Chiefs Spook Broncos on MNF: I Was There

Before the season if you had to pick one game to go to, it would be Broncos on Monday Night Football. Because of the way the season has gone, it became the most important game of the year so far--division race up for grabs, homefield race in the balance, divisional rival, primetime, all of it.

On Friday, I find out I'm getting tickets.

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Quick aside, the tickets included access to a VIP Tailgate. Ryan and I show up and they're serving beef lasagna. So in case you're wondering, that's how VIPs roll.

Due to the beef lasagna and the ridiculous parking line and the ridiculous line to get in (note to self: only go in a express line at the gate) we were running through the concourse and entered section 108 at exactly the first play from scrimmage. It was actually amazing to be running down the steps and hear the crowd ramped the fuck up just as we see the field for the first time.

The game opened with two punts and then it was Jamaal Charles time. First play for him he gets past the line of scrimmage and there's only one man to beat. Ron Parker tackles him by the shoestrings and saves a touchdown. Game of inches man. Could have been 7-0 Broncos very easily. Instead, two plays later Marcus Peters strips Charles, recovers the fumble and returns it to the house. One man play right there. 7-0 Chiefs.

Three minutes later the Chiefs score again. They force a 3 and out and go 68 yards, including a big TD pass to Kelce. It's 14-0 with 6 minutes to go in the first quarter. Arrowhead is rocking. Both Chiefs touchdowns happened in the corner right in front of me.

Very Next Play. Interception. Peters with another big play. Chiefs have 1st and goal from the 9, just 11 minutes into the game. I said out loud, "got to cash this in." And the Chiefs decide to go for a trick play, Tyreek Hill throwing it to Ross Travis. Tyreek Hill now has more interceptions this season than Alex Smith. (1-0.)

Not only do the Chiefs squander a scoring opportunity, but this gives the Broncos momentum as they respond with the best drive of their game. They go down the field and have 1st and goal at the 9. It's only 14-0 with lots of time left...but Justin Houston comes through with a Big Mac Sack and ensures the Broncos settle for a field goal. 14-3.

Chiefs have another nice drive but settle for a field goal. 17-3. The teams would trade turnovers but that's the score at the half.

The entire rest of the game, I'm still thinking about that stupid trick play.

The Broncos would find some signs of life in the 3rd quarter and scored a TD to cut the Chiefs lead to 20-13 headed into the 4th quarter.

In the 4th, the Chiefs had a 43 yard field goal. It's a chill night with lots of swirling wind and it seemed like kickoffs had been short all night. Make it and it's a 10-point lead. Miss it and the Broncos have good field position to drive and tie the game. Harrison Butker makes it. (He now has a streak of 18-straight field goals after missing his first NFL field goal.)

With 10 minutes to go, it's 4th and 4 for the Broncos at their 48. They're going for it. I'm a little surprised with a full 10 minutes left, but here we are. They're pushing their chips in the middle. And the Chiefs shut it down.

Goddamn that felt great.

The Chiefs would add two more field goals and the Broncos would get a garbage time TD but it was never close after that. Final 29-19.

With a team like the Broncos, it was very nice to not leave any doubt about who played better. There was no whining about calls or anything they could say. The Chiefs took the lead on the Charles/Peters scoop and score and never looked back.

Here's a nice image to sum up the Broncos performance.

Surprisingly that was not after one of the Broncos 5 turnovers.

Here are pictures of the two Chiefs touchdowns.

And last but not least, I get to cross off the Broncos!

History of Attending Chiefs Games

Childhood Era
11.4.1990: 9-7 win vs. L.A. Raiders (Bo Jackson)
10.11.1992: 24-17 win vs Eagles (Cunningham)

2004
Coming off a 13-3 season, I bought a pair of tickets through ticketmaster in the offseason. The Chiefs started 0-3 and by the time we were going to the game, the Chiefs were 3-7. Our seats were section 343, row 10 and they were $73 each. That game featured Brees, Tomlinson, Gates, Trent Green, Larry Johnson, Gonzalez. Plus a kickoff TD return by Dante Hall, and another that should have been. Although Priest Holmes was injured earlier in the year, and I didn't get to see him play.

11.24.04: loss vs Chargers, 31-34

2005
The following year was our first year in Chicago. We made plans to spend New Year's in Kansas City and see the Chiefs finish the season on New Year's Day. The Chiefs were 4-2 at the time we purchased the tickets. I got the tickets through ebay, section 301, row 5, $70 each. This was Vermeil's last game. It was a good season. The Bengals didn't try much and it was a blowout win. The Chiefs finished 10-6 but didn't make the playoffs. The Steelers finished 10-6, got the wild-card spot on tiebreakers, and won the Super Bowl.

1.1.06: win vs Bengals, 37-3


2007
In August, I found a great deal on lower bowl seats through a private seller. Section 122, row 10 for $90 each. Trent Green was traded, so Damon Huard was the starter. Bowe was a rookie. The Chiefs were 2-2 coming into the game, but 1-0 at home. They would lose this game, win the next two to get to 4-3, before finishing 4-12. MJD had a 52-yard TD run and it was 17-0 Jaguars, before Croyle came in for a garbage time TD in the rain. Here's the post.

10.7.07: loss vs Jaguars, 7-17


2010
The Chiefs are 3-0, which means the wife is on the bandwagon! We just got tickets through NFL.com Ticket Exchange, section 301, row 28, $64 each, to see the Chiefs host the Cardinals on the day before my birthday. Not only do the Cardinals seem quite beatable on the road, but you have to think that Haley will have extra incentive and know how to beat his old team. Here's the post.

11.21.10: win vs Cardinals, 31-13

2014

We got two tickets through Crowd Seats, Section 324, Row 28, $48 each. It was part of a 24-hour trip. Here's the post.

10.26.14: win vs Rams, 34-7


2016

First time I went to a game by myself. First night game! First time seeing the Raiders since 1990. I paid $74 on StubHub for Section 324, Row 28, Seat 5. And I froze my ass off--zero degrees. Here's the post from the game.

12.8.16: win vs Raiders, 21-13


2017

I got free tickets through work and took a co-worker Ryan. First MNF game! First game against the Broncos! Section 108, Row 27, Seat 6. Here's the post from the game.

10.30.17: win vs Broncos, 29-19

And then I won a work raffle and got a free ticket. Ticket was marked Section 239, Row 1 but I sat in Section 202, Row 9. Here's the post from the game. 

11.26.17: loss vs Bills, 10-16

2019

Just bought Section 346, Row 17, Seat 3 for Colts at Chiefs. First loss of a season...a season in which the Chiefs win the freaking Super Bowl. Here's the post from the game. 

10.6.19: loss vs Colts, 19-13



Current Record of All-Time Games In Person: 7-4

I really prefer sitting between the 30s than in the corner or endzone. Sitting in the upper deck is really pretty good, but those seats are best in the first 20 rows.

Wide Open NFL

So here's something. On the NFL opening night, the Chiefs beat the Patriots. The Chiefs also started 5-0. That's good!

And yet, since opening night, the Chiefs have gone 4-2. The Patriots have gone 5-1.

The Steelers barely squeaked by the Browns and lost to the Bears and Jaguars. And yet they're 5-2 also.

The Chiefs loss to the Steelers was not surprising. The loss to the Raiders really wasn't that surprising either because the Raiders are supposed to be good and divisional games on the road, especially on a short week, should never be considered a gimme. (These days, no game is a gimme, so nothing should surprise us.)

But when you look at those three teams tied at 5-2, it doesn't matter what's surprising, it only matters what's in the win column. The bye is huge. And while playing at Arrowhead doesn't even get close to guaranteeing a win, having to go to Heinz or Gillette in January is an absolute disaster. The Chiefs do hold the tiebreaker over the Patriots and that's still what you'd rather have, but the Steelers hold it over the Chiefs. Pittsburgh and New England will play each other on December 17 at the Steelers.

You look at the Steelers schedule and not a lot of tough opponents. Packers minus Rodgers. Colts, Titans, Bengals, Ravens, Browns. Their toughest game in the next 6 is going on the road to Detroit.

So here I am. I really really need the Lions to beat the Steelers. Of course, most of all, I need the Chiefs to win their next game...

Let's see, what's that going to be...

Oh nothing really, just a Monday Night Football game at Arrowhead against the 2nd best team in the division, the team I hate the most. A primetime nationally televised home game the night before Halloween. Where if the Chiefs lose, they lose all the momentum in the division. But if they win, they'd have a huge divisional lead. Oh man. That's the thing about winning big games. The more you win, the bigger the games get. Opening night was a big win and it just makes this game even bigger.

- - -

Oh and the Packers, Panthers and Falcons all look like shit. The Vikes are #2 in the NFC and they don't have a QB. The Seahawks have struggled. So the best teams are the Eagles with Wentz and the Rams with Goff...This really does feel like the NFL is as wide open as it's ever been.

For a team with Alex Smith or Matthew Stafford, you only get so many chances where the Bradys and Rodgers of the worlds aren't dominating. Gotta make them count.

best song of 2017

Only two teams with one loss. Chiefs and Eagles. They already played each other. Could play each other again in the Andy Reid Super Bowl. 

Who Owns The Strip?

There are 27 major resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. So many choices, right?

Sure. But 19 out of 27 are owned by just 2 companies. Here's a breakdown of who owns what resorts.

MGM Resorts
MGM Grand

Luxor 

Excalibur
Aria

Bellagio

Circus Circus

Mandalay Bay

Mirage

Monte Carlo

New York New York

Delano

Vdara

Caesars Entertainment
Flamingo
Caesars Palace
Paris
Bally's
Harrah's
Linq
Planet Hollywood

Wynn Resorts
Wynn
Encore

Las Vegas Sands Inc
Venetian

Palazzo

The Blackstone Group

Cosmopolitan

Phil Ruffin

Treasure Island

American Casino & Entertainment

Stratosphere

Penn National Gaming
Tropicana

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Here are the 27 resorts, ranked by number of Hotel Rooms, labeled if part of one of the two conglomerations.

MGM Grand - MGM Resorts

Luxor - MGM Resorts

Venetian 

Excalibur - MGM Resorts
Aria - MGM Resorts

Bellagio - MGM Resorts

Circus Circus - MGM Resorts

Flamingo - Caesars Entertainment
Caesars Palace - Caesars Entertainment

Mandalay Bay - MGM Resorts

Palazzo

Mirage - MGM Resorts

Monte Carlo - MGM Resorts

Cosmopolitan

Paris - Caesars Entertainment

Treasure Island

Bally's - Caesars Entertainment
Wynn
Harrah's - Caesars Entertainment
Linq - Caesars Entertainment
Planet Hollywood - Caesars Entertainment
Stratosphere
Encore
New York New York - MGM Resorts
Vdara - MGM Resorts
Tropicana
Delano - MGM Resorts

- - -

So the answer is...MGM Resorts owns the Strip.

From Captain Checkdown to Gunslinger

Quest for Homefield

I have to start this post by acknowledging that the Chiefs were the #2 seed in the AFC last year and had a home game against the Steelers and lost. So you could look at that and conclude playing at home isn't a big deal. Well, for starters, that was a 2-point game that ended with the Chiefs completing a 2-point conversion, only to see it called back to a holding penalty. And more convincingly, the Patriots were the #1 seed and got to face their Houston Texans with Brock Osweiler. So yeah, getting the #1 seed and homefield matters. For the last four years, the #4 seed has been from the AFC South.

(This year, anything could happen. The Patriots and Steelers and Jags are all 3-2. It's entirely possible that the Chiefs could earn the coveted #1 seed and the Pats or Steelers could be #4. But for the sake of discussion, let's assume that #1 is still clearly the best possible outcome as you are ensured you won't play on the road and you get the opponents with the worst record.)

In the race for homefield, the Chiefs are 2.5 games ahead of the Patriots after 5 weeks. I say this because KC beat NE and therefore has a tiebreaker. That's huge.

If the Chiefs beat the Steelers this week, they will be 3.5 games ahead of the Steelers.
If they lose... only half a game ahead. (5-1 vs 4-2 with the tiebreaker edge).

Since this game is worth 1.5 games in the homefield standings, it's a 3-game swing.

So yep, big game. And it happens to be at Arrowhead. Chiefs are favored by 4.

Garbage Time

I drafted Kirk Cousins to be my every week fantasy starter. During the draft, I wanted a backup for injury that could be a starter, but also someone that I knew I would play in week 5, when Cousins is on bye. I saw Big Ben had the Jaguars at home and thought this was perfect.

Who knew that Jaguars would turn out to be an elite pass D after four weeks? I was tempted to stick with Big Ben despite his struggles because of the whole thing where he's a lot better at home than on the road...but then Deshaun Watson emerged as a real fantasy star. So I grabbed him with on the waiver wire as my first priority.

I figured Chiefs are decent against the pass but struggle against the run and give up lots of yards no matter what. So a running QB would give them fits, he could get 10 points just in rushing. So I plugged in Watson.

Big Ben vs Jaguars: 2 points
Watson vs Chiefs: 45 points

The Chiefs-Texans game was basically over at 39-20 with 7 minutes to go, but Watson managed to get me two more touchdowns in the final 3 minutes to win me $15.

I also appreciate Fournette's 90-yard touchdown run over the Steelers in garbage time. Garbage time is amazing.

Did Cleveland Peak Too Early?

I heard something on Against All Odds, that didn't seem quite right to me.

In September, Cleveland went on a 22-game winning streak. A Yankees fan on the podcast said Cleveland peaked too early. Me, being of sound mind and body, thought that winning 22 games in September is a good sign for winning say 12 out of 21 games in October.

So here we are. Cleveland vs New York.

My theory is Cleveland should win.
His theory is New York should win.

Let's see what happens.

Edit: Damnit, Cleveland peaked too early.

Results

Last week I wanted to compare teasers to individual bets.

I went 4-1 on individual games
3-2 on 2-team teasers
2-3 on 3-team teasers


Small sample size of course, but does seem to show that adding more teams is NOT worth the extra points you get from teasing the lines. This week it was the Patriots and Cowboys not winning when heavily favored and Dolphins who couldn't cover a 13-point spread that screwed me. But when you're throwing that many teams in, every week there will be surprises.

With the vig, if you bet $100, you get $90.90 back.

So this week, if I would have bet $100 on each game:

Individual Games: +263.60
2-team teasers: +72.70
3-team teasers: -118.20


If you add it all up, it's still ahead $218.10.

Figuring out the NFC

I'll admit right up front I care a lot more about the AFC (obvious Chiefs bias) and therefore probably know a lot more about the AFC. But let's take a crack at the NFC anyways. 

49ers, Giants, Bears you're done. That leaves 13 teams separated by only 1 game. Damn.

I'll go ahead and eliminate the Cardinals, just don't trust them.

The teams I do trust? Falcons and Packers. Panthers with an impressive win in Foxboro.

So if I count those three in, that leaves 9 teams fighting for 3 spots.

Eagles, Lions, Rams, Bucs, Vikings, Cowboys, Washington, Saints, Seahawks.

Let's give the Seahawks the benefit of the doubt because of past history and cross off the Vikings because of injuries.

Washington looked like a really good team last night. I know they're 2-2 but I think they make it.

6 teams for the last spot.

Eagles, Lions, Rams, Bucs, Cowboys, Saints.

Oof, that's really tough. Any of those teams could make it. Lots of decent to strong teams out there with only a few stinkers. I'll say the Cowboys but don't feel great about it.

1 Falcons
2 Packers
3 Seahawks
4 Washington
5 Panthers
6 Cowboys

Figuring Out The AFC

We're one-fourth of the way through the season and the AFC is pretty interesting, to me at least. 

We're not using to seeing the Patriots sitting outside the the playoff projections.
This week, the Texans looked like the best team in the league, and they're sitting outside the playoff projections.

Something's going to give.

- - -

Let's start from the bottom.

Browns, Chargers, Bengals, Colts, Dolphins are done. They're bad, with bad records, and just way too many good teams.

The Jets have the same record as the Patriots, but I'm still writing off the Jets.

That leaves 10 AFC teams for 6 Playoff spots.

Raiders...they're 2-2 with a tough schedule and Derek Carr is going to be out with an injury. I know they could still make the playoffs, but I'm betting against it. Because of the injury...I'm counting them out. Let's sort the remaining 9 by division.

Chiefs
Broncos

Texans
Titans
Jags

Steelers
Ravens

Bills
Patriots


The Ravens wins are over the Bengals and the Browns.
The Jags beat the Texans and the Ravens.

Based on that, I'm kicking the Ravens out.

So I've got three solid in:

Patriots
Steelers
Chiefs

That leaves 3 spots for these 5 teams:

Broncos
Bills
Texans/Titans/Jags

One of the AFC South teams has to make it and I'm thinking Texans win the division with Watson.

So now two more playoff teams from:

Broncos
Bills
Titans
Jags

Broncos and Bills already have a one game advantage on the Titans and Jags.

So let's go with this:

1 Chiefs
2 Patriots
3 Steelers
4 Texans
5 Broncos
6 Bills

Glad we figured that out. I'll come back to this in January.

- - -

Oh and by the way, Chiefs already played the Patriots. They go on the road to Houston this week. Back home for the Steelers. Then on the road 4 days later for a Thursday game in Oakland. Which does give them 11 days to prepare for the Broncos on Monday Night Football. That's a rough stretch. Chiefs also will play the Bills and Broncos again. So based on my projections, I've got the Chiefs playing 6 games against the 5 other AFC playoff teams.

Getting the playoff bye is huge. Having home field advantage is huge. That's why every game is crucial. Especially a game like the Steelers. Having that tiebreaker could determine which team gets a bye or which team gets home field.