The Houston Texans were out for blood Sunday afternoon, and the Chiefs never stood a chance. The Texans defense dominated Alex Smith and the Chiefs offense from start to finish.
Truthfully, if not for a pretty solid effort from the Chiefs’ defense and special teams that would have turned into a total blowout. Several dropped passes, 3 turnovers, and 9, yes 9 penalties against the Chiefs in that game, the team looked like they hadn’t even began to prepare for Houston. Now, the Texans are a very good defense, JJ Watt alone is a pretty good defense, but pair him with Jadeveon Clowney, Whitney Mercilus, and Vince Wilfork you have a pretty exceptional group. That being said, there was no excuse for the Chiefs to lay the egg that they did yesterday. Alex Smith who had the game of his life in the comeback victory against San Diego week 1, looked like a shell of himself all day. He lost 2 fumbles, took 4 sacks (only 1 of which could be blamed on his offensive line), and even threw an interception (though a defensive penalty negated the INT). Alex had a bad day, but the only thing that exceeded his bad play, was the horrific day had by the wide receivers. Jeremy Maclin himself, who dropped a total of 2 passes in the last 2 YEARS, dropped 3 in this game. Albert Wilson alligator armed another sure catch, and a couple others were missed as well. In all, there were 4 “official” drops, to me it felt more like 6 or 7. Coach Reid, despite the team averaging 6.3 yards per carry, abandoned the run game early on in this one. The offense never got into any sort of a rhythm, and the end result was a 0 TD performance and a 7 point loss on the road. If not for Cairo Santos being brilliant the Chiefs would have been shut out, and even Santos wasn’t perfect – kicking the ball out of bounds at a key moment in the second half. Overall here’s how the game graded out in my eyes:
- Offense – F – No other way to describe it. The run game was abandoned, the Quarterback was bad, the receivers were awful, and the line was average at best in their performance.
- Defense – B – The Defense played pretty decent for the most part, a few struggles early on with coverage on DeAndre Hopkins. Marcus Peters got his first 2 interceptions of the season, but also (for a 2nd straight week) got a ridiculous taunting penalty along the way. Twitter blew up when the penalty occurred, and while I agree what he did was minor…but the fact that he did it right in the face of the receiver is what drew the flag. 2 weeks in a row for Peters getting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, and now he’s got a target on his back. He’s a tremendously talented player with all the upside in the world, he’s just got to keep his emotions in a little better check on the field. Overall though, the defense did their job and kept the team in the game.
- Special Teams – B+ – Would be an A grade but for 2 things, 1) The kickoff out of bounds and 2) Steven Nelson’s terrible holding call negating a kick return for touchdown. The 2nd of the 2 offenses was most critical, there was NO REASON for Nelson to hold on that kick, he wasn’t near the play! Total lapse in judgement and directly cost the team 7 points. The kick out of bounds was more bad luck than anything else, bad bounce right before the goal line and it gave the Texans good field position at a time when the Chiefs needed a defensive stop.
Other takeaways:
- Albert Wilson may need to go – the guy can’t catch in traffic, alligator armed a catch, and has no dynamic ability once the ball is in his hand. He brings very little to the table.
- Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali are still great – Both players got a sack in the game (thanks for the Big Macs), and DJ once again lead the team in tackles with 11 total stops.
- Cairo Santos has become a bonafide Weapon – Tied is career long field goal (53 yards) on Sunday, went 4/4 for Field Goals overall, and add to that the 58 yarder he made in the preseason; the Brazillian born Santos has proven himself to be a star in the kicking game for Kansas City!
- Pass Rush Needs help – Put Dadi Nicolas on the field! The preseason standout hasn’t been on the field at all yet in the regular season, yet the ineffective Dee Ford, Frank Zombo, and even Dezman Moses continue to see playing time.
- Tyreke Hill is FAST – He is electrifying every time he touches the ball. If he can stay out of trouble off the field, he will be a major play maker for this team for a long time.
- The Depth of this Team shows on Special Teams – Coverage units were rock solid all the way around, both Ty Hill and Demarcus Robinson (WRs by trade) made great hits and tackles in punt coverage. The depth of this team shows through great special teams.
That pretty much wraps up that crappy game. This week the Chiefs look to get back on the winning track as they return home and welcome the 1-1 New York Jets. The Jets will be coming in with 3 extra days rest under their belt after taking care of the Bills last Thursday. Chiefs and Jets Sunday at Noon pregame coverage starts right here at 11 on Topeka’s Rock Leader V100!
Go Chiefs!
-McLuckie
