Over their last two games, the Kansas City Chiefs have racked up a total of 21 penalties. The Chiefs can’t continue to let penalties plague them.
Chiefs Kingdom is no stranger to unnecessary penalties from the Kansas City Chiefs in recent years. In the last two to three seasons, it wasn’t uncommon to see an overly emotional Travis Kelce or Marcus Peters get nabbed for an unsportsmanlike penalty.
Marcus Peters was sent to the Rams during the offseason and so far this season, Travis Kelce seems to be keeping a level head. Unfortunately, the Chiefs’ unsportsmanlike woes came alive against the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Sunday.
Emotional outbursts are bound to happen in highly competitive football games and no team is immune to them. Seeing Travis Kelce throw his towel at a referee and get ejected in week nine of the 2016 season may have seemed like the height of Chiefs’ fans frustrations.
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Then, in last season’s matchup with the New York Jets, then Chiefs cornerback, Marcus Peters, was handed an unsportsmanlike penalty before picking up that flag and throwing it in the stands. With close and crucial games on the line, it doesn’t get more frustrating for fans than that.
Thankfully, last Sunday’s game against the Jaguars wasn’t that close so the penalties didn’t make that much of a difference. The unfortunate part for Kansas City and its fans was that the Chiefs controlled this game from the get-go, so these penalties were just that much more unnecessary.
If there was anything good about these penalties, it’s that the Chiefs showed that they could bite back against one of the meaner dogs in the league.
Leading up to Sunday, the Chiefs had zero unsportsmanlike penalties. Interestingly, when the Jaguars came to town, Kansas City accumulated two unsportsmanlike penalties, a taunting penalty and a disqualification penalty thanks to Kareem Hunt, Dee Ford, and Chris Jones (Ford and Jones both bought tickets to watch the rest of the game from the locker room).
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This could be a sign that Jacksonville was just trying to bully Kansas City, leading to some retaliation from the better team. The Chiefs need to clean up these penalties for a number of reasons.
First, other teams might see an emotional weakness and try to exploit that weakness to get flags thrown. Unnecessary penalties then give the opposing teams additional yards as they march towards the end zone. The final reason may be of little consequence ultimately, but fans like to see their team play and win in a classy fashion.
No fan likes to see the yellow flag come out against their own team. Facemask, pass interference, or false start penalties are easy to forgive. Unsportsmanlike, taunting, and disqualification penalties are a different story. This is especially true when big games are on the line.
Thankfully, the Jacksonville game hasn’t been the norm for the Chiefs this season. When preparing for a highly disciplined team like the New England Patriots, however, cleaning up these penalties are an absolute must.
It’s more than just winning another game as this one is against another AFC power and may have playoff picture implications, even if it’s only week six. Chiefs Kingdom should look forward to a cleaner game on Sunday night.