The Kansas City Arrowheads scored an 86-yard touchdown on their first play from scrimmage last night. After that, it was pretty much all down hill in a 22-10 loss to Miami to fall to 0-2 on the season.
Fred Juarez found a wide-open Benjamin Gore on KC's first play and the UNLV product made sure that nobody would catch him from behind for a 7-0 Arrowheads lead. Unfortunately, the team struggled for just 25 yards the rest of the first half because Head Coach For Now John Torres saw the success of his passing attack and immediately shifted to calling a series of rushing plays in the interest of fairness.
The ploy worked as Miami tied the game late in the first quarter, capitalizing on a drive that started at the KC 44 following an Arrowhead punt out of the end zone. The Fighting Fish took the lead for good midway through the second quarter as Kansas City was caught in its end zone for a safety. It marks the second time in as many games that a KC player has found been brought down in the end zone. The culprit this time was a questionable middle screen-looking pass, which is a great play call standing in your own end zone. Truly, this is football thinking on a whole different plane by Torres.
Miami tacked on a field goal before the half for a 12-7 lead at intermission. Kansas City trimmed the lead to 2 following an Albert Green interception. The off-season acquisition to boost the Arrowheads' secondary looked every bit worth it as he outran the receiver for the football, then returned the pick 18 yards to set up a Karl Barb field goal.
Miami put the game away in the fourth quarter with a 98-yard touchdown drive, then added a field goal on a 56-yard drive on its next possession. Kansas City was foiled in its comeback bid, failing to pick up a fourth-and-1 deep inside Miami territory, then tossing an interception just shy of the goal line in the game's waning seconds.
Juarez falls to 0-5 as a Kansas City starting QB, but you can hardly fault him for this one. Juarez finished 22-for-28 through the air for 243 yards and a passing rating just shy of 100. Ryan Paxton caught six of those passes for 69 yards.
Defensively, the Arrowheads just could not get Miami off the field. The Fighting Fish held the ball for 10+ minutes more than KC did. Rookie Horace Lamons looked outstanding for the second time in as many games, making a team-best 12 tackles.
One other item of note -- the stadium was almost one-third empty for the contest. Admittedly, the steady rain and unseasonably cool temperatures in the mid-60s may have had a little to do with that, but the abundance of empty seats must also be a message to management that fans' patience is starting to wear thing on a franchise that is now 5-13 for its existence.
Kansas City travels to Arizona for its next action. The team enters that contest as 10-point underdogs.
Last edited at 11/29/2018 3:10 am