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Week 12: Defense Collapses After Strong Offensive Start
Defense gives up way too many big plays to blow lead.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Tyrod Taylor was much more accurate with the deep ball this week, than last year. He threw for a career high 291 but got all but 55 of them in the first half. He put the ball up for Sammy Watkins early and often and he had huge results. He did nothing after halftime and did lose a fumble.
Grade C: A in the first half, F in the second half.
Running Backs:
LeSean McCoy was running well but was careless with the football holding it out there loose on his first quarter fumble. Made a nice catch and run for his touchdown. Averaged a pedestrian 3.7 yards on 19 carries for 70 yards. Added 31 receiving yards to get his fourth straight game with 100 yards from scrimmage.
Karlos Williams was called for an illegal block in the back wiping out a 19 yard gain by Jerome Felton. He then injured his shoulder running for a first down.
Jerome Felton did get credit for a 12 yard reception before the penalty brought it back some. He was uncovered.
Grade C-: Average day with penalty and fumble bringing the grade down.
Receivers:
Sammy Watkins was on fire in the first half. It was certainly the Sammy Show early and often. He got involved on the third play of the game catching a 48 yard bomb perfectly thrown by Taylor to get the Bills in the red zone setting up their opening drive field goal. Made a nice tip toe catch on the sidelines to convert a 3rd and 10 play. He caught touchdown passes of 28 and 21 yards in the first half and was targeted deep several more times. He also had a 33 yard reception before his second touchdown. Had only one pass thrown his way after halftime.
Robert Woods bobbled a dropped a pass that Ryan challenged and lost. Had just three catches in nine targets for only 25 yards.
Chris Hogan had three catches for 34 yards and converted a third down with a nice catch. He also dropped a ball.
Charles Clay was called for a false start in the 1st quarter. Had a few nice catches and runs and converted two third downs. He had five catches total for 31 yards.
Grade B: Watkins gets an A+++ the rest of the receivers were underwhelming.
Offensive Line:
Richie Incognito had a nice block to spring McCoy on a screen pass. Was called for a holding penalty.
Seantrel Henderson let Justin Houston go unblocked in the red zone forcing Taylor to throw it away. Was called for a holding penalty.
Grade B: Gave Taylor time to throw most of the day and they averaged 4.6 yards on the ground.
Defensive Line:
Jerry Hughes had good pressure forcing a throwaway on KC's first series. Was called for a neutral zone infraction on the next play. He was very quiet the rest of the way making one tackle from behind after a good gain and was called for roughing the passer.
Marcell Dareus was very active and actually led the team with six tackles.
Corbin Bryant was so quiet he didn't even register on the stat sheet.
Alex Carrington also wasn't on the stat sheet in his first start of the season before leaving with a knee injury.
IK Enemkpali had two tackles.
Grade F: Allowed the running game to run right over them.
Linebackers:
Manny Lawson only had two tackles.
Nigel Bradham had four tackles including one for a loss and one open field tackle before leaving with an ankle injury.
Preston Brown had five tackles.
A.J. Tarpley was run right over on a long run late in the game.
Grade D: Not a good game from this unit.
Secondary:
Stephon Gilmore had a nice pass breakup just before halftime that helped make a last second field goal attempt very long. Was beaten deep by Jeremy Maclin on the first possession of the 2nd quarter and it kick started a touchdown drive.
Ronald Darby went out for a brief spell and was evaluated for a concussion but returned and was promptly beaten by Jeremy Maclin for a long touchdown. He was beaten by Travis Kelce for a touchdown to start the third quarter. He then dropped a sure pick six late in the third quarter that could have turned the game around.
Mario Butler replaced Darby when he was out and was beaten for a bomb to Maclin that setup the Chief's first touchdown.
Nickell Robey was called for a questionable pass interference penalty one play before a touchdown bomb. The flag flew in five seconds after the play and he barely grazed the guy.
Bacarri Rambo dropped two interceptions although the second one wouldn't have counted because of a pass interference penalty.
Corey Graham made a nice tackle on a wide receiver screen to force the Chiefs to settle for a fourth quarter field goal.
Grade F: By far the worst game of the season for this unit.
Special Teams:
Colton Schmidt had his first punt sail into the end zone for a touchback, his first since week 1. He had one punt fair caught at the 11 and finished with just a 33 yard net on three punts with a 39.7 yards average.
Dan Carpenter missed his third field goal of the season and the team was chasing that point the rest of the way. He barely made another extra point and hit a 27 yard field goal.
Marcus Thigpen was back with the team after being released earlier in the season and was back there returning kicks and punts and was very busy. He returned one punt for five yards but averaged 23.4 yards on seven kickoff returns.
Coverage Units gave up some decent kickoff returns as Knile Davis had four returns for 106 yards, a 26.5 yard average. He had one big return called back for a block in the back.
Grade D: They needed a couple of plays from this unit and didn't get it.
Coaching:
Rex Ryan made a mistake not challenging a bomb to Maclin that looked like it may have hit the ground. Worth a challenge especially since it gave the Chiefs an easy touchdown. He then challenged a drop by Robert Woods that was clearly incomplete and lost an important 2nd half timeout. He failed to challenge a catch by Hogan that would have been overturned than failed on a desperate challenge in the final minutes.
Greg Roman had a great gameplan early by committing to getting Watkins involved. Why did that stop going to him in the second half?
Dennis Thurman should have blitzed an injury ravaged Chiefs offensive line but didn't do it.
Grade F: New coaching staff same result in a big game.
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