Keys to Chiefs vs Texans - Divisional Round

[DefensiveMan 758]

Well, no stone left unturned. Chiefs are a completely different team since that week 6 matchup. Texans have had their fare share of good wins as well. Which matchup is most vital ? 

[qnet 1,150]

Stopping the Texans run game, both Watson or Hyde running. 

[Adamixoye 604]

The importance of run defense is overrated.  If Mahomes outplays Watson and we don't have meltdown turnovers or special teams plays then we win.

[kkuenn 3,597]

I think this man has the key easily. If you just replace Buffalo Bills with Chiefs he nails it.

 

 

 

“If the Buffalo Bills outscore the Texans they will win this game” - Booger

[Lamardirts 2,114]

Buffalo's anemic offense had 3 opportunities to win that game and pooped down their leg.   They will get Fuller back but our D is a lot better and a lot stronger up front and our offense should be on track.  It won't be easy but it could be a lopsided affair if the O is clicking.    

[jetlord 10,209]

1 hour ago, Adamixoye said:

The importance of run defense is overrated.  If Mahomes outplays Watson and we don't have meltdown turnovers or special teams plays then we win.

Not sure why you post that.  If the run defense is effective, Spags can unleash the pass rush and harass Watson all day.  Let Watson and the RBs run wild, and the Chiefs won't have an answer to the entire Houston offense.  Gotta make the Texans one dimensional but cover Hopkins at the same time. 

[qnet 1,150]

Last season in the  divisional round the Chiefs held the Colts to a combined 84 yards rushing, while running for 129. I think if they hold the Texans to something similar, they win by a large margin. 

[Adamixoye 604]

7 hours ago, jetlord said:

Not sure why you post that.  If the run defense is effective, Spags can unleash the pass rush and harass Watson all day.  Let Watson and the RBs run wild, and the Chiefs won't have an answer to the entire Houston offense.  Gotta make the Texans one dimensional but cover Hopkins at the same time. 

I say it because it's true.  In today's NFL, the old clichés about running the ball and stopping the run do not apply as much.

We can point to games where we struggled against the run, and I'm not saying it's meaningless, but we lost those games for other reasons.  Colts - Mahomes gets injured and we couldn't move the ball, our worst scoring performance of the Mahomes Era by 10 points.  Texans - another Mahomes injury plus a fumble that led directly to a TD.  Titans - fumble for a TD plus our offense stalled when we could have put the game away multiple times.

The Ravens and Raiders (twice) ran the ball very effectively against us but our offense was good enough that it didn't matter.  You can make a team one dimensional by getting a lead, not necessarily by taking away the run.  The Titans ran all over the Patriots and were clinging to a 1 point lead until the final seconds.

If you gave me the following categories...

• Run D
• Pass D
• Run O
• Pass O
• Turnovers
• Special teams
• Coaching/game management decisions

...and told me to pick the one where I would be most okay with us having a bad game while we did okay or well in the others, I would pick Run D 100% of the time.

[DieHard 2,061]

I think Chiefs O line v. Texans D line. Can we control the pressure and run for 4 yards a carry. That will shape the game into a blow out or a close one.

[PAChiefsFan79 136]

1 hour ago, Adamixoye said:

I say it because it's true.  In today's NFL, the old clichés about running the ball and stopping the run do not apply as much.

We can point to games where we struggled against the run, and I'm not saying it's meaningless, but we lost those games for other reasons.  Colts - Mahomes gets injured and we couldn't move the ball, our worst scoring performance of the Mahomes Era by 10 points.  Texans - another Mahomes injury plus a fumble that led directly to a TD.  Titans - fumble for a TD plus our offense stalled when we could have put the game away multiple times.

The Ravens and Raiders (twice) ran the ball very effectively against us but our offense was good enough that it didn't matter.  You can make a team one dimensional by getting a lead, not necessarily by taking away the run.  The Titans ran all over the Patriots and were clinging to a 1 point lead until the final seconds.

If you gave me the following categories...

• Run D
• Pass D
• Run O
• Pass O
• Turnovers
• Special teams
• Coaching/game management decisions

...and told me to pick the one where I would be most okay with us having a bad game while we did okay or well in the others, I would pick Run D 100% of the time.

It really depends on the team your playing. PERIOD

[gochiefsgo 380]

Watson is going to be sacked and hurried a lot. The Texans oline is crap on a stick. 

[Adamixoye 604]

56 minutes ago, PAChiefsFan79 said:

It really depends on the team your playing. PERIOD

Should I have included more all caps in my argument?

[reesebobby 5,662]

This game boils down to what jersey I wear.  If I wear my Tamba Hali jersey, we win.  If I wear my white Mahomes jersey we probably win.  My LDT M.D. jersey and it's a coin toss. 

[Mloe68 1,521]

13 hours ago, qnet said:

Stopping the Texans run game, both Watson or Hyde running. 

If we give up 200 yards rushing again we are probably going to lose. We are much more sound in gap responsibilities than we were three months ago. Hopefully that shows so we can focus on Watson and Hopkins.
We’ve got to try and make him a pocket passer that has to look elsewhere than Hopkins in his progressions. If we let him run around he will wreck the game plan and this game will be a toss up.  That said the player to really watch is Duke Johnson. If OBrien is smart at all he will watch that Browns Chiefs game from 2018 where Duke killed us as a receiver out of the backfield. Without Thornhill we seem susceptible there.   

[qnet 1,150]

20 minutes ago, Mloe68 said:

If we give up 200 yards rushing again we are probably going to lose. We are much more sound in gap responsibilities than we were three months ago. Hopefully that shows so we can focus on Watson and Hopkins.
We’ve got to try and make him a pocket passer that has to look elsewhere than Hopkins in his progressions. If we let him run around he will wreck the game plan and this game will be a toss up.  That said the player to really watch is Duke Johnson. If OBrien is smart at all he will watch that Browns Chiefs game from 2018 where Duke killed us as a receiver out of the backfield. Without Thornhill we seem susceptible there.   

Yes, I agree.

I hope Spags has a plan for the loss of Thornhill. The Chiefs still give up a run or two here & there, but they have been much better maintaining gaps and gang tackling. 

[Adamixoye 604]

We gave up an average of more than 200 rushing yards per game against the three remaining AFC playoff teams.  Yet we had double-digit leads in all games and would have won all three if not for turnovers, injuries, and/or special teams mistakes.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-kansas-city-chiefs-defense-improvements-real-or-fake

[Adamixoye 604]

The point isn't that run defense is meaningless or that poor run defense didn't contribute to some of our losses this year.  It's just the least important of the major phases of the game.  We can win pretty easily having a bad run defense day, just as we did against Baltimore and twice against Oakland, and just as we almost did in those other losses where there were other major contributing factors.  Give me 150 rush yards for Houston over 2 Mahomes picks or a blocked kick any day.

[Chiefmanzada 466]

21 minutes ago, qnet said:

Yes, I agree.

I hope Spags has a plan for the loss of Thornhill. The Chiefs still give up a run or two here & there, but they have been much better maintaining gaps and gang tackling. 

Be prepared to see Armani Watts. This man has some untapped potential 

[Chiefmanzada 466]

13 minutes ago, Adamixoye said:

The point isn't that run defense is meaningless or that poor run defense didn't contribute to some of our losses this year.  It's just the least important of the major phases of the game.  We can win pretty easily having a bad run defense day, just as we did against Baltimore and twice against Oakland, and just as we almost did in those other losses where there were other major contributing factors.  Give me 150 rush yards for Houston over 2 Mahomes picks or a blocked kick any day.

The teams that have lost so far: Saints, Eagles, Pats, Bills. Only Buffalo had solid QB play. 

I'd say the only game where the QB on the losing team outplayed the other is the Houston game, and still Watson was the one who made the play to win the game. 

I agree it will come down to Mahomes vs Watson because that's the way the Texans win games - through Watson making plays.

I think they utlize Hyde well to move the chains but ultimately it's can the Chiefs defense contain Watson's improvision and limit his magic. Momentum will be crucial   

[Iluvhouse24 1,808]

It will come down to Reid vs Reid. Hes had teams talented enough to win multiple SB. Can he stay out of his own way?

Can he call a consistent game. Not uber aggressive the first half, and uber conservative with a second half lead.

3rd and 4th and short situations, and goalline situations. Can he not try and out think everyone and call nonsensical plays.

Clock management. If its close will we have all our timeouts at the end.

Will he run the ball, or will he throw 75% of the game and allow the other team to dominate TOP.

These are all things he has struggled with his whole career. And they could he the keys to him holding his first Lombardi soon.

[Adamixoye 604]

2 minutes ago, Chiefmanzada said:

The teams that have lost so far: Saints, Eagles, Pats, Bills. Only Buffalo had solid QB play. 

I'd say the only game where the QB on the losing team outplayed the other is the Houston game, and still Watson was the one who made the play to win the game. 

I agree it will come down to Mahomes vs Watson because that's the way the Texans win games - through Watson making plays.

I think they utlize Hyde well to move the chains but ultimately it's can the Chiefs defense contain Watson's improvision and limit his magic. Momentum will be crucial   

I agree except I think calling Allen's play "solid" is generous.  He had one of the worst back-to-back sequences I've ever seen, a jump ball into double coverage, an inexplicable lateral, and more.

[kkuenn 3,597]

Just now, Iluvhouse24 said:

It will come down to Reid vs Reid. Hes had teams talented enough to win multiple SB. Can he stay out of his own way?

Can he call a consistent game. Not uber aggressive the first half, and uber conservative with a second half lead.

3rd and 4th and short situations, and goalline situations. Can he not try and out think everyone and call nonsensical plays.

Clock management. If its close will we have all our timeouts at the end.

Will he run the ball, or will he throw 75% of the game and allow the other team to dominate TOP.

These are all things he has struggled with his whole career. And they could he the keys to him holding his first Lombardi soon.

If Reid has another melt down of sorts with gaffes that are consistent with his faults throughout the years then he has next year and that would be it for me. We cant give up 28 point leads or dominate only to lose again because he wants to pass instead of running and getting time off the clock etc. He needs to really give up time management to someone. Listen to others when it calls for a run and not some cute play. Also I am sick of hearing how he holds back plays so no one sees them. Every game we turtle up we hear this bs. If he holds back plays and we lose it is bs.

[Chiefmanzada 466]

3 minutes ago, Adamixoye said:

I agree except I think calling Allen's play "solid" is generous.  He had one of the worst back-to-back sequences I've ever seen, a jump ball into double coverage, an inexplicable lateral, and more.

Yea I agree. Watson outplayed him. 

Therefore all teams that lost, their QB was outplayed by the winning QB. 

 

[Mloe68 1,521]

24 minutes ago, Adamixoye said:

We gave up an average of more than 200 rushing yards per game against the three remaining AFC playoff teams.  Yet we had double-digit leads in all games and would have won all three if not for turnovers, injuries, and/or special teams mistakes.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-kansas-city-chiefs-defense-improvements-real-or-fake

We gave up 180 yards or more rushing five times this year and went 2-3 in those games.  10-1 in the other 11 games.  And as you showed they weren’t running with a lead. You simply cannot gets gauged like that and expect to win. The outlier is Baltimore who runs far more than most teams and are going to get their rushing yards. 

[Adamixoye 604]

Just now, Mloe68 said:

We gave up 180 yards or more rushing five times this year and went 2-3 in those games.  10-1 in the other 11 games.  And as you showed they weren’t running with a lead. You simply cannot gets gauged like that and expect to win. The outlier is Baltimore who runs far more than most teams and are going to get their rushing yards. 

We were 3-3 in games where Mahomes was out or got injured/aggravated his injury during the game and 9-1 otherwise; you've even made the argument he wasn't 100% in the Tennessee game, which would make it 3-4 and 9-0.  So I can cherry-pick games too.  Multiple things contribute to a loss.  I'm not disputing that bad run defense wasn't part of the problem in these games.  I'm saying it took bad run defense PLUS something else, and the something else in those games are either things we could more easily improve upon (not fumbling) or unlucky stuff out of our control (injuries to Mahomes, bad calls).  And we were always in a position to win anyway.  Our wins AND our losses show that we CAN survive bad run defense.  Again, I'm arguing it's the most survivable of all the categories I listed earlier.

But for the record I don't think our run defense is going to be bad enough for this to be the issue anyway.