The wheels are falling off the Kansas City season in a major way, just two weeks into the season. Fresh off a 41-7 beating in Week 1, and losing Eric Berry to a season-ending injury, the Chiefs were looking for something better in this game.
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It didn’t work out that way and the Lions rolled to a 48-3 demolition of the Chiefs, who lost yet another key piece of their roster in the form of Jamaal Charles, arguably their best player, and certainly their most explosive playmaker. Charles is reported to be heading to the IR on Monday.
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The Lions steadily took advantage of the poor play of the Chiefs. In truth it was difficult to take too much from this, other than the fact that the Lions are now well capable of beating a side that doesn’t show up and then quickly shoots themselves in the foot. That in and of itself is a sign of how far the Lions have come in the past few years. But what else did we see?
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Kansas City – Three Performances of Note
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1) Replacing Berry
We’ve seen John McGraw in action in the past, and it won’t surprise anybody to see that his -1.1 PFF grade is a step down from the play of Berry. What was more interesting however is how that grade was split. McGraw played well against the run (+1.3), but was a disaster in coverage (-2.5), where he fumbled away a key interception early in the game, then dropped another pick later in the game. Other than that he was thrown at four times and allowed three completions for 21 yards. If McGraw is to have any hope of holding up his end of the deal, he has to make the plays that come to him.
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2) OG issues, but not in dealing with Suh
You might have been expecting an OG to struggle in this game, going up against Ndamukong Suh, but Jon Asamoah actually acquitted himself pretty well. On the other side, however, Ryan Lilja had real problems with multiple Detroit players. Lilja gave up a pair of pressures but was also handled in the run game at the point of attack consistently and was the cause of more than one run play for the Chiefs going awry. The only good news is that he wasn’t flagged for a penalty.
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3) ILBs performing
Derrick Johnson has been a standout for the Chiefs as an ILB in their 3-4 scheme. He was a solid performer in this game despite struggling to shed blocks at the second level at times. He was also able to make a nuisance of himself in the pass game, applying a pressure and batting down a pass, on just five pass rushes. His partner in the middle, Jovan Belcher, was also able to play well against the run, and chipped in with his own pressure as a pass rusher. Both players accounted for a missed tackle, but they had solid contributions in an otherwise dismal game for the Chiefs.
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Detroit – Three Performances of Note
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1) Linebacker makeover
The Lions struggled in a major way last season with their linebackers. They set about changing that in the off-season with some new acquisitions and two of them were in fine form in this game. Justin Durant (+2.5) and Stephen Tulloch (+3.3) were both strong forces in the run game and Tulloch was able to account for himself well in the pass game, allowing just six yards on his pair of targets. The Lions were able to keep both players on the field more than they will some weeks too, with Durant playing 76.8% of their defensive snaps for the game and Tulloch 89.3%.
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2) A good way to use 15 snaps
Defensive end Willie Young saw just 15 snaps on the day, with only four of them rushing the passer, but he was able to notch a pair of pressures and made two tackles, both of which were stops. That’s a pretty good way to make an impact in limited playing time and the kind of performance that’ll demand coaches take a longer look at him and give him some more snaps next week. Look for him to see more than 15 snaps in Week 3.
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3) Suh back to rookie form?
I don’t mean this in a good way. Early in his rookie year the book on Suh was pretty simple – he would rag-doll O-lineman for a couple of plays in each game, enough to get on the highlight reel, and keep the hype machine rolling, but otherwise would be quiet. What’s more, he would be very susceptible to trap blocks in the backfield, opening up holes in the run game. To his credit he worked that out of his game as the year went on, but this game was like a journey back in time. He notched a sack, and another hit, but on 23 pass-rushes that isn’t stellar (though certainly not poor), but the Chiefs used trap blocks on him all afternoon and he was taken out of a few plays, ending the day with a below average -1.2 PFF grade. Let’s hope this was just a blip.
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Game Notes
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● Brandon McDonald played just a single snap at CB for the Lions in this game
● Titus Young was extremely lucky to escape without a flag thrown on him in a brief scuffle with Chiefs players that saw two flags thrown, both on the Chiefs.
● Despite being down in a major way for much of the game, the Chiefs still ran the ball four more times than they passed it.
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PFF Game Ball:
Nate Burleson, WR, Detroit Lions
This game didn’t have any obvious standout player, but Burleson beat six different defenders in coverage and was a constant danger after the catch.
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