65 TPT

Chiefs on the run rack

I’m not really a betting man, but I did invest £50 in Sky Bet with the idea that I would back the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl in 2018.

After five weeks of wins they odds were not good. With the tribe sitting on top of the AFC West, my investment was just waiting for the odds to improve to climb on-board the Chiefs steamroller. Of course, Mr Dismay was not long in arriving. 

Starting with the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers (who else), it became obvious that the Chiefs could not stop the run. Like all good football teams the Steelers simply kept running the ball until they were stopped. This never happened.

Half-ignoring the annoying loss to the Raiders (though once again the run game was instrumental in the debacle) against the Cowboys again the defense could not prevent simple running plays. “Smash-mouth football” had returned and it was here to stay.

So, what has happened? From my lofty position it just appears we are not good enough. Chris Jones, Bennie Logan, and Allen Bailey can not occupy their opposite numbers for long enough for the inside line-backers to make plays Sadly, Derrick Johnson and Reggie Ragland are either not good enough or so out of form they can’t tackle anyone inside. Result? Teams run with impunity against the Chiefs. They control the clock. Their O-line relishes firing out and creating holes that you or I could run through.

What’s to be done? It appears we have few options. The problem is up-front and inside. There are no available replacements waiting for their chance.

This week against the lowly Giants the short-comings may well be masked. The Chiefs will win and probably win big. If they do, all will be forgiven – or at least the short-comings will continue to be disguised.

(I am so much of a non-betting man that I foolishly took my £50 and bet it – by mistake – on the Giants to win at 7-2. I thought I was getting 7-2 on the Chiefs – fortunately I manage to bail out and preserve my stake!)

However, the return to the glory days of 65 TPT seem to have receded into the Super Bowl mists of time.

(For non-Chiefs fans 65 TPT was the play called by Hank Stram against the vaunted Minnesota Purple-People-Eaters defense which won Super Bowl IV. It was a running play and the Vikings could not stop it. No wonder Hank was so excited – like me he realised that if the Vikings could not stop a simple running play then they could not possibly win!)