Chiefs outscore Cards 13-0 in 4th quarter to pull out 23-20 win
The Chiefs had a furious comeback to beat the Cards. The team played very bad for three quarters on offense until they finally woke up before it was too late. Damon Huard completed 26 of 38 passes for 288 yards with 2 TDs. Larry Johnson was stuffed running the ball, as he only had 36 yards on 16 carries (2.3 ypc)….but Johnson caught 6 passes for 106 yards and a TD.  WR Eddie Kennison caught 4 passes for 48 yards. Samie Parker caught 5 passes for 37 yards and a TD.
The Chiefs defense played a great game for the last 3 quarters after stinking it up in the 1st quarter. The Chiefs stuffed the Cardinals’ running game, holding them to 76 yards rushing on 26 carries (2.9 ypc). The Chiefs allowed rookie Matt Leinart to complete 22 of 35 passes for 222 net yards passing.
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Man, that crap got scary for a while. Chiefs reverted to the conservative offense for 2 1/2 quarters and LJ almost got his neck snapped. The Chiefs must have a big red bulls eye target on their jersies somewhere, because this is not normal for these types of malicious injuries to the same team.
Herm needs to realize that pounding the ball at a stacked defense will not get you very much. Arizona and most of the nation knew what the gameplan was, pound LJ all day at the line, so they prepped their gameplan on that basis. So, what do we do, we stick with the gameplan waiting and waiting and waiting for LJ to break one. If not for his receiving yards today, the Chiefs would’ve walked out of Arizona limping and carrying another loss that they should’ve won.
I know that LJ wants to be the “man” and carry this offense, but for the love of God, please get a handle on the damn ball. Preist rarely fumbled and he didn’t try to bowl over every defender that got in his way like LJ. LJ is a big guy, but that doesn’t mean that everybody he encounters is not going to cradle at his presence and lay down because he’s barrelling down on them at the line. The defense wants a piece of him now in the box because of his running style and that is causing some violent hits and fumbles. Sad to say, he’s a great running back, but if this keeps up, expect to see more fumbles and also a shortened career because of the pounding he’ll receive week in and week out.
Hopefully, Edwards will take a page out of Marty Schottenheimer’s book last night and come out passing against the Steelers. Look how Philip Rivers played against them last night, and I think the Chiefs receivers are just as good as the Chargers.
Agreed, the Chiefs must exploit that Steelers secondary if they want to open up that running game. Especially on the road, Kennison needs to concentrate and not drop any balls. Parker is becoming a reliable possession receiver and is taking the hits, which is going to be a confidence builder for the QB’s to look for.
Huard is doing an awesome job in protecting the ball and not making dumb mistakes. This is a huge relief for the offense and Chiefs fans. He has shown that he can hit the deep passes also, which will be vital for the Steelers game. Chiefs need to exploit the screen passes again with LJ, because the Steelers defense is fast and could over pursue.