Offensive Stats to Ponder

Number of drives: 11 (Last game: 10)

Average starting field position: 24 yard line (Last game: 31 yard line)

Average number of plays per drive: 5.6 (Last game: 6.2)

Average net yards gained per drive: 17.2 (Last game: 28.4)

Average drive time: 2:30 (Last game: 3:03 minutes)

Longest drive: 80 yards (Last game: 73 yards)

Time of possession: 27:29 (Last game: 30:11)

Box score is here. Gamebook is here (PDF opens).

Look familiar?

Let's see...third down efficiency was 26%...four total plays in the red zone...offensive line gave up five sacks...the team gained 55 yards rushing against 2007's second worst run defense...

From a stat perspective, last week's game was a total regression to a version of last year's team. The narrative of the star-crossed offense and the good but tragically flawed defense was played out last year.

Wasn't it?

Apparently not. And because of that, I'm repeating the mantra...we're rebuilding...we're rebuilding. Jon at MVN is right and I agree with him in principle but that principle doesn't mean my skepticism hasn't risen quite a bit in the last 24 hours. Sunday's mistakes pointed directly at the coaching staff IMO and it's the same old issues showing up again.

Okay, enough of that rant. On to the stats.

Dwayne Bowe and Devard Daring were the only two Chiefs receivers to make a catch against the Raiders and Bowe made six of those two's combined seven catches. In the confusion surrounding the rest of the team, we seem to have forgotten that the Chiefs really have zero depth at wide receiver. I applaud Bowe for coming back and performing quite brilliantly down the stretch of Sunday's game but he can't be the only legitimate wide receiver on this team. That act will be easy to figure out quite quickly for opposing defenses. I consider this a major area of concern but this team is in triage here, so we'll set this problem aside for now.

You can see the preference for Bowe's right side in the chart below, not that throwing the ball his way is a bad idea or anything. We don't have the talent credibility to warrant taking a defender away from Bowe.

I did a quick look at some other team's deep ball stats and ours aren't horribly out of whack. Most teams haven't tested the deep threat it appears.

Here's an interesting stat to point out - the Chiefs didn't even attempt to run the ball on their one scoring drive. The only score by the Chiefs, a TD in the 4th quarter, came after two Raider penalties and nine pass attempts by Tyler Thigpen. Here's how that drive broke down:

Pass deep right to Bowe (30 yards)
Pass short right to Smith (6 yards)
Pass short right to Bowe (15 yards)
Pass short right to Smith (no gain)
Pass incomplete short right to Smith
Defensive offsides (5 yards)
Pass short middle to Darling (10 yards)
Defensive pass interference (7 yards)
Pass incomplete short middle to Gonzalez
Pass short right to Gonzalez (5 yards)
Pass short left to Gonzalez for the TD (2 yards)

I'm not surprised by the fact that we passed to score, considering 17 of our 24 touchdowns last year came via the pass. It's already looking like that will be the case again this year, as the Chiefs are forced to play catch up each game and move the ball quickly with the pass. If I were Larry Johnson, I wouldn't be expecting anything close to a big season. So, why did I draft him in my fantasy league? Arghh!

Anyone remember what week of the 2007 season the Chiefs scored their first rushing touchdown? Anyone? Week 6, against the Bengals.

We should brace ourselves after looking over these eerily similar stats to last year. LJ is going to get more and more pissed off and rightly so. Time to start researching how much of a cap hit we would take if we traded him.

(Photo by Ed Surga)

Here is the Kansas City Chiefs down analysis, including data through Week 2 of the regular season. Last week's numbers are here. Here is the short version - the Chiefs have passed and ran the ball equally on first down and we pass a lot more on second and third down than we rush the ball. Signs of a good team? I don't think so.

The more extensive analysis by down is after the jump, including evidence for those who feel the Chiefs run the ball towards the middle too often. More stats and stuff to come tomorrow.

First Down

24 rushing plays (2.46 average yards per rush), 24 passing plays (1.62 average yards per passing play)

Second Down

16 rushing plays (5 average yards per rush), 28 passing plays (7.39 average yards per passing play)

Third Down

5 rushing plays (2.6 average yards per rush), 26 passing plays (2.96 average yards per passing play

Fourth Down

0 rushing plays (0 average yards per rush), 1 passing plays (0 average yards per passing play)

Continue reading this post »

 

So this is the part where I come in and cheer everyone up and talk about all the good things that came out of yesterdays game....

Well, there was how good our developmental QB is progressing... Oh wait, he went 14/33 with an interception (and about 4 more that SHOULD have been interceptions)

Well you can't deny that our defense has really improved against the run.  Err... yeah, I forgot.  The Raiders ran the ball for 300 yards on us even though JaMarcus Russell couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the passing game.

Well, to be honest the only thing I can really think of is how much fun we're going to have at the draft in April.

Tighten your chinstraps Chiefs fans.  This is going to be a LONG season.

More tragic comedy after the jump...

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And the bottom of the AFC, and possibly even the bottom of the NFL.

I compare this loss to last year's second loss to Denver on December 9th. We were dealt a demoralizing blow by a division rival who isn't even good. No use suffering too much over this loss so let's jump right in. DJ has his take on the game coming up in just a bit so make sure you check back.

Lack of a Strategy

There was little to no organized plan by the Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff going into this game. The schizophrenic offensive attack of recent practice squad member Marques Hagans, Damon Huard, a completely unprepared Tyler Thigpen and an uninspired Larry Johnson was a complete dud for the Chiefs on Sunday.

The need to get Jamaal Charles the ball more, which Herm Edwards mentioned earlier this week, was completely ignored. Charles was handed the ball three times and caught only one pass. I'm still at a loss for an explanation for this.

Along with getting Jamaal Charles the ball more, how about getting it to Larry Johnson a few more times than twelve for the entire game? I'm puzzled by this one.

Dwayne Bowe, who caught six passes for 90 yards, was far and away the most productive player on the field. Tony Gonzalez caught a touchdown and five passes but never really factored into the "rhythm" of the offense. There was no varied attack employed really at any point during the game. Again, poor planning in my opinion.

Finally, Marques Hagans' entrance and play during the game felt weird. Is this a Herm Edwards offense? It felt like Herm was trying to show how off how experimental he can be but he never pulled it off.

Too invested in the youth movement

I have repeatedly mentioned in the previous weeks my extreme skepticism of Tyler Thigpen's ability to play quarterback in the NFL. That skepticism was confirmed yesterday as a confused Thigpen passed for 151 yards (14/33) and one interception. The major issue I had with that move was that Thigpen was completely unprepared for yesterday's game, much like the Chiefs' offensive strategy. I know he's the third string quarterback but at the very least you need that player to know the nuances of the position and read defenses. Thigpen did none of that yesterday and should have, really should have had at least two interceptions, if not more.

The problem with experimenting so heavily with the quarterback is that position is one of the few if not the only positions that can negatively affect the rest of the entire team. Again, I know that the Chiefs' hand was forced into playing Thigpen but I am making the argument that his roster spot alone is a serious personnel mistake. He shouldn't have been in there in the first place.

Savage Inactive

So, how do you like B.J. Sams? Dantrell Savage was inactive and since I haven't heard any other reason to suggest why he was, it seems like the Chiefs are starting to prefer B.J. Sams in the kick return game. Who knows, Savage could be active next week and Sams could sit. Whoever plays, the Chiefs special teams attack is boring. We will fight bad field position all year long and it will hurt us every game.

Rush defense has become a major problem

See, the Oakland Raiders actually watched the last few Chiefs games it appears and found out that if you want to, your team can run all over this defense.

The Raiders dominated, completely dominated the line of scrimmage. Oakland topped 300 yards rushing on 47 attempts. Check out the balance of this attack, which likely would have been worse if Justin Fargas had not left the game with an injury early in the first half.

The final numbers for Oakland were Darren McFadden (164 yards); Michael Bush (90 yards); and Justin Fargas (43 yards). Talk about letting anyone and everyone run over your defense.

Let's take a quick look back at how teams have fared on the ground against our defense, starting with Week 1 of the 2007 season.

Turk McBride was injured yesterday and walked off the field under his own power. I haven't heard anything on him but I do know that the backups at defensive end are weak. Alfonso Boone is an alright replacement but I had a hint of a feeling that McBride was on the path to exciting things this season. I hope he's back soon.

You can't say much more than it was a total failure by all parties when a team gives up 300 yards rushing.

Special teams led by Pollard

Two fumble recoveries and a knack for almost blocking many a punt has made Bernard Pollard the player on special teams. Pollard also chased down a speeding Darren McFadden to make a last ditch tackle and forced a fumble out of bounds. Unfortunately, the Chiefs' offense went three and out after the first recovery and then Thigpen threw an INT on the second possession after the fumble recovery.

Bright spots

Dwayne Bowe made those of you who bad mouthed his talent last week look bad this week. 45 of Bowe's 90 yards receiving came on the team's only scoring drive. His 30-yard catch down the sideline in the 4th quarter was the catch of the NFL season, without question.

If I'm going to rag on the rush defense I might as well point out that the Chiefs defense held the Raiders passing attack to 55 yards. Although I suspect this was about 25% effort by our guys and 75% because the Raiders' passing offense is worse than ours.

Should rebuilding be this painful?

No, it should not be. To a certain degree you can blame this loss on the inexperience at many key positions but I believe that most of the blame for this loss is on the coaching staff. As I've mentioned before, what was the plan of attack on offense? Why weren't there adjustments made to stop the Raiders' rushing attack? 233 of their rushing yards came in the second half.

Last week, when Brodie Croyle was injured, I finally found myself admitting that he likely wasn't the quarterback of the future in Kansas City. It had taken a long time for me to do that in face of a lot of evidence to the contrary and I'm nearing that point with Herm Edwards. I need to see some improvement and not total breakdowns. Herm needs to stop repeating the same mistakes everyone always says he makes.

The Basement

The Raiders suck and we suck even more. NFL teams have shown in the past how quickly they can turn things around but I'm skeptical with this group.

More so than any other feeling, I'm confused by yesterday's loss. What were the objectives on offense and defense to stop the Raiders? What were the conversations happening between the coaching staff? Why are there seemingly no logical explanations for a lot of what happened yesterday?

Box score is here.

All I was looking for was offensive improvement today and I got none of it. The Tyler Thigpen experiment is hopefully over after today's game. The run defense is still just as questionable as it was last season.

The Raiders ran all over the Chiefs today and it wasn't pretty. This is the post game thread so jump over here from the game thread.

When: Noon central time

Where: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

SBN Affiliate: Silver and Black Pride

Chiefs Blogs: Home of the Chiefs, Arrowhead Addict, BobGretz.com, KC Chiefs Football, Red Zone, The Mothership and KC Chiefs Fanatic.

Coverage of the game leading up to now is here.

Injury reports are here.

Listen online here.

Yes. The first home game of the 2008 season. I wish I was there.

Game time is noon so get what you need to get done beforehand and get ready to watch the Kansas City Chiefs run out of the tunnel at Arrowhead Stadium.

GOOOOOOO CHIEFS!!!

Poll

Your job asks you to relocate to Oakland. You...

• Respectfully resign on the spot
• Wonder aloud, "That city survived the 1989 earthquake?" and look confused until you're asked to leave the room
• Agree to relocate...for one bajillion dollars
• Laugh for three days straight and then quit

  145 votes | Results

Just a quick mention this morning from yesterday's press conference about Jamaal Charles, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Kansas City Chiefs.

"Yeah. He needs to touch the ball more. It all boils down to this on offense. We have some players on offense that have some skill. The more you stay on the field, the more you can just play. That gives you the ability to let those guys touch the ball. You only get between 10-11 possessions in a football game, and it’s very hard to get those guys touches when you go three-and-out. I think we had four three-and-outs last week and that’s a little bit too many. You’d like to keep it within two, three at the most. Then if you get 11 possessions you’ve got to play to get six, seven, eight, ten-play drives and all those guys come and play for you. If you go three-and-out it’s very difficult to get those guys the ball."

Sure, "He needs to touch the ball more" is a Hermism in its most basic form. But last week, one of the very few players I got excited about watching was Jamaal Charles. In a much more effective way than Kolby Smith, Charles is that lightning to Larry Johnson's thunder. Also, as the Chiefs offensive line goes through the inevitable growing pains, a quick back like Charles can do more damage with cuts and speed than LJ could do with his North-South style of running.

Open thread here tomorrow, don't forget. I was in a team building workshop deal on Thursday and Friday, which is why I wasn't able to update the site like we normally do. I'm back from that and ready to hunker down and ride out this hurricane tropical storm thunder storm brief rain shower they predicted we would get in Austin this weekend.

I think stray dogs is a pretty good way to describe those rapscallions the Oakland Raiders. Mangy. Dirty. Smelly. They're always on the outside of the window, staring longingly to get in. Doomed to a life of pain that seems inevitable. Sure, you may give a Raider fan a leftover sometime but you would never take him in. Okay, I'm not making sense. Here is the preview promised to get to you by yesterday this morning.

More so than any other franchise, Raider fans love, absolutely love to play dress up. Isn't that the gorilla robot from Showbiz/Chuckie Cheese pizza? (Photo source)

In past years, the week leading up to the Oakland Raiders playing the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium would be a much more rambunctious, intense affair. But, like every preview I've read this week has mentioned, the air has been let out of the rivalry over the last few years because each team is, well, pretty much terrible.

First, I want to share with you the one and only video that "Arrowhead Pride" has uploaded on YouTube, Raiders fan stabs Chargers fan. I didn't take this video of course but I apparently was the first one to upload it to YouTube. It sat idle for a long time, with no comments. Then, for some reason, over the last six months or so I've been getting email notifications about the new comments on the page. Some good size link is sending people to this clip. Or people really hate the Raiders.

Are all Raiders fans no good punks who are shanking opposing fans to settle disputes? No, no. Just the ones who attend the games.

In case you missed it, the Raiders got walloped by the Denver Broncos on Monday night by a score of 41 to 14. Denver QB Jay Cutler (insert a Primetime compliment about Cutler here) cracked 300 yards passing on just sixteen attempts. Rookie Eddie Royal had (gasp!) 146 yards receiving and a touchdown. Jamarcus Russel had 180 yards passing on one more completion than Cutler.

In other words, the Raiders are terrible. As usual. And the difference between the Raiders' terribleness and the Chiefs' is that the Chiefs actually have a direction and a purpose for being so poor instead of just throwing tons of cash at a few players and hoping things work out. The Raiders do not a have a plan. Their franchise plan is not unlike you playing in the franchise mode in Madden. It's all a video game to Raiders owner Al Davis.

(I spent the last five minutes trying to work in this quote from Caddyshack - "I have to laugh, because I've outsmarted even myself. My enemy, my foe, is an animal. In order to conquer the animal, I have to learn to think like an animal. And, whenever possible, to look like one." No luck unfortunately. It's gotta fit somewhere!)

Speaking of pretend football, Al Davis also treats his money like pretend money. Davis signed defensive tackle Tommy Kelly to a deal worth $18 million in guarantees and signed the highly overrated cornerback DeAngelo Hall to a deal worth $25 million in guarantees.

Former Raider and future Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp had this hilarious quote about Hall:

DeAngelo Hall has been getting burnt since he was in Atlanta," Sapp said. "This is nothing new. DeAngelo Hall is the flashiest, burnt-up corner in the history of the game. He gets burnt more than anyone else, and he all of a sudden is this great Pro Bowl cover corner. I never saw that in DeAngelo Hall. He would gamble and do everything unsound on the corner.

Did I mention Davis also signed former Bronco WR Javon Walker to a deal worth $16 million in guaranteed money? I mean, this stuff writes itself. I don't even need to make it funny.

Like Jon at Home of the Chiefs, I think this weekend's match up could be very good for the Chiefs defensive line. Football Outsiders pegged the 2007 Raider offensive line as middle of the road in run blocking and towards the bottom sixth of the league in pass protection. I like the line match ups for the Chiefs because I'm a firm believer that you blitz and pressure a young quarterback as much as possible in order to make him less effective. Hopefully, this game is a breakout game for Tamba Hali, who is still auditioning for the lead role in this Chiefs defense.

I also expect Damon Huard to slowly but surely get the Chiefs in the end zone a couple of times. It's looking like Croyle's days are numbered in KC, at least after this season. So, I'm a Huard supporter until we actually figure this QB thing out. Like Primetime has said, the QB position is probably the one position on the field that can affect the entire rest of the team negatively. Huard won't do that this weekend and should be okay.

That's all I will touch on for now, considering this preview is getting a bit long. In the meantime, click here to search YouTube for "Oakland Raiders suck" and check out what videos come up. Lots of fights and burning of Raider apparel, which was a bit troubling to watch.

To get things going this morning, what individual match ups do you think favor the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend?