KC Chiefs News: Clock Management and Missed Opportunities
By Scott Dillon
KC Chiefs News focuses on clock management or lack thereof, as well as the missed opportunities that certainly haunt the Chiefs.
When the sun rose on Chiefs kingdom Sunday morning everything felt a little dimmer. The Chiefs had just suffered their first loss in 12 games and their roller coaster season was suddenly over.
There are a lot of reasons why the Chiefs lost. There was no pass rush on Tom Brady, and Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski looked anything but questionable. When yellow flags did fly, they seemed to fall in favor of the Patriots. Even poorly thrown and deflected passes landed in the Patriots’ hands as the ball bounced in their favor yet again.
The things that stick out the most are the missed opportunities and the poor play calling at the end of the game. Twice the Chiefs had Brady’s passes in their hands and were unable to come up with the ball. Sean Smith dropped a potential pick six while Marcus Peters, a rookie with nine interceptions on the year including the playoffs, dropped a pass that would have stopped a Patriots scoring drive.
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The Chiefs were twice unable to take advantage of good field position after starting a drive inside the patriots 40 yard line, and having a good opening drive in the second half fumbled away by the unsure-handed Knile Davis. Alex Smith missed multiple receivers high or long and played much worse than he has all season.
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When the Chiefs were down by two scores with just under seven minutes to go they constructed a methodical drive down the field to cut the lead to seven. The problem with that drive was the amount of time that ran off the clock. Twice young receivers Chris Conley and Albert Wilson stayed in bounds to fight for extra yards instead of running out of bounds. With the clock running on the goal line the Chiefs huddled up and were unable to get the play off before the two minute warning.
This is the kind of game that will leave the Chiefs’ players and their fans wondering ‘What could have been?’ Will Andy Reid ever learn to play from behind late in the game? There are a lot of unknowns and several free agents heading into 2016, but for now the Chiefs are left with an incredible story in 2015. A story that like their Truman Sports Complex brethren of 2014 came to a close just a little too quickly.
Check out more KC Chiefs News headlines from around FanSided.com:
Patriots Beat Chiefs, End Magical Season [Matt Verderame: Arrowhead Addict]
KC Chiefs: Good, Bad, Ugly VS Patriots in AFC Divisional Round [Leigh Oleszczak: KC Kingdom]
"If there’s been one poor aspect to Andy Reid‘s coaching, it would without a doubt be time management. The last two and a half minutes of this game was a prime example of that.With less than three minutes to go in the game, the Chiefs had first and goal and could have easily ran another play before the two minute warning hit. Instead, Kansas City elected to let the time run down all the way to the two minute warning despite having all three of their timeouts. Unbelievable."
Chiefs Offseason: Who is a Free Agent? [Matt Verderame: Arrowhead Addict]
Looking Towards Chiefs’ Draft and Offseason [John McCarty: Arrowhead Addict]
See what the rest of the the web has to say about the Chiefs:
What Can The Chiefs Do About The Clock Management? [Joel Thorman: Arrowhead Pride]
Chiefs Coach Reid: Slow Scoring Drive Part of Plan [Adam Teicher: ESPN]
The Chiefs will have to find a way to address the clock management issues that they have. No matter what Andy Reid claims, and planned or otherwise, this isn’t the first time the clock has come back to bite the Chiefs.
In the meantime, try and take solace in the fact that the Chiefs turned a lost season into their first playoff win in over two decades.