It is very hard to win a football game when you're trailing by two scores in the fourth quarter. That's the situation the Chiefs found themselves Saturday night: They got the ball back from the Patriots down 27-13 with 6:29 remaining.
It's especially hard to win a football game when you're trailing by two scores in the fourth quarter and your coach farts on the concept of clock management. Unfortunately, Kansas City's coach is Andy Reid, perhaps the NFL's least clock-savvy coach. Over and over again throughout Reid's career, he's been baffled by the very concept of time.
And so, the Chiefs were more doomed than most teams. With Reid manning an astrolabe, the Chiefs embarked on a 17-play drive that took a staggering five minutes and 26 seconds, leaving them little to no chance of winning.
The ugliness really started when Kansas City got down to the one-yard line. Alex Smith threw a pass to Albert Wilson that got the Chiefs down three feet from paydirt with 2:52 remaining. You're a yard away from the end zone with three minutes left. Let's catch up with what happens next. (Oh, and by the way: The Chiefs had all three timeouts, so keep that in mind as the time ticks away.)
1-1-NE 1(2:33) (No Huddle) C.West right guard to NE 2 for -1 yards (J.Sheard; D.Watson).
They ran the ball with Charcandrick West. This is a good idea if you get into the end zone. If you don't, the clock is running, and you won't want to use your last timeout.
West didn't get into the end zone. In fact, he went back a yard. The Chiefs wouldn't be able to set up a play in the next 33 seconds, which is pretty embarrassing when you're down two scores in the final five minutes of the game, and we got to the two-minute warning. A throw would've avoided that loss of 30 seconds.
2-2-NE 2(2:00) (Shotgun) PENALTY on KC-E.Fisher, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at NE 2 - No Play.
Doesn't hurt the clock, but the false start pushed them back five yards, which will eventually hurt the clock.
2-7-NE 7(2:00) (Shotgun) A.Smith pass short right to J.Avant to NE 3 for 4 yards (L.Ryan).
They threw the ball short of the end zone, which is just as bad as a run. The clock starts again. And then ...
THEY HUDDLED
WITH UNDER TWO MINUTES AND THE CLOCK RUNNING IN A TWO-SCORE GAME, THE CHIEFS HUDDLED.
THEY GATHERED TOGETHER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD TO DISCUSS WHAT PLAY THEY WERE GOING TO RUN. THE PATRIOTS STARED AT THEM, WAITING.
GUYS.
JUST GO DO SOMETHING
DO ANYTHING
DO ANYTHING BESIDES STANDING AND WAITING
EVERY SECOND THAT PASSES MAKES YOU MORE LIKELY TO LOSE. EVEN IF THE PLAY YOU RUN IS BAD, YOU GOTTA RUN SOMETHING.
They don't run a play until the 1:27 mark.
3-3-NE 3(1:27) (Shotgun) A.Smith pass incomplete short right to J.Avant. PENALTY on NE-L.Ryan, Defensive Pass Interference, 2 yards, enforced at NE 3 - No Play.
Great, pass interference and a fresh set of downs. Now Andy Reid can run the ball three more times.
1-1-NE 1(1:22) (Shotgun) A.Smith pass incomplete short left to C.Conley.
2-1-NE 1(1:18) (Shotgun) C.West right end for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.
Ha, they actually did run. It worked. Only a minute and 34 seconds after getting to the 1-yard line, the Chiefs had finally reached paydirt.
The Chiefs didn't recover the onside kick. Luckily, they had all three timeouts remaining to call on the Patriots' next drive! Unfortunately, it didn't matter, because the Patriots picked up a first down and won.
* * *
SB Nation presents: Danny Amendola's huge hit results in minor penalty
Comments
The one thing people rag on him for...
And time and time again he finds a way to confirm their doubts. Sheesh.
By wde2011 on 01.16.16 8:13pm
Doubts?
At what point does his utter incompetence at clock management become a reality?
By Bring Your Own Lampshade on 01.16.16 8:31pm
It wasn't even that the clock management was horrible
The entire last offensive drive for Kansas City was the most casual, slow moving thing, it was unbearable to watch. It looked like they simply gave up on the game even though they were down by 14. It wouldn’t be easy to make that up, but it was doable. And they didn’t seem to care.
By xPutNameHerex on 01.16.16 8:53pm
Global warming....
is actually occurring at a faster pace than the pace of the last Chiefs drive. And I don’t even believe in global warming.
By mvtheshark111 on 01.16.16 9:22pm
Philadelphia Nightmare
Andy Reid falls short once again and now we get his Peterson. This is a nightmare and disgrace to Philadelphia Football . This team is run by a Fantasy Football League owner Jeffery Laurie, with his side kick Howie Dudie Roseman and not their new puppet Peterson will be bringing his Andy Reid lack luster offense to Philadelphia where Roseman will be calling the plays. I think Howie Roseman should be the manager since he has just sealed his fate with the Eagles as we’re in for a horrible up coming year and I see no relief any time soon. We have a soft Eagles football team ruined by Kelly who should have been stopped by the NFL for destroying this team giving up three star players. There needs to be rules in place to protect a team from this kind of destruction. The fans should boycott this team as they do not represent what Philadelphia is all about. Hard working blue collar workers who never give up like our soft Eagles. If we don’t like our boss we can’t quit and take ourselves out of games because we have pride and heart. These Eagles are what they showed a bunch of losers. That is why we’re the only team in our division without a Super Bowl . That speaks volumes and the process of picking Peterson is a joke and embarrassment and now we find out Jaworski was part of the selection. So I guess we’re ok now bull that is why Gruden is still on Monday night Football and Jaworski is not. I am embarrassed for you Laurie you truly truly showed me you have no clue what your doing. You need to rid yourself of these so called experts maybe let the fans help you pick your coach and team because you have done a horrible job
By Philadelphia Nightmare on 01.16.16 10:54pm
Do you start every post with your
username? And you can make paragraphs, it’s really simple.
By Perrinbar on 01.16.16 11:59pm
It did occur to me while watching the game that Philly fans probably weren't thrilled
By Tigersfan313 on 01.16.16 11:59pm
Glass half empty?
Damn. Bitter much? I’m an Eagles fan too and I don’t see things at all the way you do. Yes, I’m glad Chip’s gone. He was WAY out of his league and made a huge mess he had no idea how to clean up. He had to go. Pederson’s a total unknown. That may be a very bad thing. It may be a good thing. We just don’t know. I’m not optimistic, I’m not pessimistic. I have nothing whatsoever to base either attitude on so I’ll avoid both and just wait and see. We’re getting a lot of practice at that here in Philly these days. As for the roster, there’s a fair amount of damage from Chip’s mad genius outburst but certainly enough of a core left to build on and get back to contention fairly quickly. Bradford’s done enough to persuade me he’s worth franchising to see if he keeps improving before deciding on what to do with him long term. Sure, he’ll be overpaid, but he’s going to get overpaid no matter where he ends up and there are no better alternatives at starting QB out there for next season, so he might as well be here. Swallow hard and pay up. The defense is actually in better shape than in 2014. Add another decent starting corner and a linebacker, put in a 4-3 and give Vinny Curry a new contract with full time snaps and I think we’ve got something there. On offense we’re a deep threat WR and a pair of guards from being pretty good if Peters has anything left. Get rid of Riley Cooper and draft a stud at LT and we’re set on that side of the ball. Slow down the time between snaps a little, let Bradford adjust plays at the line, and run between the tackles once in a while instead of trying to go around the outside every time. That’ll get more rushing yards, cut the drops by half or more, and convert more 2nd and 3rd downs. They’ll stay on the field for more than 22 minutes a game, score more points and help the defense a ton. Special teams seems solid for now. See? Not so bad after all.
By syzygy21055 on 01.18.16 5:48pm
Great Game
Definitely happy (as a Pats fan) for the lack of clock awareness down the stretch, but you can’t put it all on the coaches. Smith knows how time works, right? He needed to stop looking to the sideline for calls and definitely stop huddling.
Even better than the lack of clock management, though, are all these salty Sherman articles.
By CasualMethHead on 01.17.16 11:37am
The Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs were on a roll for 12 Games, but they are still building the team to be a powerhouse like the Patriots. They could not stop Brady at crucial times in the Game. They could not get any pass rush, and potential interceptions were dropped. You cannot make critical mistakes in the playoffs against a good team. But the Chiefs are still building. One thing a I commend them on, is that they found out this year, you can’t depend on one particular player to carry the whole team. Everyone has to work together. Build on what you have already accomplished for next year.
By brockbill on 01.17.16 12:35pm
Classic Andy
Andy Reid’s a pretty good coach with a reputation as a great one. I contend that Andy got that reputation because he started off in Philly with an excellent coaching staff, a super supportive front office and owner, a very good quarterback, a dominant defense, and an exceptionally weak division in a conference which was, in the early 2000’s, also at the weakest point overall in its history. He benefited from a perfect storm of positive factors which helped him succeed. Some of those factors were his doing, and some weren’t. I give him credit for drafting McNabb and hiring great assistants like Jim Johnson and John Harbaugh. But as those guys moved on he consistently replaced them with mediocre successors, the division and the conference gradually improved, and Andy was exposed as the just-better-than-average coach he actually is. His overall record looked quite good, and still does, though less so. His record against very good teams and very good coaches does not. After 2005 or so he never again showed the kind of ability and judgment we thought we had seen in him early on. In fact, he got progressively worse until by 2012 even his players had given up on him and Jeff Lurie had no choice but to move on.
In Philly we know this story all too well. In KC they’re still finding it out for themselves, even though we warned them this would happen when they hired him. For the past 10 years his competency level has been capped at 10 or 11 wins per season at most, with an occasional playoff win here and there. He can get you that far but no further, because that’s where the competency level of opposing coaches consistently exceeds his and the caliber of opposing teams overwhelms his ability to manage games. That’s not such a big deal in a coach whose competency level’s on an upward curve. You can hope for better in the near future. But where Andy fails worst of all is in his baffling inability to learn from experience, and even in his inability to adjust during games. He simply isn’t mentally flexible or agile enough to adapt. For example, he’s a strong game planner during the week, but a poor game manager on the weekends. His competency level hit a plateau and flattened out over a decade ago. He is what he is, which means he’s still making the same dumb mistakes he made 17 years ago, especially in regard to clock management. He constantly says he has to do a better job, and then stubbornly refuses to change a thing. More than any other reason, this was why he had to leave Philly and it’s why he’ll eventually be asked to leave KC too.
Once again he has the good fortune to have an excellent organization around him and once again he’s being credited a bit too much by fans and media for the organization’s collective success. At some point they and the team will recognize he’s solid enough to keep the Chiefs respectable for a while, and that’s as far as he goes. That’s not necessarily such a terrible thing. There’s a lot to be said for the fun and excitement of a string of 10 or 11 win seasons and being in the mix for playoff contention most years. If you’re satisfied with that you’ll be satisfied with Andy. For now. Because he’s never going to take you all the way. After 17 blown chances, I think we can say that.
By syzygy21055 on 01.18.16 2:33pm