Kansas City Chiefs Lose Hard Fought Battle To The Buffalo Bills

Despite the 16-10 loss to the Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs may have received the memo. Last week, I discussed how the tempo and passion of the Chiefs yielded themselves a very poor performance.

This week, the difference in the outcome of this game was not the lack of passion of the Chiefs. This week, the Chiefs played as if they had a playoff spot to keep, and throughout all four quarters they never gave up or quit trying. This week, the outcome of the game just came down to the Buffalo Bills making more plays than the Chiefs.

The defense played with arguably the most intensity they have played with all year, besides the Steelers game. Time and time again, the offense, and the bum leg of Dustin Colquitt, put the defense in pressure situations to make a stop inside their own territory, and almost always came up with some sort of play to put the ball back in the offenses hands.

Linebacker Tamba Hali and Cornerback Brandon Flowers each played a significant role, including an interception from Flowers in the back of the endzone and a sack from Hali in the middle of the 4th quarter.

They had opportunities to take the lead and put this game away easily in the 4th quarter. Todd Haley's poor playcalling may have cost this team the game, along with a couple poor decisions from Quarterback Matt Cassel.

Throughout the game Haley made many questionable calls including a QB rollout sneak by Matt Cassel on 4th down in  the first quarter on the 1 yard line that was sniffed out by defensive end Aaron Schobel for a 7 yard loss. In this situation Haley probably should have called a simple dive play up the middle with Jamaal Charles diving over the top, Priest Holmes style.

Haley seems to be afraid that Charles isn't a short yardage back. Sure he may be 6'0 and only weigh around 200lbs, but the man consistently racks up yards after contact and is always pushing forward to pick up extra yards unlike former "power back" Larry Johnson.

Charles would have made that play.

Calling screen passes 10 times a game is not going to win football games either, especially when you are making these passes to guys like Bobby Wade, who has shown he has no ability to make plays after the catch (if he can catch it).

Once again the bright spot in the Chiefs offense was in the hands of runningback Jamaal Charles, as he racked up 143 rushing yards on just 20 carries. That included the longest rushing play for the Chiefs in the last 10 years, a 76 yard untouched scamper to the endzone. His blazing speed is impressive to watch, and his patience at times is remarkable considering how early it is in his young career. The Chiefs have found a homer run hitter in an offense that is having trouble staying on its feet.

Not only is Charles a spark plug for the Chiefs, but has stayed very humble despite the personal success. When asked if there was a bit of excitement from the 143 yard performance, Charles replied with, "No, because we still lost the game ", "It would've been better if we had won the game. If I had more rushing yards, maybe we could have won the game ."

The frustration between both Cassel and Todd Haley was very evident.

You must understand, when you see the stat line come across and you notice that Cassel threw 4 picks, only 2 of those are actually worth noting.

The first one, on a play in which Cassel only had two real options he tried to make to much happen with a dead play and tossed a pick right into the hands of cornerback Terrance McGee. The next was a pass thrown to receiver Chris Chambers that just popped into the air after Chambers was slammed to the ground and was picked off by linebacker Paul Posluszny.

Now to the killer. With just around 2 minutes left, Kansas City was driving deep into the Bills territory Cassel attempted a throw intended for receiver Chris Chambers who was near the endzone, the ball hit Chambers in the hands and it fell to the ground. A catch in this situation and the Chiefs would possibly be sitting at 4-9 today. On the following play, Cassel looked for Chambers yet again, and the ball was tipped into the air and plucked by rookie safety and interception leader, Jarius Byrd, for the game icing play.

The last pick, you may wonder was off the hail mary toss from Cassel into the endzone on the last play of the game. This is a play that is typically either intercepted or batted down by the defense. 

Boo birds flew heavily around Arrowhead Stadium aimed towards QB Matt Cassel. Just moments before the end of the 1st half, Cassel could be seen mumbling what looked like a stressed slur back at irritated Chiefs fans. The giant ArrowVision screen on the stadium lining couldn't hide what looked like a "Shut the **** up" as he walked to the sideline.

Coach Todd Haley was back to his usual self again. Soon CBS will have to stop showing Haley on TV all together. The foul mouthed coach was also seen showing his displeasure with the way Cassel played, voicing his opinion to a nearby coach on the situation.

This game was far from a disaster. The Chiefs fought hard, played inspired, made a few plays, but just came up short when it mattered.

This is the story of the Kansas City Chiefs. With 3 games left to play, next against the Cleveland Browns, we will see who is a keeper moving onto next year, and which positions will need immediate replacement if the 2010 Chiefs have any chance of being a decent team.