HappyDays

I don't necessarily disagree but this shows you how low the expectations have gotten for our head coach's side of the ball. The Raiders and Steelers held the Pats to 13 and 14 respectively, and those are not exactly powerhouse defenses. We hold them to "just" 20 (I'll excuse them 3 points that came off Coleman's fumble) and that feels like such a herculean effort for this defense that it seems like a good performance. It really wasn't though. It was an okay performance. You're allowed to win games where your offense only puts up 20 especially when facing an opponent whose roster talent is pretty lopsided towards their defense. The Pats offensive talent is average at best. But we let the only legit WR they have do whatever he wanted and we only made one stop in the 2nd half. We let them drive for a game winning FG. So I'm not letting the defense off the hook. Also if we're accepting that we're going to spot any competent opponent 20 points no matter what investments we've made on defense, then why did we just spend two offseasons giving most of our resources to that side of the ball?

Even in real time the defender had clearly gotten there early. I don't like to blame officials for losses but this was egregious. Especially with how they were calling the game prior to this. If it's a penalty for the first 58 minutes it's a penalty in the final 2. I hate these officials that call every minor infraction but turtle up in crunch time. Until this moment I actually felt very confident we were going to win. Even when we were down by 10. We had that one TD drive aided by 30 yards worth of roughness calls and I thought okay we're the 2024 Chiefs this year, we'll play like crap for 55 minutes but the other team will make mistakes and we'll find a way to pull it out. The 2024 Chiefs get that DPI, we didn't. And that was the ball game.

I'm pretty sure the all-22 will show that some of those open WRs you saw were not actually open. A couple times I saw Allen spot a target and gear up to throw but a Pats defender wisely got into the throwing lane with their arms up which forced Allen to retract the ball. Vrabel had his defense ready for those plays. They were containing Allen whenever he scrambled right and staying disciplined on the back end. When Maye got out of the pocket Diggs was always working himself open, which of course we know he can do at a very high level. Allen doesn't have that guy. Allen doesn't turn down open targets like he did at times when he was younger. The primary issue is that his targets aren't getting open, which has been an issue in every game and this is the first time it really bit us.

I understand every team has flaws, there are maybe no powerhouses this year, certainly not in the AFC. What annoys me is that I think we could have been the powerhouse. I was not a fan of the team building strategy this offseason, at all. We spent almost all of our resources on McDermott's side of the ball and left the MVP with scraps. Surprise surprise, the defense looks the same as it did last year and a historically mistake-free offense is reverting to the mean. That was an easy outcome to predict and the people in charge didn't see it coming. I still think we are just one legit outside WR away from being an offense that can steamroll teams. That to me was the best chance we had of being a powerhouse team. Score 35+ every single game. The goal this year is to be the #1 seed. Don't look now but the Colts have an easy peasy schedule the rest of the year while we have some tough opponents after the bye. They and the Lions look like the best teams in the NFL right now and it's not with dominant defense, it's with offenses that are steamrolling their opponents and running up the score. That's how you win a Super Bowl in the modern era. I'm worried that we blew it in the offseason and I have no reason to think McDermott and Beane are going to learn from their mistake. They still have a chance to rectify it. If they trade for a CB at the deadline I'll know they haven't learned. They need to make a trade at the only position that will make a legit difference to the outcome of games. When Maye got out of the pocket tonight he had his guy working open. Diggs turned back the clock tonight. When Allen got out of the pocket he was holding holding holding the ball and nobody was separating. That is where the biggest room for improvement still exists on the roster and I really hope Beane can see it, his little WGR rant notwithstanding.

I mean we're trying to be the #1 seed and losing a game to an inferior team is a huge blow on that journey. The season isn't over but there are some real flaws that were exposed tonight, and they have been there all along but tonight we couldn't get away with them. The one saving grace is there are no flawless teams out there. It is just a shame that the conference is weaker than ever and we can't capitalize on it by having a truly dominant team.

I think he needs to give up on all but a few concepts. Hand the ball to Cook, screens or quick slants to Shakir, designed passes to the TEs, PA boots from Allen. Sure work in a couple throws a game to the rest but otherwise we need to just do what we can do well.

I've been banging the drum for Shaheed and I'd still take him if we have no better options but I no longer think he is enough. We need a legit WR that can separate outside. Coleman hasn't been consistent and Palmer who is supposed to be our outside separator has been invisible. Just not enough there right now.

Josh didn't have a bad night. He had one very bad mistake. The rest of the game he is holding the ball because no one can separate downfield. It is the old bugaboo that has lost us several games these past couple years since we traded Diggs. Beane had his little rant on WGR, well it remains an issue.

That was the difference tonight. Maye played excellent but when he got out of the pocket he had a guy that worked open for him, while Allen was holding the ball and no one could separate.

He had a defender in the path of the ball, he was gearing up to throw to him otherwise

They called DPI against us for that exact play earlier. BS

It's 4 down territory the whole way, the goal is to score a TD with 30 seconds or less on the clock

There you go 0!

This half Pats have been the team killing themselves with penalties

Alright defense, your turn to keep us in this game

Ray Davis is awful! How do you not get the 1st there

Our best chance this year is building an offense that can score 35+ every week. Need to make a trade for a legit outside WR. Cost doesn't matter. Don't bother with defense, all the investments in the world will lead to the same result.

Oh Bishop

Pass rush just hasn't shown up in the 2nd half. Maye has plenty of time to keep his eyes downfield

All out blitz and leaving Diggs in 1v1 coverage. Bad play call

Damn that is just an impossible catch to defend

Ugh that was just a bad mistake by Josh

They just need to get out of their own way

Shakir and Kincaid are the only pass catchers that are on the same page with Josh tonight

Why are we starting a drive with a Ray Davis run? You are surrendering the down