Fmbl2187

Possible. But I have a feeling we will lose to some crappy team, not the Lions.

Yeah, the better team doesn't always win. Otherwise, this game could just be played on paper. At least once or twice per season, NE drops a game completely unexpectedly. Same will happen to us, guarenteed (almost :lol:)

Its such a shame he's ours. All you have to do is wait a half century, I guess.

True. But with our terrible D last year, we still came within one Dee Ford helmet thickness of beating them in the AFC championship game. We are as good as the Pat's without even cheating.

I've been posting since the end of last season that all we need on defense is one more 3 and out per game. So, far we have gotten almost two more it seems. By the end of the season we will be adding in another and maybe a turnover or two. Has anyone noticed how much fewer penalties we are getting? PI is way down. I see a lot of good things in progress. With Mahomes, an average D will win us some Lombardi's.

I'm guessing we will start to see much improvement by week 12. We have guite a few non-rookies on our team who know the game.

I haven't seen that or read that from anyone else.

Are you referring to Clark??

DefensiveMan Can Demand We not be Bland about the Man or we might be a Fan who is Canned if we don't give Jones a Hand.

Hardly. But I know you are. 🔔 👍

Yep. You are talking about some of the so-called experts in CTO.

Absolutely. That attention to him has opened up our defense to apply other pressures, so his value has been tremendous though largely invisible to most fans. That's the kind of thing that happens in other ways on both sides all over the field, because it is a team game. That's why I don't pay much heed to sports publication stats, which really don't justify many of their conclusions or opinions. It's true for me, and I assume other fans who never played the game and who don't really have a trained eye for what's happening on the lines. At least in this one case with Clark, I have been able to see that. I'm sure I miss it in many other similar situations.

All true. Yes, the crowd kind of checked out, but I don't think its because they thought the game was in the bag. I know for myself, I just could not scream before the snaps to Jackson by that point, because my voice was gone and hurting. I am guessing that was true of a lot of the crowd.

I never felt that kind of thing, when I was at the game. The first quarter was a great concern. The second was strong, and we gained momentum heading toward halftime. The second half and some rain took our game style away and, with it, our momentum. A few exceptional plays kept us in it. Then we went into milk the clock mode but really had too much time to try make that work comfortably. The Ravens were catching up and could have beaten us at the end, if not for a single brilliant third and ten play that produced a first down and iced the game. I was never comfortable or smug about what was going on. The Ravens are a fine team and could have very well stunned us. We will absolutely have to fight for our lives to maintain our season momentum until we get Hill, Fisher, and D. Williams back. With a great QB like Mahomes, I think we will.

True dat. Accuracy, though, is variable day to day with any QB. Still, Jackson did not look very accurate. He should have hit Marquise Brown for a big one, but he simply missed him. That's what it looked like to me.

True dat. Accuracy, though, is variable day to day with any QB. Still, Jackson did not look very accurate. He should have hit Marquise Brown for a big one, but he simply missed him. That's what it looked like to me.

I'll tell you what was worth several laughs, if not points - the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" theme played when the Ravens took the field. Some of the Ravens' players had to be laughing. Classic.

I disagree about the run defense. We basically won because we stopped the two point conversions and the 4th and short attempts. They deserve credit and were the heroes of the game, as far as I'm concerned. Getting gashed up the middle by Ingram was a price we were willing to pay to protect the edge and keep Jackson from scrambling. That left gaps for Ingram. I take my hat off to Spags and to our obviously better tackiing and speed at the edges. That is night and day compared to last year. It doesn't show up in the statistics, but they should get a medal, not criticism. As an aside, how about what Butker does for us? He can also be thought of as the winner of that game. We are getting jaded about what it means to count on a field goal. I rarely see any posts about it. It gives Mahomes a willingness to take more chances when he gets to their 30. Looking back to long ago, Len Dawson would be considered an afterthought if it hadn't been for Jan Stenerud...and the Redwood Forest made Dawson great.

Those ducks were not only wounded. They were coughing up blood and having seiuzures.

Great call, DHitter.

Cam Erving is a huge liability. We just couldn't play our game. We aren't going to be capable of doing what you are demanding until we have Fisher back, Add in Hill, and we can do whatever we want whenever we want. For now, Cam Erving at LT is the biggest Achilles heel the Chiefs have. BTW, Robinson just keeps getting better and better, and so does Hardman, but Mahomes needs the protection to get the ball to them. We need to find a way to keep Mahomes alive and healthy without Fisher there. Bubble screens to our fine receiving RB's will help us survive the next several weeks without more than a couple of losses, hopefully only one. But we definitely need Fisher. Either that or get a better option there than Erving. All he has to be is mediocre.

I'll say. The Ravens are very tough. Ingram seemed unstoppable. I was impressed how we set the edge and took away the Jackson runs. I had a feeling that would happen. Mahomes was so damned good, many in subtle ways we would not have seen last year. He's definitely better than his MVP season. That last pass to Darryl Williams on 3rd and 10 iced it. But I have to say that the push off that was definite offensive pass interference was one of the most blatant errors by an official I have seen in a long time. How the reviewer didn't even call it was a travesty. The game would not have been that close had it not been for that error. My vocal cords are shot. As I promised you all, I would take the rap if we lost. Now, I am asking for the credit for the win. I'm sure glad the rain never really happened. It would have been a lot more comfortable not to have to carry all that scuba gear around, and it was difficult to stash it under my seat.

It's going to be wonderful. Getting ready to leave from Topeka with all my raingear. It's raining pretty hard right now at 6:45am. I wanted to smell the barbecue, but everyone will be standing over huge old iron kettles, boiling meat. Got my old coalition T-shirt on. The colors will probably run down my legs. No telling what this game will be like. I was looking forward to seeing Mahomes live for the first time, shredding the Ravens. The players will probably have fun, like an old mudder neighborhood game. I doubt I will be able to see anything from the nosebleed section with raindrops running down my glasses. But it's perfect. I will remember this game with my son until I drop dead, and we'll laugh about it. It'll be almost funnier to look back on it if we lose...almost.

I'll take the rap.

Thanks. We will. He bought my ticket as a Fathers' Day gift. I hope its a shootout. That way we win for sure. If it rains that hard, though, it won't be a shootout. It will be a slip-fest. That kind of evens out the odds. If it is raining very hard, though, Jackson might just may not have the footing to get around the edge. Too much momentum laterally to turn fast upfield. Also, the strategy Mathieu mentioned of playing the safeties in and taking a chance on letting them try deep shots would likely pay off. I don't think rain is very good for deep shots. But it also calls to mind the description of Mahomes shortly after we drafted him: "He can throw a ball through a car wash, and it will come out dry on the other side." I like the post about "Sausage Time." Guys like McCoy and Thompson make quick cuts, which might not work in the rain. It may be we need to run a couple of smashers, like Sherman and Darrel Williams.