’t see anything there” when a flag was thrown. It was usually the Bills who were getting the short end of that deal. 

[tigerthelion]

I don't mind the decision to kick the field goal.  A field goal would have iced the game, and it wasn't like it was a 60 yard kick.  I think the field goal unit should have been on the field sooner, as the kick looked a bit rushed, but the decision to kick was not a bad one.   I would have like a bit more creativity on the 3rd down play, but running there was likely the correct move.  Passing to pick up a first down would have iced the game, but that is no guarantee to pick up the first and an incomplete would have left a fair amount of time on the clock. 

[Virgil]

1 hour ago, TH3 said:

So….you are off the ledge?

I promised myself that I wouldn’t let this game get my hyped for the teams season success, as we’ve been here before.  
 

What I do believe from this game:

-Josh fixed his issues 

-Running game is our key 

-We need one receiver to go with Kincaid and Shakir

-Even with Hoecht out, this pass rush can be dominant

-Linebackers and second safety spot can be an exploited liability

-McD isn’t the problem, but needs to keep a tighter eye on his coordinators 

 

We still have a tough schedule, but we have the positioning we would have wanted once the season started.  Come playoffs, all bets are off.  We can still get more injured.   
 

We have as good a chance as anyone, but that goes both ways. 

[fergie's ire]

1 minute ago, Augie said:

I’m still stuck on the holding call on Dawson Knox that brought back a nice gain and set up 3rd and very long. Did anyone see anything that looked like a hold there? Did I miss something? Calls like that can kill drives and decide games. 

 

I saw a college game this weekend where they talked about it and said no foul, and just picked up the flag. I’d like to see that play clearly and I’d like to know the background of who threw that flag. I don’t think for a minute the league dictates outcomes, but I don’t trust all the individuals involved. 

 

Regardless of what you think of Romo, I appreciated the times he was willing to say “I didn’t see anything there” when a flag was thrown. It was usually the Bills who were getting the short end of that deal. 

I saw the Chiefs player go by him...taking himself out of the play, so Knox steps through and puts his arm against him on the side...but didn't even really push, let alone hold.  It looked a bit like a D lineman doing a swim move.  I think it's one of those plays where the official looks up and sees an arm outside the frame and assumes he is holding.  It's a lot like the calls against Dawkins several times last year where he would chop down on the D lineman's hands so violently that the lineman would fall to the ground.  The official sees Dawkins' hands go to a players chest and sees the player falls and ASSUMES that he pulled him down.

[Virgil]

1 hour ago, BearNorth said:

I thought about that last night.  Cook grades out very poorly as a pass blocker, but on obvious passing downs do we use him instead of a 3rd TE or 3rd WR and run him out of the slot or in motion, and use Gilliam [who is an elite pass blocker] as the back, seems to me there could be some interesting schemes that could come from that. He's certainly more dynamic in space than most of our wide receivers not named Shakir.

I was actually impressed at how well Cook handled his limited blocked duties.  He got low on a few guys and held his own 

1 hour ago, Casey D said:

So maybe Beane is not a moron like many on this board contend when it comes to drafting and signing FAs.  Kincaid, Hairston Bishop Cook Walker Bosa  Hoecht to name a few.  Sure, he has some misses, all GMs do.  But I don't think he is a total idiot.

Bishop and Hairston working out would be a huge boost to his drafts by evaluations.  

[Augie]

1 minute ago, fergie's ire said:

I saw the Chiefs player go by him...taking himself out of the play, so Knox steps through and puts his arm against him on the side...but didn't even really push, let alone hold.  It looked a bit like a D lineman doing a swim move.  I think it's one of those plays where the official looks up and sees an arm outside the frame and assumes he is holding.  It's a lot like the calls against Dawkins several times last year where he would chop down on the D lineman's hands so violently that the lineman would fall to the ground.  The official sees Dawkins' hands go to a players chest and sees the player falls and ASSUMES that he pulled him down.

 

Yep, Chop Robinson got his weight ahead of himself and fell down near Dawkins. That is NOT a penalty on the Bills. If you call it a penalty, you should face scrutiny and be demoted to high school games if it continues. If you don’t SEE a penalty, you don’t throw a flag. 

[JustHewIt]

I'm (sort of) surprised by all the complaining about McDermott.  For whatever you want to say about the timeouts, to me that's totally outweighed by the 180 the defense has done since the bye.  If you're going to crap all over him for the defense when it's bad, you better praise him when it looks like this.

Also, I feel like criticism of the offense "almost giving the game away" in the second half is a bit ridiculous.  The narrative that everyone has beaten into oblivion is that we have no receivers whatsoever.  But then when we lean on our running game, run the clock. limit KC's possessions, all the sudden that's a horrible decision?  Would you rather throw it to our so-called crappy receivers, be inefficient and give the Chiefs an extra 2-3 possessions?  It's just constant goal-post moving by the negative nancies no matter what the team does.

Awesome, awesome win.  If you aren't flying high today then why even watch the team?

[Murdox]

The FG attempt at the end was probably favored by the probability numbers, as Matt Prater has a career FG% of 75% at 50+ yards.  The league average this year is hovering around 72%.  It was a great win, but I just hope we can find either a WR or an edge rusher (or both) before the trade deadline.