https://www.footballoutsiders.com/audibles/2019/audibles-line-week-4
Audibles at the Line: Week 4.
FootballOutsiders
Kansas City Chiefs 34 at Detroit Lions 30
Bryan Knowles: Remember the preseason game on the 80-yard field? This game has been the reverse of that, at least for the defenses -- they only seem to play in the red zones. Both Detroit (in their nice classic throwbacks!) and the Chiefs have marched down the field, but both offenses have sputtered in the red zone. The difference, so far, is that Harrison Butker missed a 36-yard field goal. In a dome! It's not usually the Chiefs that end their drives with a whimper! It's also the first sign of mortality we've seen out of Patrick Mahomes this season -- he does have a tendency to get a little happy feet in the pocket, and occasionally runs himself out of a play, when he should stand in and let routes develop. This rarely matters, as his arm is so good and his receivers so fast and Andy Reid's offensive scheme so well-designed, but every now and again ... hey, even the best of us have room to improve from time to time, yeah?
And as I type this, Detroit marches back down the field, where Matthew Stafford finds T.J. Hockenson. 10-0 lead for Detroit early.
Vince Verhei: Chiefs have had almost no answer for Detroit's offense so far -- their first drive only ended on a field goal because Matthew Stafford took a sack on third-and-goal from the 2. That play aside, they are rushing and passing more or less at will.
Bryan Knowles: Uh-oh, Lions. Quandre Diggs has gone into the locker room, and they were already down Darius Slay. You don't need a secondary against Patrick Mahomes, right?
Despite that, Detroit holds on a third down in the red zone, with Justin Coleman punching the ball out of a Chiefs receiver's hand in the end zone. The Chiefs settle for a 23-yard field goal (boo!), and this one DOES go through. 10-3, Lions.
Vince Verhei: Injuries in the secondary can hurt your run defense too -- LeSean McCoy breaks loose up the middle and breaks a pair of tackles en route to a 30-some-yard gain. He finishes the drive with a 1-yard touchdown on third-and-goal.
Bryan Knowles: I'm pretty sure if you told the Lions they'd hold the Chiefs to 10 points on their first three red zone appearances, they'd take it ... but the Chiefs have just tied this one back up. Detroit has now punted on their last two drives, unable to move the ball at all after that explosive first quarter. That's the way you squander a 10-0 lead against the best offense in football.
Vince Verhei: Detroit has a fourth-and-1 at the KC 25. They make the correct decision to go for it and the even more correct decision to run a sneak, but there's an illegal snap penalty that wipes out the play and they settle for the field goal.
Chiefs are driving and putting together their best drive in a while after Mahomes had looked uncharacteristically erratic this afternoon. They complete a pass in Detroit territory with 20 seconds left, but "save their timeout" and waste 15 seconds running up to the line instead. They get one more play and Mahomes throws incomplete, and they kick a field goal to tie the game 13-13. They've still got that timeout though! Had they used it, they could have run at least one play, maybe two.
And now for your mind-blowing stat of the day: On a day when they have often looked off their game, Kansas City still has scored 13 points ... but even that is a disappointment, because it's the fewest points the Chiefs have ever scored in a first half during the regular season with Mahomes at quarterback.
Bryan Knowles: 13-13 at the half. It could have been more either way. After a couple drives of nothin', the Lions snapped out of their conservative play calling and moved the ball well. They faced a fourth-and-1 from the Kansas City 25, and lined up to go for it ... but a false start killed that, and they settled for a field goal. Not only did that remove a potential touchdown, but that also gave Mahomes the ball back with 1:03 left in the half, and two long passes later, they were kicking a field goal of their own. Big, big false start there -- honestly, Kansas City should have come out of that with more than a field goal, but Andy Reid's Patented Clock Management strikes again, as the Chiefs go into halftime with a time-out.
All in all, I'm impressed with the Detroit pass rush -- this is the lowest-scoring regular-season first half of Mahomes' career. They're getting to him, and while he's still playing well, he's playing Normal Human Being well, not 300-yards-in-the-first-half well, and that means Detroit is right in this one. The Lions will need to find that first quarter offense again to stay in this one -- the Chiefs start with the ball after the half, and I expect them to step on the throttle -- but good, good first half from our preseason NFC North favorites...
So, scrap all that about Kansas City's first drive of the second half. Mecole Hardman takes the opening kickoff out of the end zone but Jamal Agnew punches the ball out. Detroit ends up with great field position. Stafford ends up threading the ball through Kendall Fuller to Kenny Golladay ... but Golladay is slightly bobbling it as he falls out of bounds, and the refs rule he loses control. Lions fans know a thing or two about touchdown catches not counting, but I think that one was a bad call.
And on the next play, Stafford fumbles while scrambling, and the Chiefs recover. Wow, wow, wow.
Vince Verhei: Chiefs dodge a major bullet early in the third quarter. Mecole Hardman fumbles away the opening kickoff, and Kerryon Johnson gains 30-plus yards on four straight runs to give Detroit a second-and-5 in the red zone. On second-down, Stamford appears to throw a go-ahead touchdown to Kenny Golladay on what would have been an amazing catch with Kendall Fuller draped all over him, but on replay the call is reversed to incomplete because Golladay was bobbling the ball as he slid out of bounds. On third down, Stamford hangs in the pocket forever before scrambling out to the left. Derrick Nnadi sacks him and forces a fumble, and Chiefs recover to end that scoring threat.
And now it's three straight possessions ending on a lost fumble in the second half. The Chiefs convert a third-and-1 when Mahomes keeps the ball on a read-option. A few snaps later they try an option again, but Mahomes and Damien Williams get stuck at the mesh point, and the ball hits the turf and Lions recover.
Then J.D. McKissic gets a big run and a facemask flag to set up first-and-goal inside the 5. Johnson runs for a short gain on first down. The ball comes out at the end and Bashaud Breeland picks it up and takes it back the other way. He goes the length of the field but nobody thinks it's live ... but it IS live, and for the moment, it's four straight fumbles and a 100-yard return touchdown. They are reviewing the play, and ... oh man. I'm not sure how this is going to go.
Here's the kicker: this is the same crew that blew the fumble play in the Saints-Rams game earlier this year. Oh boy.
Bryan Knowles: Whether it stands or not, someone's gotta stop dunking the footballs in butter in Ford Field.
I THINK the call was right here, but there's no clear view of the play. And there's a significant issue with referees defaulting to letting the play play out on the field, and then deferring to the call on the field on the replay. 20-13 Chiefs.
Vince Verhei: Play stands. Chiefs go up 20-13. So much weirdness on this replay. Breeland was on his knees in the end zone when he picked up the ball. On the return, he had to weave his way through Lions players -- who were totally ignoring him and jogging off the field. Just a bizarre and massive play.
Dave Bernreuther: Wow. Unlike earlier, when I thought Golladay never really had the ball, this one seemed like he was down. Do they swallow that whistle if they hadn't gotten in so much trouble after that Saints play two weeks ago?
That's now three failures inside the 5 for the Lions; a Stafford sack on third-and-goal early isn't a huge sin, but it might've cost them four points. Now to start off this half they've seen a touchdown reversed and now lost two fumbles. That isn't ideal when you're playing the Chiefs.
Vince Verhei: This is becoming an all-time weird game. Lions line up for a 58-yard field goal try. Keep in mind Prater's 64-yarder in Denver is the all-time record, so 58 yards in the dome is not a joke. But they line up and then don't snap the ball, and it's clear they're just trying to get the Chiefs to jump ... and they do! So it's offsides and 5 yards, which is still not a first down, but 5 yards makes a big difference in the field goal, and Prater connects from 53 to make it 20-16.
OH MY GOD. Sammy Watkins catches a short out, falls down, gets up, but Justin Coleman punches it out and Lions get it back. That's five lost fumbles in barely ten minutes of game time. Watkins was also called for OPI on the play, though of course it was declined.
Bryan Knowles: Wait, are the Lions allowed to just throw the ball into the end zone for a score? No reviews, no fumbles, nothing? Huh. You learn something new every week.
Stafford absolutely threads a pass, inches out of the reach of multiple Chiefs, to Kenny Golladay to make it a 23-20 Lions lead.
The drive is dampened by what looks like a big injury to T.J. Hockenson, who tried to hurdle a Chiefs defender and paid the price. There has been a real trend this year of defenders pausing to let the receiver hurdle, and then taking him down when they're hanging in midair; maybe the injury will cause some players to keep their feet on the ground.
Vince Verhei: Stanford hits Golladay for a go-ahead touchdown that counts this time, and the Lions are now up 23-20. It came at a cost though --T.J. Hockenson tried to hurdle a defender for no real reason (a bunch of guys have done that in this game) and as a result was slammed head-first to the turf. He was clearly out cold on contact. The good news is that after a long delay he was able to get up and climb onto the cart, but he's for sure out for the rest of the day and probably longer.
Scott Spratt: Patrick Mahomes hits Travis Kelce for a moderate gain, but Kelce laterals to LeSean McCoy who takes it to within a few yards of a touchdown. Super cool.
Vince Verhei: DUDE.
THIS GAME.
THIS GAME IS MAD.
Mahomes scrambles and tries a throwback pass. He's got LeSean McCoy wide open, but overthrows him ... but the ball lands in the hands of Travis Kelce, who ad-libs a hook-and-lateral and pitches it back to McCoy, who scrambles for two dozen more yards! That may have been the play of the year right there, and a remarkably heads-up play by Kelce. Darrell Williams finishes the drive with an option plunge for the score and Kansas City goes back up 27-23.
Bryan Knowles: The Chiefs-Hook and Ladder here. We can argue about which offense is the best, but no offense is more fun to watch than Kansas City's.
Kansas City still has to work for the touchdown -- took 'em five plays and a penalty in the red zone -- but they grind it out. 27-23, Chiefs in what has been a very strange and entertaining game.
Scott Spratt: That Kenny Golladay touchdown/no touchdown call was incredibly close. We were basically freeze-framing to see if Golladay's left foot scraped turf before his turf landed on the out-of-bounds white. But it stands, so the Lions are back up. Too bad they gave the Chiefs time to answer.
Bryan Knowles: Kenny Golladay is giving a maximum effort day -- he just caught a touchdown which required him to basically brush his toe against the top of the artificial turf while leaping out of bounds. Lions take a 30-27 lead, so Mahomes will have 2:26 to work his magic.
Vince Verhei: For the second time today, Golladay has a go-ahead touchdown reviewed, but this one stands, as it's ruled he barely tapped both feet down in bounds in the end zone. 30-27 Lions, and whatever happens in the next two and a half minutes, this is a huge game for Detroit. With a skeleton secondary, they've outgained Kansas City by 50 yards so far, and after all the breaks Kansas City got they could have folded, but instead they have rallied and rallied again. I'm impressed with this team today.
Scott Spratt: The Lions should just let the Chiefs score immediately so they have a minute-plus for their own game-winning drive.
Bryan Knowles: I do not know why the Lions were playing prevent for much of that drive, but the Chiefs take advantage, including converting a big fourth-and-8 on their way to a touchdown. 34-30.
Announcers are saying like they've won it, but there are 20 seconds left and the Lions have a time-out, and Stafford DOES have an arm, so we're going to get a Hail Mary.
Scott Spratt: Was Charles Davis correct that you have to have two seconds left in order to put time back on the clock? That doesn't make any sense to me.
Vince Verhei: One odd bit at the end of this game: Kansas City ran the ball on first-and-goal at the end, much as the Seahawks did against Matt Patricia's Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Patriots, however, did not use their timeouts; today, Patricia did. It probably would not have mattered, but if there was one coach I was hoping would make a mistake with the final seconds running off, it's Andy Reid.
Derrik Klassen: Excluding Patrick Mahomes' debut start in 2017, this week's game against Detroit is the only time he has ever not earned a touchdown in a game.
The Chiefs still scored 34 points.
