Once again I would like to say thank you for all the support I got from you while going through this period. This is a great message board with great people. Knowing that you thought about my grief and wished me well at the very least for a moment means a lot to me, and I have read the thread over and over a lot of times. My heartfelt thank you.
My dad’s funeral was yesterday, and though it was obviously a tough situation to get through, I thought it went well and was a beautiful experience. I think he got a beautiful spot for his graveyard where I can visit him often. It was not the end of our relationship. It was a new beginning.
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1 – Come on, raise your hand if you also thought “game over” to yourself when the Chiefs scored after 56 seconds. I sure did. Which also means that if I was told the Cards would be down only one touchdown about five minutes into the fourth quarter I would have taken it without thinking twice.
2 – Hey, the Cards won the third quarter for the first time this season.
3 – How great was it to see Byron Leftwich utilizing David Johnson the right way? There’s no doubt that the Cards’ offense runs through Johnson (at least until Rosen is hopefully ready to step into a bigger role - knock on wood), and thus everything seems to work better when Johnson is effective.
4 – All in all I think we can agree that there has been improvement with the team the last couple of games, and I think it’s also fair to say that Byron Leftwich has a lot to do with it. Now, since Steve Wilks got critique for hiring Mike McCoy, he also gets praise for hiring Leftwich.
5 – Sometimes you also just have to give the opponent credit. I think the Chiefs is a very fun team to watch, and I think it will be interesting to see them down the stretch.
Further on that point, what a great play by Justin Houston in the fourth quarter to pick off Rosen. I remember how many of us really wanted the Cards to draft Houston back in 2011, yet one spot ahead of where Houston got selected, the Cards chose tight end Rob Housler. Remember that guy? Didn’t think so.
6 – I really liked the onside kick in the first quarter. The Chiefs had just marched down the field in no time, and taking everything into account (basically the entire season up until that point), the Cards obviously needed a spark. At that time in the first quarter, everyone must have thought that the Cards had to try something right away to keep up. At least I did.
7 – Sometimes Josh Rosen is inaccurate, and by far the most of those times he overthrows his target. I am usually skeptical as to whether accuracy can be improved, but I’m pretty sure this is correctable.
8 – My apology to the concerned person, because I simply can’t remember who it was, but someone mentioned in another thread how some years ago Justin Pugh was playing very well at left guard. How on earth is it then that the Cards use him at right guard? Has Mike Iupati really played that well? Not in my opinion.
9 – Well, at least the Cards beat the Chiefs in the coin toss, handing the Chiefs their first coin toss-loss in 13 games.
10 – I’m not sure what I feel about Holcomb’s bend-but-don’t-break defense. I’m a fan of defenses, and I really like watching dominant defenses. Obviously, it’s good when a defense are able to clamp down when it matters the most, but I don’t really like that they don’t go all-in on stopping the offense earlier. You know, like it was for years under Ray Horton, Todd Bowles and James Bettcher.
11 – That said, the defense held Mahomes to under 300 passing yards for the first time in nine games, and under three touchdowns for the first time in five games and third time this season. They also held the Chiefs to their lowest scoring total this season.
12 – Did you hear Rosen’s interview last week? “Byron is sort of a B.A. descendant, and [Arians] is sort of a ghostly legend in this building.” What a great, great line. So, when is Arians coming back (I mean to coach. Not to haunt)?
By the way, when I am on the subject of Arians, was anyone really surprised that he said he would consider the Browns-job after how he was praising their city, their stadium and their fans before the Cards played them in 2015? B.A. obviously has a special bond with that team.
13 – I consider the Cards pretty big favorites against the Raiders next week, and yes, that actually was one of my thoughts during this game, especially early when I still thought the Chiefs would eventually slip away. In fact, that game against Oakland has been on my radar for quite some time.
14 - By the way, talk about a series of slap-in-the-face to the poor fans in Oakland, huh? First they are asked to watch and support their beloved team for two years knowing full well that the powers within the organization are moving the team to another city, and now Gruden is selling all their best players, basically securing a top draft pick which the fans in Oakland won’t get to witness the team use firsthand anyway. From the fans’ perspective, that’s like the worst breakup ever.
15 – Football Outsiders use their DVOA-ranking system (which I trust to a large degree) and the teams’ schedule to measure the chance of a team getting the #1 pick in the draft. Through week ten that “honor” goes to the Oakland Raiders with a 54.5% chance. The Cards are second with a 12.9% chance, while the Giants are third with a 12.1% chance and the Niners are fourth with a 11.3% chance.
For what it’s worth, through week nine ESPN Stats & Information had the Raiders as their favorite with a 45.1% chance and the Cards second with a 22.6% chance, but I don’t know how they reach that conclusion.
Anyway, it goes without saying that next weeks matchup in Arizona could have huge implications, though in case two teams has identical records the first tiebreaker will be Strength of Schedule (team with easiest schedule picks first). The last update I saw on that was through week nine where Oakland had the third lowest Strength of Schedule in the league while Arizona had the 10th easiest. It has not changed much after week 10, and looking at the two teams’ schedule the rest of the way, Arizona has the easiest as it stands right now with their remaining opponent being 32-31-1 while Oakland’s is a combined 38-26-1. It will undoubtable change but in other words, if the Raiders win next week, and if the Cards then lose out, it is not farfetched to think that the Cardinals could get the #1 overall pick. I’m not sure I want them to get that pick, even at this point, but at least it’s worth thinking about.
Personally, I think the Cards are good enough to win next week and at least one more game the rest of the way, while I don’t think the Raiders will win again this season.
My dad’s funeral was yesterday, and though it was obviously a tough situation to get through, I thought it went well and was a beautiful experience. I think he got a beautiful spot for his graveyard where I can visit him often. It was not the end of our relationship. It was a new beginning.
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1 – Come on, raise your hand if you also thought “game over” to yourself when the Chiefs scored after 56 seconds. I sure did. Which also means that if I was told the Cards would be down only one touchdown about five minutes into the fourth quarter I would have taken it without thinking twice.
2 – Hey, the Cards won the third quarter for the first time this season.
3 – How great was it to see Byron Leftwich utilizing David Johnson the right way? There’s no doubt that the Cards’ offense runs through Johnson (at least until Rosen is hopefully ready to step into a bigger role - knock on wood), and thus everything seems to work better when Johnson is effective.
4 – All in all I think we can agree that there has been improvement with the team the last couple of games, and I think it’s also fair to say that Byron Leftwich has a lot to do with it. Now, since Steve Wilks got critique for hiring Mike McCoy, he also gets praise for hiring Leftwich.
5 – Sometimes you also just have to give the opponent credit. I think the Chiefs is a very fun team to watch, and I think it will be interesting to see them down the stretch.
Further on that point, what a great play by Justin Houston in the fourth quarter to pick off Rosen. I remember how many of us really wanted the Cards to draft Houston back in 2011, yet one spot ahead of where Houston got selected, the Cards chose tight end Rob Housler. Remember that guy? Didn’t think so.
6 – I really liked the onside kick in the first quarter. The Chiefs had just marched down the field in no time, and taking everything into account (basically the entire season up until that point), the Cards obviously needed a spark. At that time in the first quarter, everyone must have thought that the Cards had to try something right away to keep up. At least I did.
7 – Sometimes Josh Rosen is inaccurate, and by far the most of those times he overthrows his target. I am usually skeptical as to whether accuracy can be improved, but I’m pretty sure this is correctable.
8 – My apology to the concerned person, because I simply can’t remember who it was, but someone mentioned in another thread how some years ago Justin Pugh was playing very well at left guard. How on earth is it then that the Cards use him at right guard? Has Mike Iupati really played that well? Not in my opinion.
9 – Well, at least the Cards beat the Chiefs in the coin toss, handing the Chiefs their first coin toss-loss in 13 games.
10 – I’m not sure what I feel about Holcomb’s bend-but-don’t-break defense. I’m a fan of defenses, and I really like watching dominant defenses. Obviously, it’s good when a defense are able to clamp down when it matters the most, but I don’t really like that they don’t go all-in on stopping the offense earlier. You know, like it was for years under Ray Horton, Todd Bowles and James Bettcher.
11 – That said, the defense held Mahomes to under 300 passing yards for the first time in nine games, and under three touchdowns for the first time in five games and third time this season. They also held the Chiefs to their lowest scoring total this season.
12 – Did you hear Rosen’s interview last week? “Byron is sort of a B.A. descendant, and [Arians] is sort of a ghostly legend in this building.” What a great, great line. So, when is Arians coming back (I mean to coach. Not to haunt)?
By the way, when I am on the subject of Arians, was anyone really surprised that he said he would consider the Browns-job after how he was praising their city, their stadium and their fans before the Cards played them in 2015? B.A. obviously has a special bond with that team.
13 – I consider the Cards pretty big favorites against the Raiders next week, and yes, that actually was one of my thoughts during this game, especially early when I still thought the Chiefs would eventually slip away. In fact, that game against Oakland has been on my radar for quite some time.
14 - By the way, talk about a series of slap-in-the-face to the poor fans in Oakland, huh? First they are asked to watch and support their beloved team for two years knowing full well that the powers within the organization are moving the team to another city, and now Gruden is selling all their best players, basically securing a top draft pick which the fans in Oakland won’t get to witness the team use firsthand anyway. From the fans’ perspective, that’s like the worst breakup ever.
15 – Football Outsiders use their DVOA-ranking system (which I trust to a large degree) and the teams’ schedule to measure the chance of a team getting the #1 pick in the draft. Through week ten that “honor” goes to the Oakland Raiders with a 54.5% chance. The Cards are second with a 12.9% chance, while the Giants are third with a 12.1% chance and the Niners are fourth with a 11.3% chance.
For what it’s worth, through week nine ESPN Stats & Information had the Raiders as their favorite with a 45.1% chance and the Cards second with a 22.6% chance, but I don’t know how they reach that conclusion.
Anyway, it goes without saying that next weeks matchup in Arizona could have huge implications, though in case two teams has identical records the first tiebreaker will be Strength of Schedule (team with easiest schedule picks first). The last update I saw on that was through week nine where Oakland had the third lowest Strength of Schedule in the league while Arizona had the 10th easiest. It has not changed much after week 10, and looking at the two teams’ schedule the rest of the way, Arizona has the easiest as it stands right now with their remaining opponent being 32-31-1 while Oakland’s is a combined 38-26-1. It will undoubtable change but in other words, if the Raiders win next week, and if the Cards then lose out, it is not farfetched to think that the Cardinals could get the #1 overall pick. I’m not sure I want them to get that pick, even at this point, but at least it’s worth thinking about.
Personally, I think the Cards are good enough to win next week and at least one more game the rest of the way, while I don’t think the Raiders will win again this season.
