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[Teach]

Fourth Quarter

By this time, the horse has left the barn. Yet, what might have been. If the usually reliable Adam Vinatieri kicks a 23-yard field goal (off the left upright) and doesn’t miss a PAT (I believe he was 70-for-70 in the playoffs), the Colts are just one score behind. They would have had the impetus. But no, those things didn’t happen. It just wasn’t the Colts’ night. Luck was frequently under-throwing his receivers. Did he have trouble gripping the ball? What’s mystifying about all this was during the regular season the Colts converted on nearly 50% of their 3rd down tries; they were 0-for-8 against the Chiefs.

Another thorn in Luck’s side was Chiefs defensive lineman, 6-foot-6 inch, Chris Jones. He batted down several passes.

If there is a weakness, defensively, for the Chiefs, it may be in their secondary. If Charcandrick West is out there on special teams, i.e., punt protection, he can be “picked on”.

I felt the Chargers got the benefit of the refs calls and non-calls. There appeared to be a definite pass interference call as it relates to D.Y. Hilton that wasn’t called. There was also a roughing-the-kicker penalty against the Colts that should not have been called. Chiefs kicker, Dustin Colquitt, must use the Stanislavski method of acting. He was hardly touched.

On the offensive side, Damien Williams was “the show” in the second half. He was their “bread and butter” back. The Chiefs kept pounding him inside (that’s what the Patriots need to do with Sony Michel; establish the running game). Williams, by the way, ended up with about five-yards per carry on 25 carries. If the Chiefs can do that to the Patriots, it could spell trouble.

What I find astounding is that Chiefs gave up miles of yardage on both the ground and in the air throughout the regular season. Many of their games were shootouts. The Chiefs gave up an average of 26 first-downs per game to their opponents. The Chiefs were better at Arrowhead, but even so… The Chiefs would give up 31 first downs in losing to the Seattle Seahawks in mid-December. Porous!

On another matter, the Chiefs final score came on one of those “scrum runs". (Tangentially, the Rules Committee has to do something about this; it should be about the player’s own momentum, not his teammates pushing him across the goal line or a first-down marker. It’s more like rugby than it is about football. While I’m at it, a sound should be made throughout the stadium when the time to put the ball in-play clock reaches 0. Just like the 24-second buzzer in basketball. I’ve seen the refs let it go even though it was distinctly a delay of game).

Finally, as if to add an exclamation point to the Colts loss. The Colts Reece Fountain drops a eminently catchable ball in the end zone. Then, on the final play of the game, the Colts don’t get it off.

I’ll have my AFC championship-game analysis, later.