Winners And Losers: Chiefs Vs. Colts
8 repliesLet’s not kid ourselves.
Everyone woke up Monday morning pretending we are just fine at 2-0. If Indianapolis doesn’t blink on fourth and eight in overtime, decides to go for the jugular, and rips out our throats, this city spends Monday morning staring at the ceiling wondering what the hell just happened. Winners feeling like losers…
Chiefs fans were not ready for a loss. Not after dragging ourselves through last season, waiting all offseason for things to get right, and then beating the tails off the donkey on Monday Night Football. It was simply too soon for a fall from the glory of victory.
Sunday night was a four quarter battle of heart attacks versus red and gold passion where the Chiefs did just enough to not kill us or our hope. We got the win, but we survived by barely holding on like the end of a cheesy action movie. A win counts in the standings, but you have to acknowledge how close this team came to losing and realize—who cares. We won!
🎶Two and oh-oh-oh-ohhh… oh-oh-OH-oh🎶 Tomahawk Chop.
Welcome to winners and losers!
Let’s get started, alright now.
Winner: Travis Kelce
He is washed. He is too old. Clearly Taylor Swift drained every bit of football out of her freshly branded husband, Mr. Swift. He’s done, right?
WRONG!
Sunday night, Travis Kelce officially passed Marshall Faulk for the most career yards after the catch in NFL history. YAC Champion (You gotta fight for your right to party). Let that settle in for a second. An old tight end in Year 14 holds the all-time YAC crown over every single (or married) player who ever touched the ball in this league. Winner!
Nine catches, 101 yards, a touchdown, and still finding open grass against excellent coverage when nobody else can get free. Put some respect on his name.
Loser: Settling For Field Goals and That Early Miss
Accumulating field goals while letting an opponent hang around is how you give away home games. Obviously, Harrison Butker made the game-winner at the end of overtime, so he gets to be the hero on the post-game graphic. But he missed an easy one earlier in the game that had fans cursing his name.
That miss is the exact reason Kansas City was sweating out sudden death with zero room for error. You cannot leave points on the field against NFL teams. Butker pulled the team out of the fire, but he helped build the fire in the first place. For that, he’s on the loser list.
We do love you, Harrison Butker. You’re our kicker (the best in the league), but we fucking hate missing field goals in Kansas City, especially against the Colts. It’s nightmare fuel.
Winner: Emmett Johnson
Every single time this Nebraska kid touches the ball, something positive happens. He doesn’t hesitate or dance around aimlessly. He makes everyone in the immediate area miss and leaves defenders grabbing air, but once the crowd shows up, he’s going down.
He might not take it the distance, but the Chiefs have needed that kind of twitchy, ankle-breaking juice for years. Johnson looks comfortable every single snap, run or pass. Give the kid the ball more often. Winner!
Winner: Kenneth Walker III in Overtime
Week 1 made him look completely unstoppable. Week 2 showed he is human, because the Colts bottled him up for chunks of the game, but he was still incredibly impressive throughout. Then overtime started and he was the WINNER!
When the situation got desperate, Walker took over. He churned out tough yards to get the offense to midfield, then took that screen twenty-two yards to put Butker in range to end it. When the team needed to close the door, Walker finished the job and Butker nailed it shut for the win!
Winner: Tyquan Thornton
Four catches for 86 yards, including a 45-yard deep ball on third and long that completely changed the sideline energy when things were looking grim (be the Grim Reaper). He gets open down the field with ease, and he brings the vertical threat this offense has been begging for since Tyreek Hill made it look so easy. Note to the Chiefs: stop treating him like an afterthought and get him six to eight deep targets every single game. Thornton Hears A Winner!
Loser: The Xavier Worthy Game Plan
Worthy caught a touchdown, so anyone glancing at the box score thinks the plan worked.
It didn’t.
His usage makes no sense. Xavier Worthy is built like a yard marker. He weighs less than the football. Yet the coaching staff continues to dial up screens and short passes where he is expected to break tackles against defenders who have eighty pounds on him.
Every time Andy Reid or the coaches talk about Worthy, they bring up his shoulder healing. If his shoulder is banged up, why are they feeding him into defenders endlessly?
If the offense insists on making receivers break tackles on short throws, give those snaps to Rashee Rice or Emmett Johnson. Worthy and Thornton should be sprinting down the field, stretching the secondary, blowing the roof off the coverage, and tiring out the defense. Stop running Worthy into brick walls—that play calling is not worthy. Loser.
Winner: The Tonga Truck
Fourth and one. You need a single yard. Don’t get cute with a sweep or an empty backfield. You hand the ball to Khyiris Tonga, all 330 pounds of him, and let physics do the job. Watching Tonga line up in the backfield and bulldoze forward for a crucial first down was pure 1980s William “The Refrigerator” Perry football—disrespectful, fun, and completely effective.
On top of that, Tonga is playing tough, physical defense up front. That is a massive win for an enormous man.
Loser: The Defense
Josh Downs ran perfect routes all night long, and the Chiefs defense had zero answers for it. Jonathan Taylor bounced off weak tackles or found huge holes for chunk runs. Daniel Jones had all day to throw, and for long stretches, the game turned into a no-punts track meet that brought back awful memories of Peyton Manning doing whatever he wanted against Kansas City all those years ago.
The defense came up with a stop on third-and-thirteen in the second quarter, but Indianapolis still kicked the field goal and tied the game. Settling for opponent field goals instead of forcing quick three-and-outs kept the Colts confident and alive all night. They are capable of doing so much better. They won the game, but they earn the L here.
MOAR-Loser: Dave Toub Gets His Own Category
Dave Toub does not even belong on a normal losers list this week. He gets his own category entirely: MOAR-Loser. Eight penalties at home, and Toub’s unit set the tone for all of it with players looking completely lost trying to line up for basic special teams snaps.
Toub was once the absolute master of special teams in this league under the old rulebook, but with the new rules in place, his groups look like they have never practiced together. The illegal formations and lack of basic alignment discipline are entirely on Dave Toub and his coaching staff. Winners. Losers. And Dave Toub—figure it out.
Winner and Loser: The Indianapolis Colts
They are 0-2, which means by the cold math of NFL standings, they are officially losers. Still, damn it if they didn’t earn every ounce of elevated blood pressure they caused Sunday night.
Chiefs fans have had headaches courtesy of Indianapolis long before Peyton Manning ever showed up. We were getting our seasons ruined by this franchise back when The Kicker Who Shall Not Be Named was shanking kicks into a freezing January wind. When the Colts see red and gold, they simply refuse to roll over.
Sunday night was no different. They lost their top receiver early, took physical hits on both sides of the ball all night, and still stood in the middle of Arrowhead trading heavy punches for five quarters. Jonathan Taylor ran with pure bad intentions, Daniel Jones looked poised, and their offensive line made things miserable for our pass rush. Indianapolis is a much better football team than their winless record says they are.
If Shane Steichen pushes his chips to the middle of the table on fourth and eight instead of settling for the tying field goal, the Colts might be flying home with our dignity in their carry-on bags. They took the loss on the scoreboard, but they earned a victory in pure respect between the whistles.
We still hate them. We hate the horseshoe, we hate the history, and we hate the stress they drag into our living rooms every single time we play them. But we hate them with the utmost respect.
Who are we kidding? We won!
🎶 Two and oh-oh-oh-ohhh… oh-oh-OH-oh 🎶 Tomahawk Chop.
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While I mostly agree with the special teams assessment (except Butker being the best in the league, Im not sure hes even the best in the division anymore), I gotta give Ariaza some love. Guy is cranking punts so far this year.
Most of the article was tongue in cheek, it’s a winners & losers list. The punter has been of our most improved players. We were spoiled for years when Colquitt was one of our best players for years and years, and then Townsend was decent to between-than-good… Araiza is getting there too.
That’s the thing about Harrison Butker—if we ever get a different Kicker, it’s going to be a rollercoaster. We wouldn’t have any of our Super Bowls wins without Butker, but also, no one gets more irritated with kickers than Chiefs fans and rightfully so. So it is what it is.
I know. The question is can we save 4 mill a year. Get better somewhere else and have a comparable kicker
This could probably be an article topic. It’s a passionate one for Chiefs fans.
Here’s a bit of the argument for keeping Butker. Before moving on from Harrison Butker to save four million dollars, consider the real cost of chasing a “comparable” replacement. True other players at specialized spots like “the damn kicker” simply don’t exist on a discount without the gamble of next, much like trying to replace Travis Kelce on a budget. You can’t just replace the GOATs.
Looking around the league, teams seeking cheap answers often find the continued kicker carousel instead of an answer, watching talents like Jake Moody, Matt Gay, and Chad Ryland battle costly slumps.
In January, that margin shrinks further, with pressure spots unraveling guys like Tyler Bass and Brandon McManus mid and lose games.
Maybe Butker’s contract isn’t about regular-season perfection. It could simply be the price of proven, unflinching poise when championships hang in the balance. Butker won Super Bowls and was like ninety percent accurate in the playoffs. You can’t just go get clutch anywhere. He has struggled compared to himself of old. But he’s still well in the mid 80s percentage wise. Other kickers may get you 70 percent accuracy if they’re not good and they might bounce you out of the playoffs right off the uprights. Doink! We could find a comparable gem. It’s possible. But we might also find an endless line of duds too.
Thank you for saying “Xavier Worthy’s game plan”.
I agree completely and fully. He’s a good WR, but is being used oddly as a gadget guy too often with plays behind the line of scrimmage. He’s fast but he’s got no power and isn’t shifty enough for plays behind the LOS. He should be used more like Thornton.
And I heard people say we should switch Worthy and Thornton, but I don’t think Thornton would be a good gadget guy either.
Worthy would be good on reverses and jet sweeps—maybe. Thornton is good at what he does and probably shouldn’t catch short passes unless he’s wide open with green in front of him on a comeback route…
Rice and Johnson have the ability to make people miss and would probably execute what the Chiefs are trying to do better then Worthy or Thorton. Maybe even Royals could be that guy that can break tackles like he did in college.
We’ll see.
I completely agree.
Something just seems off with the Worthy-Mahomes connection. Its just never clicked. One of his catches early in the game. Wide open space if he catches it in stride and he ends up sliding to catch it. Feels like when hes open, Pat just cant hit him. I dont know what the answer is but Im starting to thinking Worthy isn’t going to figure it out while wearing red and gold.