Kansas City Chiefs Rewatch: 2009 week four vs Giants

The 2009 Kansas City Chiefs started 0-3 for the second straight season and were looking to right the ship in week four. It wouldn’t be easy, however, as their opponent was 3-0.

After three losses to start their 2009 campaign, Kansas City Chiefs fans didn’t have high hopes. While the defense was showing glimpses, they couldn’t keep up with better offenses, not to mention the Chiefs’ offense had been awful through three games.

The New York Giants – The Chiefs’ week four opponent – had a much different start to the year, sitting at 3-0 and looking to make it 4-0. New York had won their first two games by just one score, but blew the doors off of Tampa Bay in week three.

The Chiefs had played two relatively close games in weeks one and two, but then got blown out by Philadelphia in week three. Would they be able to earn their first win of the season and hand the Giants their first loss of 2009?

WEEK 4 VS NEW YORK GIANTS – OCTOBER 4TH, 2009

While the past two games saw the Chiefs get off to a promising start, that was not the case in this one, as Jamaal Charles fumbled the kickoff and the Giants recovered deep in Kansas City territory. New York scored five plays later to take a 7-0 lead. It was the fourth straight game where the Giants had scored on their opening drive.

KC did nothing on their first true offensive possession, but when the Giants got the ball back and were moving down the field, Tamba Hali forced a fumble to give the Chiefs offense a shot at redemption. The end result was a Ryan Succop field goal to make it a 7-3 game.

Things got a little out of hand from there and at one point in the first half, the Giants had 172 yards of offense to Kansas City’s 32 total yards. As badly as Kansas City had played, it was somehow only 17-3 at the half when it feels like it should have been much worse.

Despite the two touchdown deficit, Todd Haley opted to have the Chiefs attempt an onside kick coming out of the half to which the Giants recovered and had good field position as a result and allow them to take a 20-3 lead.

This game had the makings of being an even bigger blowout, but after Eli Manning suffered a heel injury, he was pulled when it was 27-3. Had Manning not gotten dinged up, he and the Giants would have likely kept pouring it on this Chiefs defense because they had little success keeping the G-Men from scoring.

Matt Cassel threw for two touchdowns, but both came in garbage time. He went just 15 of 32 for 127 yards and was sacked five times while rushing for 25 yards.

It was noted on the broadcast by Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston that the right tackle spot had been a revolving door in Kansas City and this was Ryan O’Callaghan‘s first start there for the Chiefs. It was also mentioned that Tyler Thigpen had been traded to Miami the week leading up to this match-up.

With the game basically over, the Chiefs offense somewhat came to life, scoring two touchdowns in the final nine and a half minutes to make the score a little more respectable, but make no mistake – This game never felt as close as the final score would indicate.

When the clock hit 0:00, it was 27-16 in favor of the Giants, and the Kansas City Chiefs fell to 0-4 on the season. It was the first time they had started 0-4 since 1984 under Marv Levy.

REMEMBER THAT GUY?

• Steve Smith (not the one in Carolina obviously) torched the Chiefs secondary with 11 receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
• Hakeem Nicks had just one reception in the game, but it went for 54 yards and a touchdown.
• David Carr was the Giants backup and went 0 for 2 during his brief time in the game.
• Brandon Jacobs ran all over the Chiefs to the tune of 92 yards.
• Cassel’s two touchdowns went to Sean Ryan and Bobby Wade.
• Demorrio Williams had nine combined sacks on the day.

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If the game was won by points scored in the fourth quarter alone, then the Kansas City Chiefs would have beaten the Giants, but that’s not how football works. They outscored the Giants 13-7 in the final quarter, but the problem was that prior to that the Giants had outscored KC 20-3.

Even with the offensive production in the fourth quarter, the game was still never in reach. From the moment Charles fumbled on the kickoff, it seemed like the Kansas City Chiefs were destined to lose their fourth straight game and seventh straight dating back to the 2008 season.

While fans didn’t expect immediate improvement when Haley and Cassel came to town, they sure deserved better than what they got in the first month of the season. Unfortunately, their next opponent was yet another NFC East team who was looking to get above .500.

Next up: Week 5 vs Cowboys (2-2)

**Unfortunately, NFL Game Pass did not have that game or week six against the Redskins available to watch, so we’ll be skipping to week seven.**