Our pal Craig Glazer is one of the most forthright football critics in Kansas City because he isn't bound by the front office in a search for access. Even better, he has an extensive knowledge of local football history and the overall NFL playoff picture. Check out Craig's latest post where he breaks down the challenges confronting the Chiefs . . .
Craig Glazer: Can Chiefs Fix Things For Playoff Run?
America is talking the stock market about to cross 20,000 and of course Donald Trumps upcoming presidency. Kansas City is talking Chiefs! The 'good, the bad and the ugly' can it all come together for the playoffs?
The big issues: I had promised to lay off Alex Smith in covering the Chiefs, but that's hard to do right now. Alex has been the biggest problem with making this team 'better' this season. Yes he has moments and the Chiefs are 10-4, still have a shot at a bye and the number 2 spot in the AFC playoffs. However with that horrid loss to the Tennessee Titans and Smith's poor performance, again, hard to overlook. Alex is just not the same as last year, when he was moving up in the NFL quarterback talk. This year he is moving down, badly. Alex has but 12 TD passes and 6INT's, three of those in recent games in the red zone that cost KC the game. Alex was a huge part of the Chiefs running game last year with over 500 yards on the ground and crucial runs to pick up first downs, this season not even 100 yards running and his short game is all but gone. Part of that is the poor play of the offensive line and no running game from Spencer Ware. Only Tyreek Hill with a handful of carries has shown explosive runs. Last Sunday he had 'one' carry for 66 yards, untouched for a Touchdown, he never got the ball again. Why? No real answer from Coach Andy Reid, the old, "I'll take responsibility for that one" answer...what's that mean? Replace me?
Travis Kelce, a newly named pro bowler and the only one on our offense to get that reward this season, said a few weeks back that Alex operates much better when the Chiefs are in the 'hurry up' mode, and Alex even improvises at times. Yet most of the time Reid and Alex take nearly 40 plus seconds to snap the ball between plays on offense. That gives the defense time to set up for the play, see what KC is about to do and be more effective stopping the play. The play fakes don't work well cause the defense doesn't fear Spencer Ware, who has been simply bad as a running back the last six weeks, shown little, can't gain a yard in needed short yardage situations at the goal line or anywhere else. Now if Tyreek Hill was in the backfield with Ware, different story. DON'T FAKE THE JET SWEEP GIVE HILL THE BALL, Hill was a running back in college and has proven to be your most dangerous weapon. Give him the football running as well as receiving from now on. It could open the field for Smith to go to Kelce and Jeremy Maclin, Chris Conley and others. Of course more throws to Travis Kelce as well.
Our defense sent two players to the all pro squad, Eric Berry and Marcus Peters, both having great seasons. Justin Houston and Dee Ford, as we saw Sunday, against better O lines, have not been effective at putting pressure on the opposing quarterback. That needs to get better and fast.
Can KC go deep in the playoffs? Well it won't help if we are a wild card, right now we are just that. Chiefs need to win both remaining games against a 'down' Denver team and a Charger team playing for pride at home. Both games the Chiefs should win. In fact with Denver on the downlow, I look for KC to have their overall best game of the season Sunday Night at Arrowhead. Broncos quarterback has fallen apart, ranks near the bottom in the league, they have no running game, their offensive line is worse than ours. Will their defense play hard in a game that likely doesn't help them make playoffs? My feelings are Denver is ready too start thinking about 'next year' now. Chargers are in the same boat, tons of injuries, will play a meaningless game next week with KC, coach likely to be fired, a team in trouble, but they might like to wreck the season for KC.
Of course Chiefs need help to get back to the number 2 seed, someone has to beat Oakland now and we have to win both games left. Colts come to Oakland Sunday, they could beat the Raiders.
Winning in the post season is a culture the Chiefs don't have anymore, its been decades since the Chiefs were an elite team. Today they are a good team trying to find a way to be great. All teams have flaws, we just might have a few too many. I was listening to 610 the other day and they said, 'Boy what if the Chiefs had a franchise quarterback like Matt Ryan?" Yes we would be a true super bowl contender. We don't have that type of quarterback, so its something KC will have to work around or hope Smith can get better and right now. Vegas has KC as a long shot to reach the super bowl amongst the playoff teams in the AFC. Can we beat the Steelers on the road? New England? Not likely, but hey anything can happen. Its been an exciting season for the Chiefs, maybe they can fix things. Tyreek Hill is awesome, lets see if he can help even more.
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