Around The League V.2

[Mr Raider]

I don't think anyone is suggesting writing the Chiefs off. They have simply played too well and had too much success over a several year period not to earn that benefit of the doubt. 

The turnovers have been the biggest factor in them losing 2 games in a row, but I don't think that is something you can totally sweep under the rug either when it's been happening with the frequency it has to this point in the season. You can't expect them to keep turning it over nearly as much or regularly in big spots, but regardless of how much good will guys like Mahomes, Reid, Kelce, Hill, and company have earned any way you slice it a team that a lot in the media and a lot of fans legitimately talked about having the potential to go undefeated or be a one or two loss team and the odds on favorite to win the super bowl being 1-2 after 3 games and needing the Browns to totally choke away a win in week 1 to not be staring at 0-3 is not nothing. 

You can say a play here or there or without the turnovers they are 3-0 but you can play that game with almost every team in the NFL. The fact is they are 1-2 and in last place in the division currently. And they have gotten there by making some absolutely terrible decisions, sloppy fundamentals and awareness which both have led to a lot of turnovers, a defense that has played as bad as any team in the NFL, especially among the playoff contending teams (right there with the Bucs). They can't stop the run, and when they have been able to stop the run they have been giving up a ton of big plays in the passing game. They have the most invested into the DL in the NFL and are getting the least amount of pressure and sacks from it. And they are doing this while being extremely healthy in comparison. 

Hill and Kelce are obviously elite, but so far teams have been able to game plan with limiting them as much as possible and making ANYONE else beat them, and the Chiefs haven't been up to the task. Will every team be able to do that consistently? Obviously not. But the playoff caliber teams may be able to. And when that happens Mahomes has been forcing things and making bad decisions. Combine that with a rebuilt OL that was supposed to be a strength surrendering a lot of pressure regularly and I don't think you can say it's a lock any of those issues have an instant fix. All of them being fixed together is a long shot. 

Mahomes, Reid, Kelce, Hill and company are obviously not out of it. They will play bad teams and blow the doors off them, they will win games against good teams. But they do have some serious holes and deficiencies. And I honestly think them looking so beatable and vulnerable for 3 straight weeks is the worst thing. They haven't lost simply on flukes or other teams getting lucky. They have looked like the worse team for significant stretches. And for the first time in the Mahomes era people are questioning that team and their invincibility. They are questioning if they are good enough to beat the really good teams. Instead of being penciled in as the lock super bowl team they were before the season. 

That's alarming regardless of anything else and only makes their road tougher. Am I counting them out? Absolutely not. It's still their division until proven otherwise. They are still a playoff team. Still a double digit win team. But we showed last year when they looked like the best team in football that we can play with them, and beat them. And to this point we should only be more confident that is still the case. Not to mention the rest of the division is better and aren't easy wins for them to build momentum. 

The Chiefs shouldn't be panicked. But they also can't sit there and convince anyone there's no cause for alarm or that they don't have some serious holes. They are more than talented enough offensively to overcome them. I'm not so sure they are defensively but that offensive talent can overcome a lot. Any way you slice it though with the Raiders and Broncos being 3-0 and the Chargers being 2-1 with one win over the Chiefs and another loss to a team likely to be fighting for a playoff spot in the AFC their margin for error is much smaller than years past and what they expected coming into the year. And they better get things figured out immediately. They wouldn't be the first super potent offense to suffer a super bowl hangover and dig a hole too deep to get out of and vastly underachieve the following year. And I've seen a team through 3 weeks we have no reason to believe we can't take the division from them. Even if it still seems unlikely because of their reputation at this point.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Mr Raider

[BayRaider]

6 hours ago, NYRaider said:

How many QB's would thrive in a situation where they're getting sacked 9 times? The Bears OL and run game is terrible. 

Mac looked okay when he could lean on the run game and defense. As soon as he was asked to make plays to keep them in the game he completely folded. 

Dalton was doing fine. Fields needs development, everyone knew that. He can’t read defenses. At all. And I like Fields. 

[BayRaider]

Yeah no one should be sleeping on the Chiefs. Still my pick to win the west.

[Darbsk]

Did anyone see the beautiful FB sneak the 49ers did with Juskczek and Lance? That would work beautifully with Ingold and Mariota...........

[Jeremy408]

9 hours ago, NYRaider said:

He has no talent? He has the greatest coach in NFL history, one of the best offensive coordinators in the league, one of the best defenses in the league, one of the best running games in the league, one of the best offensive lines in the league, and they just paid a ton of money to pass catchers with guys like Agholor, Bourne, Jonu, and Henry. 

The biggest issue with Mac is that he's just not that physically gifted. He got away with at Alabama because he was surrounded by elite talent that made him look incredible. Even the first two games he looked solid when he was able to lean on the run game and the defense. But when the time came for him to make plays to keep them in the game, he couldn't.

That’s what I mean by he doesn’t have actual talent. So he hast to be good right now because that’s the thing that he had going for him out of the draft that he’s not going to make mistakes like say someone like Zach Wilson or Justin fields because he doesn’t necessarily need time to develop there’s just nothing to develop. We’re saying the same thing

[Jeremy408]

1 hour ago, BayRaider said:

Dalton was doing fine. Fields needs development, everyone knew that. He can’t read defenses. At all. And I like Fields. 

All that RPO stuff is cute on the goal line when you don’t have to actually march up the field and read real NFL defenses. 

[Jeremy408]

8 hours ago, NYRaider said:

How many QB's would thrive in a situation where they're getting sacked 9 times? The Bears OL and run game is terrible. 

Mac looked okay when he could lean on the run game and defense. As soon as he was asked to make plays to keep them in the game he completely folded. 

The Bears are running the football well week one against the Rams which happened to be the best defense they played all year. Do you wanna know the difference? The quarterback got the ball out quick and actually knew how to read NFL defenses and play NFL style quarterback.
 

What happens is if you put a rookie in there that’s going to hold the ball longer and it’s really just looking to run, defenses know that so they’re going to focus on stopping the run because I know this guy is not gonna be able to read our schemes. Plus when the game is too fast for you and you don’t know how to read NFL defense as you hold the ball much longer because you don’t know who is actually open and who’s not.

This is what I was talking about week one when I said I would rather play Justin fields over Andy Dalton. 
 

The sad part is the bears are in a sucky situation because Mack is 30 now scheduled to make nearly $30 million over the next three seasons so they need to figure out a way to win which is hard to do when you don’t have a good quarterback.
 

Something to remember: A lot of things teams do look good/exciting  during draft season but at some point you have to actually lineup and play.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Jeremy408

[SBXISBXVSBXVIII]

The only thing that matters to me in this thread is the Chiefs being 1-2 and in last place in the division

[big_palooka]

I won't judge Fields until he has an actual coach/GM. Nagy is absolute bum. They had no business keeping him around another year. He calls a terrible offense and cannot manage a game. 

Ryan Pace should also be shown the door. He's wasted picks and failed to build a competent Oline around 2 young QBs now. Mack's best football is behind him it's looking like and they are paying him a fortune on a team with no direction or playoff aspirations. 

They need to blow the whole thing up and try again.

[big_palooka]

1 hour ago, SBXISBXVSBXVIII said:

The only thing that matters to me in this thread is the Chiefs being 1-2 and in last place in the division

If KC misses the playoffs and the Raiders win the west I'll get my haircut like Mark Davis

[agarcia34]

We gonna find out about those Broncos on Sunday. That cupcake schedule is done with. Beat the Ravens Sunday I’ll give them credit.

[NYRaider]

3 hours ago, Jeremy408 said:

The Bears are running the football well week one against the Rams which happened to be the best defense they played all year. Do you wanna know the difference? The quarterback got the ball out quick and actually knew how to read NFL defenses and play NFL style quarterback.
 

What happens is if you put a rookie in there that’s going to hold the ball longer and it’s really just looking to run, defenses know that so they’re going to focus on stopping the run because I know this guy is not gonna be able to read our schemes. Plus when the game is too fast for you and you don’t know how to read NFL defense as you hold the ball much longer because you don’t know who is actually open and who’s not.

This is what I was talking about week one when I said I would rather play Justin fields over Andy Dalton. 

The sad part is the bears are in a sucky situation because Mack is 30 now scheduled to make nearly $30 million over the next three seasons so they need to figure out a way to win which is hard to do when you don’t have a good quarterback.

Something to remember: A lot of things teams do look good/exciting  during draft season but at some point you have to actually lineup and play.

They were running the ball very well against the Rams? Their backs had 22 carries for 120 yards and 41 of those yards came on the very first play of the game. After that they had 21 carries for 79 yards (3.7 ypc) so I wouldn't say they were running the ball well. The following week against the Bengals their backs had 22 carries for 67 yards. And in both games their offensive line gave up 3 sacks. 

The Bears offensive line is terrible and the Browns, who have one of the best defenses in the league, came after Fields. He was sacked 9 times on 29 drop backs. The score was 10-3 at half time and the Bears received the ball to start the second half. They started the half with 3 straight pass plays, 2 incompletions and a sack. And David Montgomery only had 3 carries the entire second half. 

Fields struggles yesterday were primarily because Nagy failed to protect his rookie QB with easy throws and leaning on the run game. Instead he asked him to beat one of the best teams in the league by pushing the ball down the field and they feasted on him behind the Bears terrible offensive line. 

Chicago will be fine, they need to move on from Nagy/Pace and hire a competent GM and HC. They need Teven Jenkins back instead of relying on a 40 year old LT to protect their QB's blind side. But they have pieces in place, Montgomery is one of the best RB in the league, Robinson is one of the best WRs in the league and they have a few other interesting young weapons and solid young OL as well. 

[NYRaider]

5 hours ago, BayRaider said:

Dalton was doing fine. Fields needs development, everyone knew that. He can’t read defenses. At all. And I like Fields. 

Dalton was doing fine? They scored 1 TD with him playing against the Bengals before he got hurt and got smacked by the Rams.

[BayRaider]

20 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Dalton was doing fine? They scored 1 TD with him playing against the Bengals before he got hurt and got smacked by the Rams.

He could at least move the ball and has one of the fastest releases in the NFL. Fields holds onto the ball forever because he can’t read defenses. 

[BayRaider]

3 hours ago, big_palooka said:

I won't judge Fields until he has an actual coach/GM. Nagy is absolute bum. They had no business keeping him around another year. He calls a terrible offense and cannot manage a game. 

Ryan Pace should also be shown the door. He's wasted picks and failed to build a competent Oline around 2 young QBs now. Mack's best football is behind him it's looking like and they are paying him a fortune on a team with no direction or playoff aspirations. 

They need to blow the whole thing up and try again.

Whether Fields is good next year or not won’t have much to do with Nagy, it’ll be because he had a year experience and better at reading defenses. Fields went 4th QB in this draft because he’s the worst at reading defenses, although much more gifted than Mac Jones. I am a Fields believer, and wanted him in the draft, but under no circumstances should he have played the first 8-10 weeks of the season.