Join Chiefs365 | Insider Forum with Josh Looney - Talk it up! | Looney Bin Archive

VOTE: Pro Bowl

Public Transportation Returns to Arrowhead on Gamedays
REGISTER NOW: Dance Studio Performance Day

THE MORNING AFTER – OAKLAND, VOLUME II

November 16th – 7:05 AM

Dropped balls, muffed punts and a 0-for-embarassing third-down conversion rate marred the second-me (to be fair, the two teams combined to go 3-for-31 on third down…that’s less than 10% math geniuses). There were plenty of miscues on Sunday. U-G-L-Y.

Luckily, style points aren’t taken into account when handing out victories. The Chiefs 16-10 win at the Coliseum was a familiar scene to any fan that has followed this Chiefs-Raiders rivalry. A classic case of Déjà-vu.

As usual, this game was decided by less than a touchdown, each head coach second-guessed a few of their gameday decisions and the outcome wasn’t decided until the final minute. Heck, a Chiefs safety even iced the game with a last-minute interception - again. The only difference in this one was that it was Mike Brown playing the role of Raider killer instead of Jarrad Page.

History repeated itself once again as Kansas City won for the seventh-straight time in Oakland – the longest streak of any NFL club against the Raiders.

There were a number of things to turn your nose up about on Sunday, but there was a lot more to feel good about on this victory Monday. Here are the four things that I enjoyed most about the Chiefs win on Sunday.

NEW ERA OF RUSHING
Most of the NFL has evolved into at least some form of a “running back by committee system” – at least the most successful rushing teams, anyway. Monday’s release of RB Larry Johnson marked the first time in nearly a decade that the Chiefs had truly committed themselves to that type of system.

It was a day of firsts for the Chiefs new rushing philosophy, and it was an impressive day at that. Besides turning in their first 100-yard rushing performance of the season (Jamaal Charles, 103 yards), first rushing TD of the season (Jamaal Charles) and longest rush of the season (Jamaal Charles, 44 yards), the Chiefs also turned in the first rushing performance that sparks hope in that department, in quite some time.

Get this, Charles’ 44-yard TD run was the longest since Johnson broke off a 49-yarder vs. Cincinnati in the 2005 season finale. We’re talking the Dick Vermeil era! That play, a fourth-and-one with the Chiefs trailing by seven, also happened to be a game changer. It was the spark that Kansas City needed to turn the corner on Sunday.

The Chiefs run game produced a turning point. How about that!

“It was supposed to have been a hurry-up play,” Charles explained of his 44-yard TD burst. “It was a toss outside and I just saw everybody coming inside, and they didn’t have anybody on the inside. I saw a hole and I just ran. Chris (Chambers) made a good block and I just got of Chris’ block and ran straight for the pylon.”

Simple enough, wouldn’t you say? Who said this game wasn’t easy?

Charles showed speed that can be matched by few NFL runners. The former Big 12 sprinting champion (10.27 in the 100-yard dash) eluded defenders in the backfield and turned on the jets in space to post a 5.7 rushing average on a day when he tied a career-high with 18 carries. Overall, the Chiefs targeted Charles on 23 (22 actual touches) of 67 plays (34.3%) and saw him account, singlehandedly, for 36.8% (117/318) of the team’s total offense.

“I kind of like Jamaal Charles,” Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said. “His head is in the right place, he obviously has ability and he went out there and made probably the biggest play of the game for us. But so did some other guys. I know that these guys were excited about this opportunity.

“I’ve seen a big change in Jamaal here over the past three or four weeks,” Haley said. “Really a big change in his overall personality, and everything. You can see him kind of growing into becoming a player.”

The day, by far, was the Chiefs most impressive rushing performance of the year. It might even be the most impressive of the past two-three years when you truly analyze some of these runs. What a day! Not a bad way to start a new era!

“I told the coaches that I can make the big plays,” Charles said. “I can make the 40-yard runs and I can make the 60-yard runs, just give me a chance to prove myself and what type of player that I am. I won’t be the biggest back and I won’t be the strongest back breaking all the tackles, but I will go out there and give it my all.

Charles did get his chance, and it won’t be his last. He’ll also get some help from his fellow backfield mates.

GRIT
Remember that game at Carolina last year? You know, the one where the Chiefs couldn’t get out of the shadow of their own goal post in the first quarter and went on to get blown out 34-0? I do. That’s exactly what this thing looked like early on.

On the first rush of the game, the Raiders nearly eclipsed their total rushing output (67 yards) from when the two teams met earlier this season on September 20th at Arrowhead. In just four snaps, the league’s 32nd ranked offense was on the board, thanks to yet another big play yielded by the Chiefs defense. How would the Chiefs respond offensively? With an interception! A long day at the Coliseum looked inevitable.

“It felt hard,” Haley said of watching the ugly game. “It’s hard to win, and for a team that hasn’t won a lot of games, it’s going to be hard early on. I just think that’s a fact of life. As we learn how to win and be smart players and not do dumb things as players and coaches, I think we’ll get better.”

At one point, the Raiders were outgaining the Chiefs by a mark of 91-to- -1. No, that’s not a typo….NINTY-ONE TO NEGATIVE-ONE! But then the Raiders started to be the Raiders. The drops came in droves, the throws became errant and the boo birds came out in full force. At one point the crowd grew so rowdy that they were chanting, in unison, “Russell sucks, Russell sucks,” after yet another Oakland three-and-out. Tom Cable responded by bringing in backup Bruce Gradkowski. The Chiefs responded by picking off Gradkowski twice.

After the horrid start, the Chiefs battled back, took a lead and never looked back. How many times have we seen the Chiefs take a late lead, look back, and lose at the end? Countless times over the last three years. Sunday was a huge building block for this team as a whole. Sunday’s performance showed some impressive grit.

GOOD STROKES FOR GOOD FOLKS
It’s no secret that Mike Brown has struggled against the big play this season. There were the two infamous Miles Austin TD catch-and-runs vs. Dallas and, just last week in Jacksonville, Brown put the loss on his shoulders after jumping a route to allow a 61-yard TD bomb to WR Mike Sims-Walker and missing a tackle on RB Rashad Jennings that resulted in another score.

Just seven days after uttering the words, “I lost the game,” Brown stood in front of those same cameras following a two INT performance in Oakland. Those second of those INTs sealed the victory with 30 seconds to play. Brown got redemption on Sunday. This was the perfect time for Brown to fire back at his critics.

A stand-up guy, Brown could have uttered phrases like “I’m still a game-changer,” or “This is what kind of football player I am.” Instead, Brown was humble and instead shrugged off his two huge plays as “lucky.”

“You know how they say that it’s better to be lucky than good?” Brown asked. “I was just in the right spot. On the last play of the game, it wasn’t a really good thrown ball. It was high, Brandon Carr drove in on the route, the ball was tipped in the air, and I was just in the right spot.”

Brown was offered a chance to go further. What about the first of your two INTs Mike?

“Same thing,” Brown said. “Tipped ball. That seems to be the only way that I get interceptions, with tips or overthrows. I’m glad the ball was tipped in the air a couple of times today.

Haley also took notice of Brown’s contributions Sunday, and he also was aware of Brown’s self-deprecating comments following last Sunday’s game.

“He had two big plays and he’s a really prideful guy who I think a lot of,” Haley said. “He did take everything on his shoulders (in Jacksonville), but it’s not all Mike Brown; it’s all 11.

“I’m happy for Mike,” Haley continued. “He told me before the game that he was going to get his hands on the football and that he was going to bring it to me. He did it twice, so that was good and I was happy.”

Young players can learn a lot about how to conduct themselves by watching Mike Brown. What a pro.

DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE
The Chiefs haven’t been very dominant on defense in 2009. They have, however, dominated the Raiders.

In two games this year the Chiefs have held Oakland to a passing percentage of 36.4% (20-of-55) and just 279 yards through the air. Kansas City took it a step further and yielded a season-low 90 yards through the air, while forcing 11 punts on Sunday. Those 11 punts were the second most punts forced in franchise history, trailing only a 12-punt affair against the Browns in 1989.

LB Tamba Hali and DE Wallace Gilberry continued their duel at the top of the Chiefs sack charts by splitting a sack and rookie DE Alex Magee picked a great time to log his first career sack. Magee’s 10-yard sack of Gradkowski forced an Oakland punt with under five minutes to play and gave the Chiefs a chance to seal the game offensively.

Overall, however, the Chiefs defense simply kept away from those mental errors that have haunted the group in nearly every outing this season.

“Defensively, we are at such an embryonic stage of finding out what we really are,” Haley said. “We did a lot of work here in the last two weeks. Say what you will, I said this during the week. We’re seventh in the league in forcing three-and-outs and we’re number one in the league in (fewest) giveaways. Most of those usually mean that you’re a winning team and we were 1-7 coming into this game.

“It was big plays on defense and minus plays on offense (that keep us from winning),” Haley continued. “So we’re trying to figure out ways how we’re not going to give up big plays on defense. I thought we made very good progress and that’s what I’m concerned with.”

After Bush’s 60-yard scamper on the second snap from scrimmage, Oakland’s biggest play was Gradkowski’s 22-yard completion to WR Darius Heyward-Bey at the Kansas City 26 yard line with 38 seconds to play. On the very next snap, Brown sealed the victory with is second pick of the afternoon.

“Were we great?” Haley asked. “No. Did we give up some plays when we shouldn’t have late? Yeah. Did we give up the big run? But as far as what’s been beating us, those big pass plays, I thought we did a good job.

“We’re just in the beginning stages of finding out who we are and what we’ve got,” Haley continued. “I think that the positive thing is that we’re finding more. Two months ago, if I said how many of these guys can we see being with us, it’s a smaller number than what it is now. That’s positive. We can build with some of these guys and that’s good.”