Stampede: Chiefs vs. Broncos

DEN - 17                  KC - 10

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (online; who own's an actual dictionary anymore), the definition of a stampede is: 1) a wild headlong rush or flight of frightened animals 2) a mass movement of people at a common impulse.

Remove the "frightened animals" part of the first definition, and you have exactly what Denver did to Kansas City yesterday. The Broncos stampeded the Chiefs (pun intended).

It was a hard game to watch from beginning to end. The loss sends the Chiefs to 4-5 heading into possibly the hardest five game stretch ever faced by a team. Two weeks ago following the Chargers overtime win, many fans, including myself, thought there should be no reason the Chiefs wouldn't be 6-3 heading into Foxboro for Monday Night Football against the Patriots. That way of thinking is now gone, and, to be honest, the Chiefs will be lucky to win another game all year based on the last two week's worth of performance.

As always, here's my game notes (complaining) of the Chiefs vs. Broncos game.

What the Chiefs Did Right

• As has been the theme as of late, there will not be very many 'rights.' But, out of keeping my sanity, I have to list some. 
• The one I want to start out on is, without question, the greatest catch I've ever seen and just might be the greatest catch in NFL history that didn't count. In case you missed it, of if you want to see it again, here's Jon Baldwin's catch behind Bronco's Brian Dawkins.
• The Chiefs would finish Sunday averaging 5.6 yards per carry, mostly helped out by the Chiefs longest rushing play of the year, a 34 yard scamper by Jackie Battle.
• The Chiefs defense limited Tim Tebow to just two completions the entire game, and that first completion didn't come until after halftime. 
• For the second straight week, the offense didn't turn the ball over.

What the Chiefs Could Have Done Better

• Here come's the easy part, figuring out essentially why the Chiefs didn't win the game. If I had told you before the game that the Broncos would lose both their starting running backs in the first quarter and that Tebow would complete only two passes the entire game, what would you have expected the outcome to be? Certainly not a Chiefs loss, but that is exactly what happened.
• As I said above, Willis McGahee and Knowshon Moreno were both lost for the game after injuries sustained in the first quarter against the Chiefs. Both were slicing through the Chiefs defense at the time, so when they left the game, I really believed the Chiefs would dominate the rest of the game. Not only did that not happen, but the Broncos continued to run the ball with success. Denver ran 55 run plays, 47 of those plays were to someone other than McGahee or Moreno. Lance Ball, the third string running back, had 96 yards on 30 carries (3.2 avg). 
• After McGahee and Moreno left the game, the Chiefs were a little more successful on defense. After Denver's first touchdown, they only allowed the Broncos offense on their side of the field once, and that was on a field goal. The deep pass from Tebow to Decker that went for a 56 yard touchdown was the only lapse the Chiefs defense had after the first quarter. Unfortunately, it was a big one.
• The Chiefs offense was the real concern. It has been absolutely inept over the last two weeks. There's plenty of blame to go around. The offensive line wasn't blocking well and couldn't pick up the blitz if it's life depended on it, surrendoring 4 sacks. The wide receivers couldn't hang on to passes that came their way and weren't getting separation as often as you would like. The running game was almost nonexistent, with Battle finishing with a team high 61 yards on 9 carries (6.8 avg). And, of course, the guy at the helm, Matt Cassel, had another lackluster performance. He would finish 13/28 (46%) for 93 yards (less yardage than Lance Ball had running) and a touchdown. 
• To go ontop of a poor performance, Cassel was hurt with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and it was deemed by the training staff that he was too injured to go back out there on the Chiefs final possession. As Kent Babb reported from the Kansas City Star, "Matt Cassel left the stadium wearing a cast on his right hand. Had index and middle fingers immobilized." Matt Cassel indicated that he would be ready to play on Monday night, but it's wait-and-see right now with the Chiefs.
• All-in-all, another poor performance from the entire team. I'll have more on the AFC West later.