Burning Questions: Chiefs vs. Bills

The Kansas City Chiefs lost their third game in a row, and tenth of the season, as they fell to the Buffalo Bills 16-10 at  half-full Arrowhead Stadium.  Unlike their last two blowout losses, this is a game they could have easily won going away.

It was an ugly game to watch, but not because the Chiefs weren’t creating opportunities to win.  Instead because they rarely capitalized on them.  Mark Bradley beat the Buffalo secondary for touchdowns twice, but each time was over thrown by quarterback Matt Cassel.  Late in the game Cassel hit Chris Chambers with a perfect pass at the 2 yard line and the veteran receiver couldn’t hold on.

There will be plenty of talk about Cassel’s 4 INTs and the receivers inability to catch the ball, but there is much more surrounding this game that need to be figured out.

Where was the running game?

You probably see that Jamaal Charles set a career high for both carries and yards or maybe you caught his 76 yard touchdown and are wondering what I’m talking about.

Yes, Charles was fantastic all day long and finished with a very healthy 7.6 ypc.  My issue isn’t with how he played but how many times he was given the ball.  I’m as worried about wearing the kid down as anyone, but if you are going to hold him back from returning kicks the way Todd Haley and Steve Hoffman did then you have to give him at least another 5-7 carries.

The Buffalo Bills rush defense is by far the worst in the league, yet there were the Chiefs throwing the ball almost 20 times more than they ran.  Those numbers are slightly off because they needed to throw the ball late, but even when you take that final drive out of the equation it still isn’t a 50-50 split.  And for as bad as the Bills are at stopping the run the Chiefs should have at least run the ball 60-40.

Todd Haley will be grilled about his fourth down decisions and the future of his quarterback, but the focus should be on his curious decision to come out of the gate throwing and continue with that trend all game.  Instead of taking the ball and going three and out, they could have had a huge 10 play statement drive by pounding the ball on the ground.

Can we stop with Lance Long already?

He is a great story and has potential to maybe eventually be a slot receiver.  But he’s not there yet and he needs to stop being involved in the Chiefs offense or return game.

In the passing game he has yet to show any ability to break tackles or top end speed and that was carried over into his attempt to return kicks.  Kansas City has been searching for a kick returner all season and frankly they need to keep looking.  Long couldn’t find any seams and was taken down immediately following any sort of contact.

I don’t know that Quinten Lawrence would have done any better after a ho-hum performance last week, but you need to give him a chance.  With Lawrence at least you know there is game breaking speed.  What are you getting from Long?  Effort is great when you’re talking about fighting to get a tackle on a coverage unit, but it’s just not enough to break games open and the chiefs need to give Lawrence the chance to develop.

Speaking of returns…

Does Bobby Wade know punts can be returned?

Not only did Wade fail to return a single punt, but he let two kicks that he could have returned sail over his head and roll all the way to the 9 and 7, respectively.

Wade is guy that I truly believe can help this team, but as a receiver not a punt returner.  For most of the season there has been no hope for the Chiefs punt returners thanks to an overall breakdown by the return unit when it came to providing room to work with.  That wasn’t a problem against the Bills.

Buffalo has a solid special teams unit and just because there was a chance for Wade to catch the ball obviously doesn’t mean he would have been able to do much once he caught the ball.  And if as a returner you don’t feel you have enough room and don’t want to make a mistake then you make sure you call for a fair catch.  Unless you get backed all the way towards your end zone and are positive the ball will carry in for a touchback, you need to do a better job.

The Chiefs will have to focus on the many holes that still remain on the roster, but a true return specialist has to be high on that list.  Picking from the bargain bin and hoping for the best just isn’t cutting it.

Tags: Bobby Wade, Buffalo Bills, Jamaal Charles, Lance Long, Todd Haley