Bengals will be running, but can KC do anything about it

If Todd Haley and his coaching staff had one wish for Christmas, it may have been for Santa to have brought the Chiefs defense the willpower and ability to stop the run.

After three straight weeks of giving up over 200 yards rushing to an opponent, the Chiefs will take on a Cincinnati club that not only loves to run the football, but has a backup running back by the name of Larry Johnson who is just dying for the opportunity to strut his stuff against his former team.

After last week’s embarrassing defensive performance against the Browns where they made Jerome Harrison the second coming of Jim Brown, and gave up a club record 351 yards rushing, it’s hard to imagine things getting worse defensively, but I’ve learned never to say never with this team.

It’ll be interesting to see if this team throws in the towel for the final two games of the season on the road.  So far, it appears more of a lack of talent and not lack of effort on the Chiefs part in their four game losing skid, but you have to wonder if Haley and his staff can get hit team motivated for these final two road games.

Offensively, they started to click on most cylinders last week, but TE Brad Cottam, who was really showing promise went on IR and it was the Browns defense we’re talking about.  I’m not expecting victories down the stretch but it would be nice to see continued progress with the offense and a defense that looks like it know what it’s doing this Sunday.  That may be too much to ask.

Chargers rolling toward Super Bowl berth

The Indianapolis Colts may be just two games away from an unbeaten regular season, but the San Diego Chargers still look like the team to beat in the AFC as we head toward the playoffs after winning their tenth straight game and clinching the number two seed in the AFC.  

No one rushed for more than 60 yards, but the Chargers averaged over 4 yards per carry and had four TD’s on the ground in a 42-17 pounding of Tennessee on Christmas night.

This team has it all working right now.  A running game that is spearheaded by LaDaninian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles, a passing game headlined by Antonio Gates and QB Philip Rivers and a defense that forced three Titan turnovers that resulted in 21 points.

For the past several seasons the Chargers have been touted as the most talented team in the AFC, but they always ran into someone who played just a little bit better come playoff time.  This time around, I don’t see that happening.  One other thing, sometimes you just get the feeling that this is a quarterbacks year.  That’s the feeling I get with Rivers.

He has a gunslinger mentality and an attitude that wills his team to victories.  This looks like the year he manages to take his team all the way and Southern California fans decided that Rivers for Manning deal was a pretty good one after all.  This can always change in the weeks to come, injuries happen and teams go into mystifying slumps, but the Chargers look dominant and I don’t think they can be stopped.

Browns flog Chiefs 41-34 as tacklers take early holiday

The game was blacked out on local TV but the Chiefs and Browns played the most exciting and frustrating game of the season at Arrowhead Stadium as the Chiefs closed out their home schedule this year with a 41-34 loss.

Cleveland and KC traded field goals and turnovers in the first quarter, then the Browns Joshua Cribbs set an NFL record returning the kick off 100 yards for his 7th career return for TD.  Cleveland’s Phil Dawson then hit a 30 yard field goal for a 10 point Browns lead.

KC’s offense then came alive with Matt Cassell connecting with Chris Chambers on back to back plays, the first for 39 yards, the second a 9 yard scoring pass to make it 13-10.  Cassel had possibly his best day of the season, 22 of 40 for 331, 2 TD’s and no interceptions.

Next possession, running back Jamaal Charles bolted 47 yards through the Browns defense to put KC on top 17-13.  Kansas City made it a 21 point explosion when a bad snap from center went into the end zone and Andy Studebaker recovered to make it 24-13.

But Joshua Cribbs was a one man offense for Cleveland in the first half.  He brought back his second kickoff of the half, 103 yards and now 8th in his career and it was 24-20 KC at half.  Cribbs has 269 return yards at halftime.

Early in the third quarter, Jerome Harrison took over the game and put Cleveland back on top 27-24 with a 71 yard touchdown run on a counter play right up the middle.  Dropped passes killed the Chiefs and Cassel in the second half with five in the third quarter alone.

A fourth and one conversion on a 13 yard sneak by QB Brady Quinn and then an 8 yard TD run by Harrison and the Browns were back up by 10 at 34-24.  Harrison would finish with 286 yards on the ground, a record against the Chiefs, third best in NFL history and nearly his season total.

Ryan Succop hit a short field goal tying Jan Stenerud’s Chiefs rookie record of 21 and KC was within 7 with 8 minutes to go.  After a missed 52 yard field goal by Cleveland, Matt Cassel overcame more dropped passes to drive the team 58 yards in 8 plays.

Cassel hit Leonard Pope in the end zone but he dropped it, the 8th drop of the game.  But on 4th and 6 from the 12, Mark Bradley held on to a pass for a touchdown to tie the game at 34 with 2:20 to go.  But the Chiefs defense continued to look like Swiss cheese.

The Browns took just a minute twenty to score as Jerome Harrison covered the last 28 yards of a 70 yard drive to give Cleveland a 41-34 lead.  KC drove to the Browns 26 but Cassel’s final pass to the end zone fell incomplete. 

Harrison finished with 286 yards on 34 carries, just 10 yards short of the NFL record. Cribbs had two kickoff returns and 307 return yards.  Jamaal Charles had 25 carries 154 yards for KC.  There were big plays everywhere, but no one can tackle from KC.  It's embarrassing.