Winners/Losers: Chiefs Vs Jaguars
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It may have been a win, but it was an ugly one. That mans there’s plenty of winners and losers.
Winners
Chris Jones
Chris Jones returned from his holdout and didn’t waste time in showing why he was demanding so much money. He was getting consistent pressure all day, leading to him being credited for 1.5 sacks on the day. That includes one he got on a crucial 4th down.
But that statline might underestimate his impact. He was a large part of the Karlaftis/Danna sack when he forced Lawrence to move up in the pocket, but also got what should be called a sack when he force Lawrence to panic throw it backwards.
The Defense
The defense started the season strong allowing just 14 points to the Lions last week, but this week may have been even more impressive. On a day where the offense took a while to wake up the defense held the Jaguars to what really should just be 6 points (3 points came on a field goal off a muffed punt).
If they continue to play like this it’s going to be hard for anybody to prevent the Chiefs from winning another Super Bowl.
Isiah Pacheco
He started the game slow, but in the second half Reid fed him and he answered big time to finish the game with 12 carried for 70 yards. I’ll take that any day of the week (but especially Sundays).
Skyy Moore
While not nearly as bad as last week, it looked like Skyy was on pace for another disappointing game as he had just 2 catches for 16 yards by the time the Chiefs got the ball back late in the game looking to burn clock.
But the good news for receivers is that it only takes one big play for them to have a big game, and Moore came in at the absolute best time with a huge 54 yard catch on 3rd down to all but seal the victory for the Chiefs.
He finished with 70 yards on the game, which you’d absolutely take from a guy who’s not really expected to be the top option.
George Karlaftis
He wasn’t the same force Chris Jones was, but he did make his presence felt with 1.5 sacks, which in my opinion really should have been a full 2 as he was the one to get there first on the one he shared with Danna.
Losers
Richie James
James had a rough day. He has struggled to make it onto the field as a receiver and has mostly been doing kick returns. On one punt return he failed to do the primary job of a returner (catch the ball) as the sun got in his eyes and he gave the Jaguars the ball.
Jawaan Taylor
I feel bad for putting Taylor on here. I genuinely feel like he was being unfairly targetted by the refs after the controversy from the Lions game.
That being said, he had a brutal game for penalties. He had 2 false starts, an illegal formation, then two holds in the span of 3 plays which caused him to be temporarily lifted from the game.
This will be something to watch as the year goes on. We know this is how he has played his whole career, but if the NFL is going to crack down on him he’ll need to make the adjustment.
Travis Kelce
The offense continued to look out of sorts even though he was back. It may be unfair, but he is expected to be the center of the offense and he was mostly invisible. He also had a couple penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, although neither one was particularly painful.
L’Jarius Sneed
He got called for multiple penalties and overall just didn’t have a great day. He was a noteable weak spot on an otherwise great defensive performance.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Clyde Edwards-Helaire had a nice run after catch to convert the 4th down, but the coaching staff clearly didn’t trust him as he got just one carry on the game.
Chaotic Neutral
Justin Watson
Normally I don’t talk about guys who didn’t have a clearly good or bad day, but sometimes there are performances that fit either category that are impossible to ignore.
Justin Watson had one such performance. Overall he had a nice day being Mahomes’ main target with 3 catches for 62 yards. But that comes with a giant asterisk as he had a brutal fumble on one of his catches that gave the Jaguars the ball. Luckily the Lions gave it right back, but that’s still something that can wipe out an otherwise good performance.
Kadarius Toney
Kadarius Toney also had an up-and-down day. After being the goat (lower case) last week Reid made sure to feature him early and he fulfilled his role. He didn’t just make the plays that were designed for him, he used his ability to actively gain extra yards.
But like Watson, Toney had a brutal fumble. He managed to recover it, but he lost so many yards that the Chiefs were eventually forced to punt.
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Well, I wouldn’t put CEH’s number of carries in the loser group. How many times in the first half did we run it at all? He did what he was asked, but Pacheco had a better day on the ground. Throwing it to him on 4th down tells me the staff still trusts him, and frankly, that’s how they should be using him and not running him up the middle.
Calling Taylor “unfairly targeted” by the refs after last week is an…interesting take. I’m curious, what makes you believe the refs should not have been looking out for his alignments and false starts?
I recall last week seeing shots of several other players on other team lining up similarly but nothing was said..
Which teams?
I don’t recall – it was a day or two after the Lions came when the uproar was going on.. some of them were a ways off the line as well. It was on this site.
Eagles Vikings game. It was the first game I watched after the chiefs game so I took screen shots of tackles clearly lined up off the line.
Most teams do it at times.
Yep, screenshots of the PHL-MIN game and the T’s were lined up equally far off the line.
They are in the game thread for that one
I’ll check it out. Thanks
It’s unfair because he’s been doing this his whole career without issue until now. If he was a new player and they were calling this on him it would be one thing, but the fact that they suddenly decided to make it an issue is what makes it unfair.
Kind of like the Eagles fans claiming holding shouldn’t have been called on bradberry bc it wasn’t called earlier in the game, Taylor may have gotten away with it prior, doesn’t mean he should continue to get away with it. Come to the champs, be ready for the spotlight
I’m just saying that when saying he had a bad game, it’s not so much that he performed worse than normal. He performed the same way he always does. The only difference was outside of his control (the refs changing how they call penalties against him).
Whether it’s right or wrong doesn’t matter. It’s simply noting that the calls weren’t necessarily his fault.
If he has been getting away with alignment issues and false starts in the past, I’m curious why coaches haven’t told him to stop before he starts getting called on it. They watch the film too. They had to see this as well. Do we think it is a case of coaches letting him push those envelopes until it was called by the refs?
Because every coach and every player push the envelope. Every lineman holds, every db gets handsy, every wr pushes off a little bit. They always push as far as they can go until they can’t.
Fair enough. So now he can’t, but we want to act like its some kind of affront Taylor is getting called on it now?
Agree with the alignment aspect of the controversy. If he’s moving early, then that’s a penalty. If he was a player on the opposing team, the game thread would be in meltdown mode over it.
100%
And it wouldn’t be an issue if the announcers didn’t harp on it all night, either
Go watch an eagles game and tell me how often Lane Johnson gets called for doing the exact same thing
What was the unsportsmanlike conduct on that play where Kelce undid his chinstrap – and nothing else? Does the ref have a son who secretly wants to date Taylor Swift or something?
He did take his helmet off on the field
Are they calling that again? Seemed to take a decade off from actually calling that even though it’s in the rulebook still. The refs either need to call it every time or never. Kind of similar to the other comments on this thread about alignment and false starts. Ref consistency is abysmal from game to game.
We don’t know what he said. Refs are sensitive creatures constantly getting bashed.