Post by MizzouTiger on Dec 10, 2007 12:26:08 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/sports/story/396876.html
Everything falls apart for Chiefs on offense
DENVER | An NFL offense can¡¦t play much worse than this.
The Chiefs went three-and-out ¡X or worse ¡X on 10 of their first 11 possessions during Sunday¡¦s 41-7 loss to the Broncos.
That¡¦s eight punts, a fumble, an interception and one touchdown drive.„© The 12th drive also ended with a fumble.
The Chiefs couldn¡¦t run. Running backs Kolby Smith and Gilbert Harris carried 17 times for 16 yards.
They could barely pass. Quarterback Brodie Croyle completed 15 of 29 for 132 yards and a 15-yard touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez, but he threw an interception and lost two fumbles.
They couldn¡¦t catch. They dropped some drive-killing passes, including three by Dwayne Bowe.
They couldn¡¦t block. The Chiefs, playing without starting left tackle Damion McIntosh, allowed five sacks, and they converted one of 13 third-down situations.
Amazingly, they converted three fourth downs on the way to a clock-eating, 15-play touchdown drive that drew the Chiefs to within 14-7.
But the Broncos came back and made it 21-7, and then Croyle one-hopped Jeff Webb with a pass, leading to another punt and a Broncos field goal as the half expired.
Croyle took the blame for that.
¡§It¡¦s frustrating,¡¨ said Croyle, who is now 0-3 as a starter. ¡§We could have gone down there and kicked a field goal or scored a touchdown right before half, but instead, we gave them the ball back, they kicked a field goal.
That¡¦s a 10, possibly 14-point swing.
¡§That¡¦s bad execution on my part.¡¨
Even the Chiefs¡¦ 15-play, 63-yard touchdown drive at the start of the second quarter was aided by some critical Broncos penalties. The Broncos were guilty of two offsides penalties, including one on a third and 4 that produced the Chiefs¡¦ initial first down of the game.
¡§There¡¦s no excuse; it¡¦s embarrassing,¡¨ said Gonzalez, whose 76 yards receiving on seven catches„© represented 59 percent of the offensive yards.
¡§We¡¦re still professional football players, we¡¦re on this team to go out there and put points up, and if we can¡¦t do it, it¡¦s unacceptable.¡¨
The Chiefs were disappointed that they couldn¡¦t build on their one touchdown drive to get back into the game.
¡§We did everything possible to kill ourselves,¡¨ said guard Brian Waters. ¡§You look at the penalties, the dropped balls, the bad throws, the bad blocks, we didn¡¦t do anything to help ourselves. As the game went on, we broke down mentally. We started losing our execution and were doing some things we weren¡¦t taught. We lost our discipline.
¡§When you don¡¦t have early success, your confidence starts to waver. You start not trusting the system, not trusting where you¡¦re supposed to be, not trusting the players, and we started doing things that wasn¡¦t us, and they were doing a great job of being themselves, running the ball and making big plays. ¡§Defensively, they did a good job of putting guys in the box and stopping our runs and just challenging us, and we didn¡¦t meet the challenge.¡¨
Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said his defense was just as culpable in putting the offense in a bind.
¡§The defense put our offense in a bad way,¡¨ Edwards said. ¡§Our strength is our defense, and we can¡¦t give up 14 points to start out the game and expect to win.
¡§You can¡¦t get behind like we did. It makes it very difficult for us to drop back and pass. That¡¦s not our strong suit right now. The defense has to keep the offense in the game. When you have a deficit like this, it makes it very, very difficult.¡¨
Everything falls apart for Chiefs on offense
DENVER | An NFL offense can¡¦t play much worse than this.
The Chiefs went three-and-out ¡X or worse ¡X on 10 of their first 11 possessions during Sunday¡¦s 41-7 loss to the Broncos.
That¡¦s eight punts, a fumble, an interception and one touchdown drive.„© The 12th drive also ended with a fumble.
The Chiefs couldn¡¦t run. Running backs Kolby Smith and Gilbert Harris carried 17 times for 16 yards.
They could barely pass. Quarterback Brodie Croyle completed 15 of 29 for 132 yards and a 15-yard touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez, but he threw an interception and lost two fumbles.
They couldn¡¦t catch. They dropped some drive-killing passes, including three by Dwayne Bowe.
They couldn¡¦t block. The Chiefs, playing without starting left tackle Damion McIntosh, allowed five sacks, and they converted one of 13 third-down situations.
Amazingly, they converted three fourth downs on the way to a clock-eating, 15-play touchdown drive that drew the Chiefs to within 14-7.
But the Broncos came back and made it 21-7, and then Croyle one-hopped Jeff Webb with a pass, leading to another punt and a Broncos field goal as the half expired.
Croyle took the blame for that.
¡§It¡¦s frustrating,¡¨ said Croyle, who is now 0-3 as a starter. ¡§We could have gone down there and kicked a field goal or scored a touchdown right before half, but instead, we gave them the ball back, they kicked a field goal.
That¡¦s a 10, possibly 14-point swing.
¡§That¡¦s bad execution on my part.¡¨
Even the Chiefs¡¦ 15-play, 63-yard touchdown drive at the start of the second quarter was aided by some critical Broncos penalties. The Broncos were guilty of two offsides penalties, including one on a third and 4 that produced the Chiefs¡¦ initial first down of the game.
¡§There¡¦s no excuse; it¡¦s embarrassing,¡¨ said Gonzalez, whose 76 yards receiving on seven catches„© represented 59 percent of the offensive yards.
¡§We¡¦re still professional football players, we¡¦re on this team to go out there and put points up, and if we can¡¦t do it, it¡¦s unacceptable.¡¨
The Chiefs were disappointed that they couldn¡¦t build on their one touchdown drive to get back into the game.
¡§We did everything possible to kill ourselves,¡¨ said guard Brian Waters. ¡§You look at the penalties, the dropped balls, the bad throws, the bad blocks, we didn¡¦t do anything to help ourselves. As the game went on, we broke down mentally. We started losing our execution and were doing some things we weren¡¦t taught. We lost our discipline.
¡§When you don¡¦t have early success, your confidence starts to waver. You start not trusting the system, not trusting where you¡¦re supposed to be, not trusting the players, and we started doing things that wasn¡¦t us, and they were doing a great job of being themselves, running the ball and making big plays. ¡§Defensively, they did a good job of putting guys in the box and stopping our runs and just challenging us, and we didn¡¦t meet the challenge.¡¨
Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said his defense was just as culpable in putting the offense in a bind.
¡§The defense put our offense in a bad way,¡¨ Edwards said. ¡§Our strength is our defense, and we can¡¦t give up 14 points to start out the game and expect to win.
¡§You can¡¦t get behind like we did. It makes it very difficult for us to drop back and pass. That¡¦s not our strong suit right now. The defense has to keep the offense in the game. When you have a deficit like this, it makes it very, very difficult.¡¨