Winners/Losers: Chiefs Vs Steelers
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The NFL forced the Chiefs to play in the Wildcard Round with the new playoff format, now they’re in the Divisional Round where they belong.
It started slow, but by the end it went the way pretty much everybody expected it to. There are obviously a bunch of winners, but can we find a loser?
Winners
The Defense
playoff plans Steelers variant pic.twitter.com/dN6xw73dEF
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 17, 2022
The scoreboard may say they allowed 21 points, but 7 of those points were on a fumble touchdown. They didn’t even allow Pittsburgh to cross midfield until it was 35-7 in the 2nd half. No one player stood out, as this dominance was a total team effort on this side of the ball.
Patrick Mahomes
Troy Aikman had 24 career TDs in 16 career playoff games.
— BJ Kissel (@BJ_KCSN) January 17, 2022
Patrick Mahomes has 26 career TDs in 9 career games.
Patrick Mahomes has thrown 5 pass TD in a playoff game for the 2nd time in his career
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 17, 2022
Mahomes joins Hall of Famer @kurt13warner and Raiders QB Daryle Lamonica as the only players in NFL history to have multiple playoff games with 5+ pass TD
Patrick Mahomes threw 5 Pass TD in a span of 10:30 of game time. It's easily the fastest span in NFL postseason history.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 17, 2022
The next fastest? Tom Brady did it in just under 25 minutes in 2011.
h/t @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/85KneA6ms0
No QB in NFL history has more games with 400 Pass yds & 5 Pass TD than Patrick Mahomes.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 17, 2022
The Chiefs roll at Arrowhead, 42-21. pic.twitter.com/ENr40xumnn
The offense started incredibly slowly, with their only accomplishment after 5 drives was giving the Steelers a touchdown to be down 7-0, and Mahomes was a big part of that. as he looked like his head wasn’t entirely in the game.
But then he woke up.
After that fumble, the Chiefs scored touchdowns on 6 consecutive drives (to put that into perspective, the Bills in their great game against the Patriots barely topped it with 7 straight) and Mahomes was the driver. He ended up with 404 yards, 5 touchdowns, and an interception. And he would have likely had 6 touchdowns had Kelce not gotten one himself.
Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce's TD reception was career No. 10 in the postseason. Only players with more: Jerry Rice (22), Rob Gronkowski (14), John Stallworth (10). Kelce joins 5 others with 10.
— Blair Kerkhoff (@BlairKerkhoff) January 17, 2022
Travis Kelce having quite a night.
— Farzin Vousoughian (@Farzin21) January 17, 2022
First, he tied the franchise record for most postseason games as a Chief (tying with Sorensen and Winchester).
Now, he is second all time in NFL history with 7 100-yard postseason games, just one game shy of the NFL record, held by Jerry Rice.
Travis Kelce is the first player in NFL history to throw a TD, catch a TD and have 100+ rec yards in a single playoff game@Chiefs | @tkelce
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 17, 2022
Kelce had a huge night with 108 yards and a touchdown catch, but this game will be remembered for his touchdown throw that was actually quite impressive. I can’t think of the last time I saw a Chief besides Mahomes throw a ball with that much zip off-platform.
Jerrick McKinnon
McKinnon got the majority of the workload, and he made the most of it, with 61 yards rushing on 12 carries and 81 yards and a touchdown receiving. If he continues to play at this level throughout the playoffs, he may earn himself the starting job.
Mecole Hardman
Hardman will get lost in the shuffle, as he had a mediocre 43 receiving yards, but he had two huge punt returns, including one that went 48 yards and set up the offense on the Steelers’ 22. Unfortunately, Mahomes threw a pick on the very next play, so it went to waste.
Demarcus Robinson
Robinson had a pretty good game considering he’s arguably the 5th option with 76 yards, but what put him over the top for the winners list was his onside kick recovery. The Steelers got a fantastic bounce, and had Robinson not made a great play on it, they likely recover.
The Refs
I’ve included the referees as losers in a number of games this year, and the refs in general this wildcard weekend have been having a rough time. But the ones in this game were great. As far as I saw, all the penalties were correct, and they didn’t miss any obvious ones. Considering how bad a lot of the refereeing has been lately I think they deserve a bit of recognition when they do well.
Losers
Orlando Brown
The rough start on offense was on a lot of guys, but Brown in particular allowed a number of pressures that rattled Mahomes. It ended up not mattering much since we were playing the Steelers, but he needs to step up his game next week against the Bills.
I don’t get why Brown couldn’t seem to get his hands on the DE to at least give him a good shove to the outside
cuz he’s slow
Maybe Thuney could kick him in the arse to get him going next game
NFL Philosophy
@NFLosophy
Times are set for the NFL Divisional Round schedule.
Saturday, January 22
Bengals vs. Titans (4:30pm ET on CBS
49ers vs. Packers (8:15pm ET on FOX)
Sunday, January 23
Cardinals/Rams vs. Buccaneers (3:00 ET on NBC)
Bills vs. Chiefs (6:30pm ET on CBS)
Adam Teicher
@adamteicher
Andy Reid wouldn’t commit just now to Jerick McKinnon continuing to have a big workload for the Chiefs.
“It’s a good problem to have. We’ll see how it all plays out.”
PFF KC Chiefs
@PFF_Chiefs
The Chiefs DOMINATED the Steelers on Sunday Night Here are the five highest-graded Chiefs from Super Wild Card Weekend:
1. Creed Humphrey – 90.5
2. Tershawn Wharton – 89.5
3. Travis Kelce – 87.0
4. Charvarius Ward – 82.4
5. Joe Thuney – 81.1
What did Brown grade out?
McKinnon: Wow! I did not expect him to start, but he looked as good as he did last week. He must be super fresh, because his cut is crisp and he really really shoots through the hole fast. It’s really nice to have a guy like that heating up at the right time.
DRob: This might have been DRob’s best game yet. He caught everything. My ONLY complaint was holding the ball out like a dirty diaper. I yelled at him and he decided it was better to put it away. The onside recovery was great. Tyreek ran backwards more than DRob did today, so I’m giving DRob his just dues!
DEFENSE: While the offense did come to life, it wasn’t until later in the 2nd qtr. The defense played a great game for pretty much the entire game.
Mahomes: Fasted 5 TD passes ever, in 11:31. Now THAT is an offensive explosion!
“No one player stood out, as this dominance was a total team effort on this side of the ball.”
Just the way it should be on Defense.
WINNER: Belichick for his head not exploding on the sidelines of the Pats-Bills game
Understand the only views I had were live on the field, but it sure seemed like #56 Highsmith zoomed around Brown on multiple occasions. Pat was getting the pressure from him on his backside and that sent him off on multiple scrambles.
Brown sucks with pure speed rushers. Which is a huge problem when the guy coming off the other edge is named Watt. Cant chip everyone.
Loser: Townsend. Had this been the alex smith years his horrid punting would probably have cost us the game.
I don’t know if I’d go that far. He mostly failed to pin the Steelers back but of his 3 meaningful punts the Steelers got the ball at the 23, 18, and 19, which aren’t terrible.
AND he’s coming back from Covid a coupla weeks ago … sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh, way too many fans fail to realize that these guys on the field are HUMAN and not Madden Characters in a Computer Sim
Hes a punter does covid affect your kicking leg?
I’m coming out the end of a bout with omicron, my body still feels weak and shovelling snow is a tough chore right now. Bodies react differently and ya he’s a professional athlete but still I think you’re being a little harsh.
Is that the only body part that goes into punting?
Yep. Thats pretty much it
yeah, balance/cog-fog plus general mono-like fatigue/listlessness
Terrible if youre punting from the 45. Might as well punt it into the endzone.
One more observation: Anderson was in on a couple of ST plays. He was a goat late in the regular season but Toub showed confidence in sending him out there last night. Anderson may only be a small piece of the puzzle but if he’s learning from his mistakes and getting better then that makes the team better.
Yep that’s the way to do it. Unless somebody is just repeatedly making mistakes and isn’t improving you get the most out of players by having faith in them.
thank you!
Yes re DRob’s recovery of the attempted onside kick, that wasn’t an easy grab. On the other hand, on one of his receptions he was waving the ball around like he was guiding an airplane on a runway, that shit makes me shudder. But he did have a good game so, ya, winner.
That made me nervous too, I thought he was going to fumble for sure.
Pretty sure every coach in America yelled at the TV on that one. LOL
i know i was
I asked my friend “who’s this DRob they speak of?”
Nick Alegretti: the only guy to manhandle TJ Watts, and he made the catch. It’s always a pleaser to see a big ugly score a TD.
i wouldn’t call him a loser however the only time i noticed honey badger was when he whiffed on a couple of tackles
My impression of his performance is the same. I’ve been waffling on whether to call out HB because the Chiefs need him to step up and I don’t want to jinx him, but it seemed to me watching the game that Armani Watts made more contact in the back end of the 4th quarter than HB did all game. Now: maybe HB is dinged up (I don’t know) and maybe he was playing to a scheme (unlikely that would call for him backing off and that’s not his MO up to now.)
I think he’s been making commercial decisions on the field for the last half of the season. Not that I blame him – he’s not going to get injured and put his free agency pay check at risk.
Unless we signed him and I missed it?
If that is what he’s doing then I would blame him and put Watts out there instead.
LOL
fuck that … call ’em out when they play like shit … INCLUDING him, maybe ESPECIALLY him … jinx him? from what, making plays that he didn’t make to begin with?
rather have a Zayne Anderson with HEART who’s FLYING AROUND THE FIELD than an overpaid on-the-field CHEERLEADER (toxic? you bet he is … )
Werent you giving me crap up above for calling out Townsends shitty punting?
(Not that I disagree about mathieu)
there’s a difference (I think) … I don’t have any doubt whatsoever that TT is doing the best he can (he needs a tiny bit more depth, but he also needs some backspin, plant ’em inside the 10)
with HB it “seems” different … is HE giving 110% every play? not so sure on that one … and that’s the difference (and he of all players needs be more than JUST vocal out there, otherwise all he is is an “on field coach”)
I hope like hell we don’t bring ABBA back next year.
What’s wrong with abba
Abba sucks, so does the dancing queen that is Mathieu